I have received public inquiries as to whether the second series of public hearings of the Parliamentary Select Committee of Integrity will be held in Johor Baru and Malacca on Wednesday (8th August) and Thursday (9th August) respectively.

As many seems to be in the dark, I want to publicly confirm that the second series of the public hearings of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity will be held in Johor Baru, Malacca, Ipoh and Alor Star this week and next on the following dates and venues:

• Johor Baru – August 8 – 10 am
  (Bilik Gerakan Tun Razak, Dewan Undangan Negeri Johor, Johor Bharu)

• Malacca – August 9 – 10 am
  (Bilik Gerakan Tun Mutahir, Dewan Undangan Negeri Melaka, Melaka)

• Ipoh – August 15 – 10 am
  (Bilik Gerakan Negeri, Dewan Undangan Negeri Perak, Ipoh)

• Alor Setar – August 16 – 10 am
  (Bilik Gerakan Dewan Undangan Negeri Kedah, Alor Setar, Kedah)

The announcement of these public hearings is also available at the parliamentary website, http://www.parlimen.gov.my/, inviting organizations, associations and individuals to the public hearings to give their views and proposals on integrity, in particular the National Integrity Plan.

This is an opportunity for Malaysians to express their views on the betterment of the nation on grave issues of integrity, corruption, abuses of power and lack of good governance, particularly on the occasion of the 50th Merdeka anniversary, which should not be missed. Organisations and individuals from Negri Sembilan who wish to appear before the Select Committee should make it to the JB or Malacca public hearing as it is unlikely that there would be a separate public hearing date for the state.

The National Integrity Plan (NIP) was launched by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in May 2004 to implement “in a systematic and planned manner involving the co-operation of all sectors and institutions in the country”.

It sets five-year objectives to be a “catalyst for enhancing integrity among leaders, administrators, businessmen, politicians, youths, students, women, people of different faiths, members of NGOs and others”.

The first five-year target of NIP, Target 2008, for the first five years (2004-2008) is reaching its end, providing an opportune occasion for a review of its success and failures to date.

The first and most important of the five “targets” of Target 2008 is to “effectively reduce corruption, malpractices and abuse of power” with the specific objective — to improve Malaysia’s ranking in the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from 37th place in 2003 to at least 30th position in 2008, and the score of 5.2 for Malaysia in 2003 to at least 6.5 by 2008. (10 being the best and 1.0 the worst).

We have been heading in the opposite direction in the past three years, falling to 39th placing in 2004 and 2005 and plunging to 44th placing in 2006, with all signs of further drop this year. Malaysia’s TI CPI score for the past three years were also dismal, being 5.0, 5.1 and 5.0 for 2004, 2005 and 2006 respectively — a far cry from the target score of 6.5 for 2008.

The message is clear — the NIP had been an abysmal failure.

The other four targets of NIP are:

2. Improve efficiency in the public service delivery system and overcome bureaucratic red tape.

3. Enhance corporate governance and business ethics.

4. Strengthen the family institution.

5.. Improve the quality of life and people’s well being.

Target 5 is particularly pertinent at the present time which is witnessing the escalation of the crime wave where Malaysians have lost their fundamental rights to be free from crime and the fear of crime.

The NIP stated that achievement of Target 5 will be measured among other things “Reduction in the incidence of crimes in the society, especially serious crimes, crimes against property and sexual crimes. Such reduction is a measure of safety in the community.”

When Abdullah became Prime Minister about four years ago, he promised to make the war on crime one of his administration’s top agendas.

As a result, he established the Royal Police Commission to make recommendations to create a world-class police force which can keep crime low.

In its report, the Royal Police Commission expressed shock that there had been a 29 per cent increase of crime in the eight years from121,176 cases in 1997 to 156,455 cases in 2004, and sounded the warning that unless this trend was checked and reversed, there would be “major social and economic consequences for Malaysia”.

It recommended a major police crackdown on crime and the “immediate target of a minimum of 20 per cent decrease” in the incidence of crime within the first 12 months.

Instead of a 20 per cent reduction of crime in the first 12 months after the Royal Police Commission Report, there had been a 27 per cent increase in the crime index from 156,455 cases in 2004 to 198,622 cases in 2006 — when it took eight years for the crime index to increase 29 per cent from 1997 to 2004 which the Royal Police Commission had found completely unacceptable.

In the first six months of this year, the crime index worsened by 5.11 per cent when compared to the same period last year. Just to illustrate the gravity of the worsening crime problem, there were 8.2 cases of rape a day in the first six months of this year as compared to 4 cases a day in 2003!

This is clear proof that the crime situation had got very much worse after the Royal Police Commission Report, although the reverse should have taken place — as the government had given up to 42% increase in salaries for police personnel, RM2.5 billion for police housing, as well as hundreds of millions of ringgit of other allocations for improvements in police service as recommended by the Royal Police Commission Report.