In view of the fact that anti corruption activities were carried out independently by three different agencies, the Government decided to consolidate the task of investigation, prevention and prosecution under one roof through the set-up of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) in 1967 as per the Anti-Corruption Act 1967.
In 2008, the Parliament and the Government unanimously approved the formation of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as an independent body to effectively and efficiently manage the nation’s anti-corruption efforts.
The MACC is officially established through the enactment of the MACC Act 2009 and has five independent monitoring mechanisms, individuals with various background representing the public to ensure that the transparency and accountability of its activities and functions. These oversight bodies are also responsible to closely monitor the functions of the MACC. The 42 members appointed within the 5 bodies comprise of academicians, community leaders, members of professional bodies and members of Parliament representing the public. The MACC is responsible for both the Parliament and the public. The five special independent bodies mentioned are :
- The Special Committee on Corruption
- The Operations Review Panel
- The Anti-Corruption Advisory Board
- The Complaints Committee
- The Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel
The restructuring of the MACC into a full-fledged commission accompanied with the strengthening of its capacity will increase its delivery and effectiveness, ushering in a new era in the war against graft in the country. Indeed, over the years, Malaysia has taken many concrete and positive steps to reduce the level of corruption in the country and still is. Every effort has been made to ensure that the MACC is fully equipped to be an effective anti-corruption enforcement agency – one that measures up to the requirements to fight modern-day corruption and in line with the aspirations of Malaysians. As such, the MACC has been modeled after some of the best anti-corruption agencies in the world.
The role of the MACC is to eradicate corruption, abuse of powers and malpractices in Malaysia and its functions rooted to the principles of Independent, Transparent and Professional. Structurally, the MACC is made up of 19 divisions, 13 State Offices, each of which is headed by a State Director, and 3 Federal Territory Offices.
The MACC is headed by the Chief Commissioner, who is assisted by three Deputy Chief Commissioners looking into Operations, Management and Professionlism as well as Prevention.
The MACC has also been given additional legal powers that will enable it to investigate certain forms of corruption hitherto out of its previous purview. This will enable the MACC to widen its net to investigate newer forms of corruption and to gather evidence more effectively, thus raising its conviction rate. From the new enactment of its Act, the Chief Commissioner whom is appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the King, shall have all the powers of an officer of the Commission and shall even have such powers of a Deputy Public Prosecutor as authorized by the Public Prosecutor for the purposes of the MACC Act 2009.
Apart from the political will expressed by the government in the establishment of the MACC, the enactment of the Witness Protection Act and Whistleblower Protection Act were also realized. In tandem with the new Government Transformation Programme to root out corruption as one of the National Key Result Areas, 27 initiatives were developed and implemented. These initiatives, many of which were adopted because of their proven effectiveness in other countries, coming under three headings: Regulatory and Enforcement, Government Procurement and Grand Corruption. Some of the key initiatives under these headings are the implementation of the Whistleblower Protection Act, the establishment of fourteen special corruption session courts, MyProcurement portal in centralizing data for government procurement by ministries and agencies and a separate database within the MACC’s Website containing information including digital photographs of corruption offenders.
Under the new strategy, the MACC is even tasked to monitor mega projects. One of the projects undertaken by the MACC is to monitor the Klang Valley MRT (KVMRT) project to ensure that it complies with the integrity pact signed between related parties. The KVMRT project is so far, considered the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken in Malaysia and the first phase alone has been estimated to cost upwards of RM36 billion.
The MACC to boot, does have its very owned fully equipped, the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Academy (MACA) that started off in the year 2005 with all the facilities and needs that one can ever look for right now. MACA’s expansion programme includes providing a 3-star hotel accommodation for 240 persons to cater for its international participants.
In effort to abate corruption in the corporate front, cooperation with the latter witnessed the launch of the Corporate Integrity Pledge (CIP) Programme. The aim of the CIP is to get the corporate sector to say “No” to bribery. By adhering to the pledge, a company is making a unilateral declaration that it will not commit corrupt acts, will work towards creating a business environment that is free from corruption and will uphold the Anti-Corruption Principles for Corporations in Malaysia. To date, more than 300 corporate players have signed on to the CIP with us the MACC.
The MACC’s main functions and activities are:
- To investigate offences of corruption;
- To prevent and curb corruption in the public service and the private sector;
- Procuring intelligence and conducting covert investigation on corruption and its related criminal offences;
- Conducting anti-corruption campaigns, education, and other public awareness programmes; and
- Prosecuting offenders.