Unfair to blame whole departments.
Corruption is being perpetuated by some government officials, but it would be unfair to paint the entire department as tainted when there are only a few rogues, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.
Zahid, a former home minister, admitted that some enforcement officials in the Immigration Department and the National Registration Department (NRD) had yet to be caught and action needed to be taken fast.
“There are a lot of accusations hurled between the two departments, Immigration and NRD and to avoid these allegations from continuing, the PM took steps to investigate the matter.
“If the allegations are true, it must be fixed and if not, we need some clarity on what’s happening.
“It’s true that some of these kacang-kacang hantu exist in the department and they must be eradicated,” he told a news conference in Putrajaya, using a Malay idiom meaning miscreants.
“Now is not the best time to accuse people randomly. We need to find these miscreants and make sure the steps we take to prevent such behaviour from happening again is effective,” he added.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim made a surprise visit to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 1 last Sunday to check on the Immigration officials on duty after Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing claimed a “culture of corruption” there.
After his visit, Anwar yesterday advised civil servants to leave their “old ways” behind for the country to strive for excellence. – MMO