TheSun 2009-11-04 Page06 Implement Code of Ethics

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news without borders6 theSun | WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 4 2009

‘Implement code of ethics’VETERAN backbencher Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad (BN-JohorBaru) says there is a lack of code of ethics for MPs when addressing thehouse as highlighted in the NationalIntegrity Plan.

“The code was introduced dur-ing the last parliament term but it isforgotten now. We often discuss anddebate about code of ethics for otherinstitutions but not for us. I hope thespeaker and other MPs would beinvolved in discussing how to havethis code in Parliament.

“The code is necessary to boost the image, support and honour of theMPs here. We need a standard, what should and should not be done,” hesaid debating the Supply Bill 2010.

On the second wave of privatisa-tion, he suggested the government 

adopted an

open policy instead of applying the“first come, first serve” basis whengranting contracts.

Stressing on outcome or end re-sult as priority, he said “first come,first serve” would only provide thoseclose to the government an advan-tage over others.

“To ensure success in privatisa-tion, it should be implemented moreopenly through advertisements.And, all qualified candidates withthe right criteria should be filteredaccordingly.

“This way, privatisation canbe enjoyed by the rakyat and not become a platform to create entre-preneurs without qualifications. Inthis process, we must be fair andlimit it to only those qualified, not those close to the decision-makers,”he added.

He said should privatisationprojects fail, it was the people whowould suffer.

Shahrir also cautioned the gov-ernment over the dependency onimported food because about 80% of the people’s demand were imported,adding the inconsistencies of theringgit had also affected their qualityof life.

“We should strengthen the valueof our ringgit. We must stop the situa-tion whereby we purposely cheapenit in our country. A strong ringgit 

 value would give more purchasingpower to the rakyat and increasetheir quality of life,” he said.

He also called on the govern-ment to extend liberalisation toother goods such as coarse sugarand wheat flour so that consumerswould have more choice.

Husna Yusop and Karen Arukesamy at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday

SALAHUDDIN Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian) wants the

government to have anothermethod to evaluate theperformance of the policerather than measuring itbased on tangible elementsunder the Key PerformanceIndicator (KPI).

He suggested that theintegrity index method wasa better yardstick in gaug-ing the performance of thepolice in terms of leadershipand morality.

“The performance of adedicated traffic policemancannot be measured with theKPI. How to make sure thepolice do not get involved incorruption, power abuse ormisappropriation?

“We need another methodof integrity index which areused by developed countries

like Scandinavia in order toimprove the performanceof the police force,” he saidduring question time.

However, Deputy HomeMinister Datuk Abu SemanYusop said the governmentwas satisfied with the goodperformance of the policeand it was only a perception,

especially of the Opposition,that the police were involved

in immoral activities.“The police performance

(target), according to the KPI,has been achieved. Thereare some who are immoralbut the Opposition has beenexaggerating. They don’tsee the good things done,”he added.

Earlier, he told Salahud-din the inspector-generalof police had achieved thelevel of “Significantly ExceedTarget” with 113.8% marks inits KPI last year as stated inthe police force’s five-yearstrategic plan.

In another supplemen-tary question, Karpal Singh(DAP-Bukit Gelugor) saidthe performance of the po-lice had not been very goodbecause, for example in the

case of the V.K. Lingam videoclip, they could not find a keywitness.

He asked if Abu Semancould name the witness ashe said he would be able totrace the person but AbuSeman said it was a specificquestion which he did nothave information.

DEPUTY International Tradeand Industry Minister DatukMukhriz Mahathir denies thatthe government is consider-ing issuing approved permits(APs) for import of vehiclesto six new companies.

“It is pointless to issueAPs to new companieswhen the AP system is to be

scrapped in 2015,” he saidwhen replying a supplemen-tary question from Fong KuiLun (DAP-Bukit Bintang).

Mukhriz said to date only98 companies had beenissued with APs althoughat one time more than 200companies enjoyed thefacility, adding that the APsfor 156 companies werecancelled for failing to meetconditions.

Fong had also wanted toknow why the governmentdid not use an open tendersystem for the import ofvehicles, saying the govern-ment could earn revenue of

RM2.5 billion annually com-pared with only RM30 millionwith the RM10,000 paymentimposed on each AP.

Mukhriz said the govern-ment adopted the systembecause it was in accord-ance with agreements thegovernment had signed atthe international level.

Replying to the originalquestion from Datuk IsmailKasim (BN-Arau), Mukhrizsaid the ministry had con-ducted an audit of all theAP holders to ensure that allcompanies adhered to theconditions of approval.

Ismail had wanted toknow what the governmentwas doing on the allegedissue of APs to those whodid not even have a vehicleshowroom.

Muhkriz said the auditshowed up, among otherthings, shortcomings in termsof administrative manage-ment and documentation.

Nov 23 hearing for Anwar’s sodomy trialKUALA LUMPUR: The High Court willhear on Nov 23 the application by PartiKeadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser DatukSeri Anwar Ibrahim to strike out thesodomy charge against him.

Justice Datuk Mohamad ZabidinMohd Diah yesterday also fixed thesame day for the sodomy trial to bementioned again.

Anwar, 62, who was in court withhis wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah WanIsmail, is charged with sodomisinghis former aide, Mohd Saiful BukhariAzlan, 24, in a condominium in BukitDamansara on June 26 last year.

Solicitor-General II Datuk MohamedYusof Zainal Abiden, who led theprosecution team, had asked thecourt to fix the hearing date for theapplication.

One of Anwar’s counsel, R. Si-

varasa, suggested that the court fixthe application for mention pendingFriday’s outcome of appeals by boththe prosecution and defence beforethe Court of Appeal pertaining to

documents sought by Anwar.On July 16, Mohamad Zabidin

granted Anwar’s application to com-pel the prosecution to furnish himrecorded statements of witnessesMohd Saiful, Dr Osman Abdul Hamid ofPusrawi Hospital, condominium ownerHassanuddin Abdul Hamid, and thestatements of three other witnessesas well as other relevant documents.

The prosecution appealed againstthe order and, on July 24, the courtgranted a stay of execution pendingthe disposal of the prosecution’s ap-peal to the Court of Appeal.

Anwar also filed a cross-appeal onthe same order which had refused hisapplication to get a DNA sample takenfrom Mohd Saiful.

The Court of Appeal fixed Friday forthe decision on the two appeals.

Yesterday, High Court (Appellateand Special Powers Division) judge LauBee Lan fixed Dec 15 for re-mentionof Anwar’s application for a judicialreview to quash a written statement

by the prosecution, relating to hissodomy case, pending the outcomeof the Court of Appeal.

On June 24, Anwar received awritten statement signed by DeputyPublic Prosecutor Mohamad HanafiahZakaria which stated that there wereno facts favouring the defence in the(sodomy) case.

On Aug 3, Anwar filed the applica-tion to quash the prosecution’s writtenstatement in the High Court (Appellateand Special Powers Division), namingMohamad Hanafiah and the govern-ment of Malaysia as the respondents.

In the application, Anwar alsosought an order of mandamus tocompel the prosecution to supplyfacts favourable to him under Section51A (1)(c) of the Criminal ProcedureCode.

Anwar also sought an order to pre-vent the prosecution from proceedingwith the sodomy case until thesefacts were made available to him.– Bernama

Gazette Malaysia Dayas public holidayTHE Employment Act must be amended togazette Sept 16 as a public holiday so thatit is recognised by employers and privatecompanies, says Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid(PKR-Kuala Langat). 

“If it is not gazetted, those in the privatesector may not be able to enjoy it becauseemployers can decide not to allow it, unlessthey have a union. Otherwise, it will remain onlyas lip service by the government,” he said in hisSupply Bill 2010 debate.

Salahuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian) said: “... it is not enough just to make Sept 16 apublic holiday. The rakyat will not be charmedby rhetoric. People want substance.

“How does the government translate it inthe form of justice for all? The willingness ofSabah and Sarawak to be together with Malay-sia must be repaid accordingly.”

Number of poorlyperforming schools declinesTHE number of primary schools failing toachieve the minimum passing rate of Dand E in their School Average Grade (GPS)is declining – from 116 in 2005 to 110 in2006, 106 in 2007 and 98 last year.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr WeeKa Siong said this to Datuk Dr Marcus Mo- jigoh (BN-Putatan) who wanted to know thenumber of schools recorded as zero failurefor their Primary School Assessment Test(UPSR) in the past five years.

Wee said the ministry evaluates theschools based on the GPS which has a scaleof 1 to 5 whereby the lower the GPS is, thebetter the school is.

‘Cut the rhetoric, giveanswers’DATUK Dr Makin @ Makcus Mojigoh (BN-Putatan) urged Deputy Women, Family andCommunity Development Minister Chew MeiFun ’to do away with rhetoric but to revealthe actions taken to address crimes involvingchildren like rape, abuse and abduction.

“We want to know what actions have beentaken. The people want a positive answer,” hesaid when commenting on Chew’s reply to aquestion by Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) who asked about the delay in hearing courtcases involving children and what measures hadbeen taken to address the issue. – Bernama

Higher education fund willbe RM48b in the redTHE National Higher Education Fund Corpora-tion (PTPTN) is expected to have a RM48 billiondeficit by the year 2020 if existing borrowers do

not repay their loans.Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Hou KokChung said the outstanding loans were now atRM3.26 billion involving 780,000 borrowers.

“Of that total, students owing RM346 millionhad been given a postponement for repaymentwhile RM1.54 billion had not been repaid,” hesaid in reply to a question by Tengku RazaleighHamzah (BN-Gua Musang) who wanted toknow how much of PTPTN loans were in ar-rears and what were the government’s plansfor those who did not receive loans to pursuehigher education in local or overseas institutesof higher education.

Answering a supplemnatry question byNurul Izzah Anwar (PKR-Lembah Pantai),Hou said the fund faced financial difficulties ingiving many loans.

Evaluate performanceof cops by another yardstick: MP

No APs for six new companies

 Successin Islamic

 financepg 14

MORE than 10 senior officials andex-ministers will be implicated in thePublic Accounts Committee’s reporton the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ)multi-billion ringgit fiasco to be tabledin Parliament today.

PAC member Tony Pua told report-ers in the Parliament lobby that PACknows the cabinet received a reporton PKFZ and that “many ministers areaccountable because no action wastaken based on the report”.

“However, there are one or two(ex) ministers who had heavier andspecific responsibilities to act and didnot,” Pua said referring to the “leaked”cabinet papers on the PKFZ showingthat the government was aware of allthe problems.

Declining to name the officials, he

told reporters to wait for the report tobe tabled first.It was earlier reported that a

former transport minister was namedfor alleged criminal breach of trust,as were senior civil servants from theministry and the Port Klang Authority(PKA), most of whom have retiredsince. Several members of the PKA’sboard of directors were also named.

The findings, said to be up to 20pages long, alleges the project hadbreached several guidelines listedby the Treasury in 2001 and that theevidence of overbilling by PKFZ turn-key developer Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhdwere consistent with those revealedby a task force set up by the TransportMinistry to probe the project.

10 implicated

in PKFZ probe