Old habits of patronage die hard in ‘New Malaysia’
- Pakatan Harapan won last year’s election on an anti-corruption platform, but critics are now accusing it of failing to enact change
- Nepotism and cronyism is still rife within government-linked companies and agencies, according to civil society watchdogs
The Pakatan Harapan coalition unseated long-time ruling alliance the Barisan Nasional in May after running on an anti-corruption platform, highlighting financial mismanagement and graft that it alleged was running rampant in the previous administration and promising change.
However, civil society watchdogs are now accusing Pakatan Harapan of failing to enact its promised reforms in a timely manner.
The GLC Reform Cluster, a monitoring group that forms part of the 50-NGO “Platform for Reform” civil society coalition, said there had been “slow progress” in reforming GLCs.
“Instead of providing services to the rakyat (people) and securing our collective future as a nation, GLCs have been exploited as patronage mechanisms to channel contracts to politicians and well-connected businesses,” the group said in a statement.
