Political Integrity: Political Parties and the Role of Parliament

Tan Sri Musa Hitam, Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, Prof Dato’ Dr. Khoo Kay Kim, Dato’ Param Cumaraswamy, put these names together and we have one of Malaysia’s liveliest discussion on political integrity.

On November 24th 2005 Friedrich Naumann Foundation and the Malaysian Institute of Integrity invited these distinguished speakers on a panel to discuss with our audience the subject of enforcing and ensuring integrity within the political system.

Tan Sri Musa Hitam, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, initiated the panel discussion on Political Integrity: Political Parties and the Role of the Parliament with his observation that the new mood and new leadership in the country have been more fresh and forthcoming.

Renowned historian Prof Dato’ Dr. Khoo Kay Kim spoke on “Politics and Ethics” stressing that education is the key to political integrity. According to him, “When the large majority of Malaysians lack the education to understand systems, laws, processes and procedures, it is extremely difficult to ensure that politics is closely guided by ethics.” He blamed the commercialisation and politicisation of education for creating a dangerous level of public cynicism and argued that political interference in education has led to a growing number of Malaysians with little knowledge but impressive documents.

Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, Johor Baru MP and the Chairman of the Barisan Nasional Backbencher Club, is known to be vocal in promoting parliamentary reform. He believes that “if the re-introduction of integrity fails in the Parliament, it will fail elsewhere.” To succeed, there must be a clear distinction between parliamentary and political parties. The need to reform Parliament is urgent as MPs in government fail to detach themselves from their party interests when in the Dewan Rakyat. “It is not so much the system as the individual who has to maintain high standards of good behaviour in order to have political integrity.” It often became second nature to long-serving politicians to use money to gain position and power. He maintained that “My priority is… I want to (discourage) parliamentarians from aspiring to become ministers because when you are too ambitious, the executive has a firm grip on you. I am trying to instil self-pride in my colleagues and show them that being a parliamentarian is honourable and that serving people should give them the satisfaction.”

Dato’ Param Cumaraswamy, President of Transparency International Malaysia, supported Shahrir on parliamentary reform and stressed the need for leadership by example and a strong political will and commitment to carry out the necessary reforms. In his views there is an urgent need to restore integrity in politics and there must be a separation of personal and national interest. Since political parties have a code of conduct for members to adhere to, there should also be a code of conduct for elected representatives in the Parliament.

Tan Sri Musa Hitam based his summary on Malaysia’s past political experience, stating that bringing the Malays into mainstream development had caused a culture shock. “From living for the next world, the Malays were hit by present-day development and materialism. Unfortunately, the highly-popular politics of development had only led to temporary success and is now on the decline.” He said that his answer to corruption is very simple. “Arrest those involved, drag them to court, shame them or jail them. This would clearly show the leadership’s seriousness to combat graft.”

The question of integrity is not one that can be solved and answered within a few hours of discussion, however the panel discussion provided a platform where various avenues were explored. To summarise, the forum expressed the need for ethical practice by politicians and political parties, a more informed and educated public to monitor and provide checks on the political system, a strengthened parliament and its supremacy as the representative body of the people, as well as the possibility of using the media as the additional arm of good governance.

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