Corruption impoverishes the poor and the most vulnerable in our society. As the Chairman of MDEC, I support initiatives to address the scourge of corruption in Malaysia.

Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately, diverts funds intended for development, leaks precious public resources, and undermines a government’s ability to provide basic services.

MDEC is strongly committed to radical transparency, accountability, and integrity under MDEC’s Reinvent mission, which will drive our strategy moving forward, thereby ensuring that we serve the rakyat (people) and industry better. MDEC has taken serious measures to improve administrative processes.

Recently, we engaged KPMG and Ernst & Young to provide expert counsel to further strengthen governance in the organisation. As an example, we have eliminated direct negotiation and closed-tender practices and instituted an open-tender system.

We recently introduced Discretionary Authority Limits (DAL) which clearly specifies the limits of authority, processes and reporting that will govern the utilisation of all MDEC grant disbursement and resources.

Competency, accountability and transparency

MDEC’s Reinvent mission promotes governance processes and policies that uphold competency, accountability and radical transparency with an emphasis on the ‘know-how’ instead of the ‘know-who’ as the key criterion in fair and transparent evaluation.

The success of Sinar’s Rasuah Busters initiative requires not only awareness, but also proactive and persistent involvement from all stakeholders in the ecosystem. Increased education, enforcement and a strong political will are all required to ensure the success of this virtuous endeavour to transform Malaysia into the heart of Digital ASEAN and to improve the lives of each and every Malaysian.

As an agency under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia (KKMM) with nearly 25 years of experience in nationwide implementation of ICT and the digital economy, MDEC leads the aspiration of Malaysia to establish itself as a regional digital powerhouse with global champions at the forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

-- BERNAMA

Datuk Wira Dr Hj Rais Hussin is Chairman of MDEC.