Lim Guan Eng |
Posted: 04 Dec 2012 07:17 AM PST Penang's Clean Governance Revolves Around Benchmarking Government Decision-Making Against CAT And Formulating A System Of Institutions Built Around The 6 Integrity Measures Of Fighting Corruption That Can Both Strengthen Democracy And Sustain Socio-Economic Justice. I would like to begin by congratulating the Penang Institute for bringing to Penang another ASEAN great. It is not every day that a former head of state visits our island, and what's more the former President of Indonesia. On behalf of the Penang state government, I wish to warmly welcome His Excellency Dr BJ Habibie, the third President of Indonesia, for his first ever visit to Penang. Ladies and gentlemen, Penang is proud to play a small role in forwarding and strengthening the regional effort towards clean governance through initiating the ASEAN Coalition for Clean Governance. Last June, Penang was honoured to host a regional conference featuring prominent advocates of clean governance from around the region. Our keynote speaker, His Excellency Abhisit Vejjajiva, former Prime Minister of Thailand, pointed out in his speech that "it is not enough to put our own houses or our countries in order. ASEAN will only be as strong as our weakest link." During the inaugural conference last June, the delegates from around the region produced a document called the Penang Declaration, which among other things affirms that "the ideals of truth, freedom and transparency should be universally embraced and that the ASEAN people deserve the right to enjoy the essential values of a good, clean and efficient government that dignifies, engages, safeguards and delivers the aspirations of the people." Penang aspires to be the clean governance capital of the region, but we do not want to be the sole holder of the title. We hope to see as many capitals of clean governance as possible all across ASEAN. After all, while Penang may be known for exporting electronic products, we should aspire to export clean governance in the future. Clean governance can be attained by practical application and a system of institution-building. Penang's CAT administration of competency, accountability and transparency and 6 integrity measures to establish clean governance that can both strengthen democracy and sustain socio-economic justice. Penang's clean governance revolves around benchmarking government decision-making against CAT and formulating a system of institutions built around the 6 integrity measures of fighting corruption that has won praise from Transparency International of making a public declaration of assets, implementing open competitive tenders, bar family members from being involved with government contracts, protect genuine whistleblowers, remove leaders with extravagant lifestyles and come clean on political donations. The clean government initiatives have strengthened democracy and sustained socio-economic justice as seen by these achievements:- 1. Penang became No.1 in investment in Malaysia for the first time in our history in 2010. We repeated that again in 2011, proving that our success was no fluke but a fact. Penang contributed 28% of Malaysia's FDI during those 2 years. 10 days ago Agilent Technologies announced a USD 200 million investment and B. Braun a RM1.75 billion investment in Penang; Failure to establish integrity in politics and clean government is “corrosive of democracy”. The electoral process is meaningless when citizens have no faith in government integrity or ethical measures because the choice between competing policies and programs is irrelevant when there is no expectation such policies will be carried out,” The Western debt crises that have erupted in both Europe and the United States can be said to be due to irresponsible corporatocracy, to borrow Jeffrey Sachs's word, or simply financial pirates who take advantage of the system in order to enrich themselves. In this context, we can safely say that that had strong, prudent and responsible fiscal institutions been in place, and had its regulations been enforced meticulously, the crises would not have had the impact it has had today. Therefore, it is imperative that countries all over the world work together to put in place the proper mechanisms to ensure that public institutions are able to provide clean, accountable and transparent interaction within and between governments, markets and society. This is especially critical for us in Southeast Asia. Since the end of the colonial era, most ASEAN countries have been ruled by authoritarian regimes which have undermined public institutions. However, the last two decades have witnessed a radical shift in the region. Indonesia, after half a century of authoritarian rule, witnessed a tectonic transformation into one of the most democratised countries in ASEAN. In the Philippines, a corrupted regime was replaced by a political campaign focussed on anti-corruption as its central message. Meanwhile, Myanmar is currently undergoing drastic changes as the junta attempts to pacify the people's growing thirst for democratisation. Even the Singapore government was dealt their biggest electoral blow since independence. Finally, Malaysia has not been spared as well, though our biggest battle is yet on the horizon. As we can see, ASEAN is a region in transition, and coupled with the global economic currents, the fate of our countries depends very much on how we are able to salvage and rebuild our public institutions in order to ensure that our core institutions such as the judiciary, executive, legislative, financial as well as electoral system are functioning efficiently, transparently and with full accountability. Only strong and clean public institutions can ensure that we are prepared for the challenges of this new century. Therefore, the next phase of development in our region will require an undivided commitment towards clean governance. We must ensure that the poor and the weak are not marginalised because public institutions are manipulated to serve the interests of the rich and the strong. We must ensure that the wealth of the country can be enjoyed by all our citizens, not just the privileged few. We must ensure that the public delivery system delivers both efficiency and equality so that businesses may flourish and social justice is ensured. We must ensure that integrity is rewarded and corruption is punished so that no one including the highest leadership of the country is enriched from wrongful gains. We know this effort towards clean governance is not easy. The corrupt cronies are strong but let us prove that honesty and people's power is stronger. Ladies and gentlemen, Finally, we are indeed honoured today to have President Dr BJ Habibie with us to deliver this second ACCG Leaders' Lecture. His presence here is encouraging to all advocates of clean governance and represents another step forward for the ASEAN Coalition for Clean Governance. With that, I welcome all of you to this auspicious event. Your participation is important to ensure not just the success of this programme but the success of our ultimate objective to implement and promote clean governance. Thank you. 槟州首席部长林冠英于2012年12月4日在东南亚廉正领袖联盟讲堂发表演讲,重点如下: 槟州廉洁施政建立于政府的能干、公信及透明施政及六大廉政体制建设,这些都得以强化民主、维护社会经济公义。 槟州希望成为本区域的廉政之都,但是我们不想独享这个称号。我们希望东南亚各国都出现廉政之都。槟城可能以出口电子电气产品闻名,我们也应该要出口廉洁施政。 廉洁施政可以通过实际应用及体制建设达致。槟州通过能干、公信、透明施政方针及六大廉正措施打造廉洁施政,可以强化民主、维护社会经济公义。 槟州廉洁施政建立于政府的能干、公信及透明施政及六大廉政体制建设,获得国际透明的赞扬,我们推行公布民选高官资产、公开招标、禁止民选禁止官员家庭成员涉入政府合约、保护真正的吹哨人、撤掉生活奢华的国阵领袖、坦白交代政治献金。 一个廉洁政府已经强化了民主及维护了社会经济政议,从下列成就可以看出: 1. 槟州在2010年的所获投资额全马居冠。2011年再创高峰,证明我们的成功不是侥幸的。过去两年,槟州的外国投资额占全马28%。10天前,美国安捷伦科技宣布投资2亿美元、B.Braun 医药股份公司宣布投资 17亿5000万令吉; 如果无法打造廉洁政治及政府,这是对民主的腐蚀。如果公民对政府廉正或伦理措施没有信心,那么选举是毫无意义的,因为人们无法在政策及计划竞争中做出选择,人民对于政策的推行也没有期望。 过去20年,人们见证本区域的激进变化。印尼,经历了半个世纪的极权统治后,在激烈的转变中,大家看着它转型成为东南亚最民主的国家。菲律宾的贪污政府正被反贪为主轴的政治运动取代。而缅甸军政府为了安抚人民对民主化的渴求也经历着激烈的改变。就连新加坡,也面对独立以后选民最强烈的冲击。最后,马来西亚也难逃改革的命运,我们最大的改革正要开始。 东南亚是转型中的区域,我们受全球经济浪潮的影响,因为我们的命运很大程度上,要看我们是否可以抢救及重建我们的公共机构,确何我们的核心机构如立法、司法、行政、财政以及选举机关可以有效地、透明地、负责任地操作。唯有强大及廉洁的公共机构才能确保我们为本世纪的挑战做好准备。 本区域下一阶段的发展,需要各界对廉洁施政的不懈意志。我们要确保贫者、弱者不会因为公共机构被操纵来服膺于富者、强者而被边缘化。我们要确保国家的财富为民所享,而不是几个有特权的人。我们要确保公共传递系统是有效及公平的,生意兴隆、社会公义有保障。我们必须确保廉正有赏、贪腐有罚,那么没有人包括国家最高领导可以钻漏洞自肥。 |
You are subscribed to email updates from Lim Guan Eng To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 |
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan