Emulate Penang, declare assets: PAS Youth

Dec 13: Praising the Penang state government’s move to compel all its exco members to declare personal assets, PAS Youth has called on other state governments to emulate the move.

“Asset declaration is the right and important direction so that exco members work with full accountability, responsibility and transparency for the sake of the people instead of themselves,” said the PAS Youth's information chief Riduan Mohd Nor (pic).

Earlier, Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng announced that the assets of state Exco members would be published online within a month. This followed Selangor's move to declare assets of its Exco. The Kedah and Kelantan state governments helmed by PAS have however yet to follow suit.

Riduan said many leaders whether at state or national level were reluctant to declare their assets.
"Perhaps it is due to their fear that their wealth once declared will be questioned by the people when it is in the millions or billions range, more than what they can afford,” he quipped.

Riduan considered such leaders as dishonest to the people as they had taken advantage of their public position and influence to enrich themselves.

Riduan said as a consequence of not declaring assets public, there had been many irregularities and wastages in the administration.

"The Auditor General’s Report 2010 clearly shows all these are happening,” he added.

Riduan said it was no surprise to note that Penang managed to attract the highest investment in Malaysia for the first time in 2010.

Saying it was due to Penang's "transparency", Riduan urged all states to emulate the DAP-led state.