Tunku Abdul Aziz is a former Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Ethics. Tunku Aziz founded, with the support of like-minded Individuals, the Malaysian Chapter of Transparency International. In October 1997 he was elected to the international board of Transparency International and in March the following year, he became Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Transparency International. He was a member of the World Bank High Level Advisory Group on Anti-Corruption in the East Asia and Pacific Region, and a member of the Advisory Board of Global Public Policy Networks, a project of “Visioning the UN", an initiative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the United Nations Foundation.Quote:
"Don't forget I went to jail for a Malay girl!"
- Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister
(Guan Eng was arrested by police in 1994, for criticising the government's handling of allegations of statutory rape of a Malay girl by former Chief Minister of Melaka , Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik . The Attorney General did not charge Rahim Thamby Chik , instead Guan Eng was charged under Section 4(1) (b) of the Sedition Act 1948 for causing 'disaffection with the administration of justice in Malaysia'. Guan Eng was also charged under Section 8A (1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 for 'maliciously printing' a pamphlet ' in which he described the alleged rape victim as an 'imprisoned victim' because she was initially detained by Malaysian police without parental consent for 10 days. Guan Eng was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and was released on August 25th 1999. )
Excerpts: Read here for more
by
Tunku Abdul Aziz
"... I write this as a friend of both Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng in a spirit of helpfulness.
I have shared the platform with them on many occasions over the years to promote issues of shared concerns such as corruption, the need for good governance, an open public procurement process, national integration, equal opportunity and the New Development Policy, that we would like to see driven by the highest ethical standards and values.
Guan Eng has made it clear where he is coming from on good governance, for which he will get my support and assistance at any time because he represents values I have worked for these many years.
My advice, always gratuitous, is that the DAP leadership must now demonstrate that it is a party for ALL Malaysians and NOT a narrow-minded, unashamedly chauvinistic Chinese party in spirit, notwithstanding its protestations to the contrary.
" Guan Eng,YOUR role now as chief minister of Penang is to convince the Malays and Indians, in particular, that YOUR own ethnicity is purely an accident of birth, but your heart is in the right place.
You are indeed there to protect the legitimate interests of ALL the people for whom you carry a responsibility. It is a heavy responsibility that you have chosen to carry.
No one had forced you into this situation. The only ideology that you need to carry with you to the 26th floor of Komtar is service in the PUBLIC interest.
Your party has in the past argued for fairness and fair play. The present state of political play, requiring you to work with other parties out of necessity, is being closely watched and monitored.
Your party's attempt to ride roughshod over your partners in the matter of the composition of the Perak executive council a few days ago, demanding eight places for DAP, has exposed your true colours.
Surely the idea of developing a coalition is to seek a convergence of interests in support of a larger, longer-term sustainable objective.
The political landscape you and other former opposition parties have created needs to be NURTURED by your complete sincerity, ability to give and take, and a desire to develop and implement sound, non-partisan, people- and race-friendly policies based on equality of opportunity for all.
Fighting corruption and poverty must be the MAIN item on your action plan because corruption distorts your decision-making processes and denies the poor the benefits that should accrue to them. All this applies to all parties running state administrations as well as the central government.
The pressure is now on to see how well or badly you are going to perform.WE will all be watching, with great interest, whether the new state governments will honour their pledges that they so loudly proclaimed during their campaigns for votes.
To use a cliche, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I hope there will not be too unpleasant a taste in too many mouths in the process.
I wish all politicians well in their work in the public interest."
-Tunku Abdul Aziz
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