Challenges in implementing OACP

Interference of Politicians in Government Administration and Finance

In the Malaysia scenario, politician always plays an important role in the

administration. Briefly, the politicians vested the power from the executives and legislatives
bodies. Hence, it can be said that they have the direct control and able to interfere the on-
going activities in the administration. Moreover, the Prime Minister is the one who is
responsible for appointing the executives of government-affiliated businesses, and his or her
office will often issue remarks to the public on these appointments. In the context of the
OACP’s implementation, these politicians have the direct control on organization such as
FELDA AND 1Malaysia Development Berhad. Politicians have, for the most part, meddled in
bureaucratic and financial concerns, which they view as having the potential to play a major
role in supporting their own interests to the detriment of the laws and regulations.
Interferences of this kind occur in the decision-making process, most notably in procedures
involving job appointments, procurement, and the judicial system. According to the MACC,
the procurement process in the construction industry, including talks with intermediaries, is
where the vast majority of these types of instances were recorded from 2012 through 2014.

In addition, the implementation of OACP solely to combat corruption issue, hence with the
existence of certain unmannered politicians, it may hinder the objective of OACP. The
capability of the politician to interfere in the administration and finance may leads to
corruption issues and others. For example, during Najib Razak became the prime minister,
he has the capability to interfere every administration and financial processes of 1MDB. The
result from that, he has founded guilty as there are multiple corruption activities carried by
him when he was a politician which gave a huge negative impact towards the organization
and Malaysia economy. Moreover, the interference made by the politician are not just limited
to the corruption, however they also have the capability to alter the regulation of the OACP.
The objectives of OACP are to promote good governance and integrity issues, however due
to interference from the politician, the objectives are difficult to achieve.
Lack of Leadership and Political Will

Both the viability and the efficiency of the anti-corruption efforts that have been taken
up to this point have been negatively impacted by a lack of political leadership as well as a
lack of political will to impose national anti-corruption regulations. The majority of anti-
corruption measures, if not all of them, are carried out either belatedly, slowly, or with little
support from the public. Head of the organization or the politician must have a strong
leadership during implementing the OACP. As we learned in the human resource context, a
top executive become the model of the normal worker. To apply the context in this scenario,
the head of organization must embrace their transparency and to show his willingness in
implementing OACP to ensure others comply with OACP’s rules and regulation. Moreover,
the implementation of OACP becoming a challenge to implement because most of the
politician tends to ignore and delayed several initiatives that could help in combating
corruption at the organizational level. According to MACC, Integrity in asset declarations and
a gift organizational policy for the administration's personnel are some of the outstanding
projects that were mentioned during the previous government and have yet to be
implemented. With the implementation of the provision for misconduct in public office, the
establishment of a separate agency for the management of assets that have been
confiscated or forfeited, the establishment of appropriate regulations regarding lobbyists and
the demarcation of authority between ministers and secretary’s general are also some of the
policies that delayed by the politician.

Furthermore, the challenges of the OACP’s implementation can be seen when there
are certain organization which have difficulties that relates with lack of leadership and
political will such as Department of Social Welfare Malaysia (JKM). Succession from the lack
of leadership and political will, JKM itself unable to establish an integrity unit. The integrity
unit is at the centre of maintaining compliance and integrity within a department. Its other
responsibility is to make certain that the intended plan can be carried out efficiently. The
Department, on the other hand, does not yet have a Departmental Integrity Unit, which is
one of the most significant obstacles. despite the fact that they receive support, assistance,
and assistance from the Integrity Unit at all times. Thus, with the existence of a strong
leadership by head of department in JKM, such issues mentioned will not be arise. Apart
from that, with the absence of strong leadership also will reduce the internal audit control
that could resulted to corruption issues. The efficiency of the department's internal audit is of
the utmost importance in order to guarantee that each individual possesses the capacity to
carry out tasks in an honest and flawless manner. It is essential that disciplinary measures
be taken against police who violate the law and maintain their integrity, and these measures
should be swiftly and fully enforced to raise awareness among other residents.
Light Punishment to Corruption Offenders – consensus that everyone agree that the current
law failed punished the offenders effectively

In the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (Act 694), the broad sense
punishment for any corruption-related crime is a sentence of imprisonment not exceeding 20
years. In contrast, the prior Anti-Corruption Act 1997 (Act 575) would provide for
imprisonment for a term that is not less than 14 days and not more than 20 years. As a
result, the MACC Act 2009 (Act 694) is the only one of the two that does not include a
required minimum number of days needed to serve a jail sentence.  This can be construed
to mean that violators are not required to fulfill the mandatory amount of time in jail. As a
consequence of this, Act 694 is rendered illogical, and as a result, it has become out of date
and has to be revised. The punishment made to the offender seems to be minimum, as the
cycle of the corruption may be happening again. The level of brutality involved in white-collar
crime much exceeds that of violent crime. It is possible for the activities of a single person or
a small group of corrupt public officials or businesspeople to have an impact on the lives of
thousands or even millions of people. The severity of the penalty needs to be such that the
offender is dissuaded from committing the offence again. It is quite likely that the introduction
of more severe fines will lead to a decline in corrupt actions in this country. White-collar
offenders in China are subject to the same legal consequences as other types of criminals.

According to the figures compiled by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission

(MACC), 57.8 percent of the 5,652 individuals who were arrested for misconduct between
the years 2007 and August 2022 were government workers in their 40s or younger. In point
of fact, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) arrested 275 people aged
between 18 and 30 who worked for the government for their engagement in unethical
crimes. From the data collected by MACC, the numbers of employee convicted corruption
keep worsening and the light punishment becoming one of the factors that also hinder the
implementation of OACP which promotes good governance and transparency. Those found
guilty of corruption should face harsh penalties in the hopes that it would cause them to
change their ways. An appropriate penalty like this would not only be in the public's best
interests, but would also teach society as a whole to look down on such illegal behaviour. In
the case of 1MDB, Najib Razak only served 12 years of imprisonment after transferred
US$700 million to his personal account. Even though the determination to redo the
corruption activities remain unclear, however the fact that light punishment to the offender
cannot be ignore. Hence, it is the power of our judicial body to ensure there are more heavy
punishment to corrupt offender to ensure transparency while dealing the public money such
as death penalty imposed by China. Thus, it can be said that light punishment to the
offender becoming a major challenge to every organization in implementing OACP.
Lack of Monitoring of policy enforcement

Monitoring here refers to observe any activity that relates with performance or rules
regulation, while enforcement means here is to measure the effective of a policy through
monitoring conduct. Malaysia is one of a country that have laws that provide justice for
people. Regrettably, it has been enforced poorly. All procedures and methods must be in
accordance with the current legal framework, therefore monitoring and enforcement are
crucial. It is not uncommon for government agencies to lack the resources necessary to
conduct thorough inspections, audits, and reviews of the ways in which its programs are
actually carried out. Lack of resources, such as personnel, skills, technology, methodologies,
and finances, is often cited as a reason for monitoring and enforcement initiatives fall short.
There is a widespread agreement that information and communication technologies (ICTs)
have the ability to make a major contributor to the movement to combat corruption. Because
of corruption, both openness and oversight from authoritative bodies suffer. Thus, corruption
thrives in places where there is either a weak legal foundation for control or a lack of political
will to govern, allowing for the transparent operation of both the economy and politics.
Extensive, unclear, or insufficient laws, where regulations might be construed differently,
also contributes to corruption.

The curb the corruption issue, a good monitoring procedure must be conducted. In
the Malaysia context, FELDA has implemented OACP and FELDA also implemented risk
assessment to monitor the enforcement of the law. FELDA has a poor reputation for
enforcing its policies and for having effective internal control measures. Additionally, there is
a component of non-compliance and corruption in which FELDA administration has taken a
determination in defiance of SOP and FELDA Circular. Compliance violations with policy,
protocols, and guidelines in everyday operations, lack of research and risk assessment of a
program or project, and ineffective internal audits all contribute to a weak monitoring and
enforcement process. Moreover, the ability to exert authority over lower-level employees is a
weakness shared by many bureaucrats. This includes both heads of departments and
middle level management. They have no respect for their superiors, therefore lower
personnel feel free to perpetrate misconducts or disregard for ethics. Thus, FELDA must
strengthen their administration and along with technological advancement which is Anti
Bribery Management System (ABMS). Therefore, it can be said that lack of monitoring and
enforcement disallow FELDA implemented OACP which resulted to corruption issues.
Former FELDA chairman who is Tan Sri Isa has committed the corruption totalling RM 3
billion ringgit. Logically, if FELDA truly enforce and strengthen the usage of OACP, such
case would not be happened. Thus, a good monitoring procedure and enforcement of OACP
may help organization to combat corruption at the organizational level.