KUCHING (July 24): The Sarawak Ministry of Public Health, Housing and Local Government (MPHLG) reaffirmed its commitment to eradicating corruption by signing the Corruption-Free Pledge (IBR) with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today.

The signing ceremony, part of the ministry’s Integrity Day at Wisma Sabati, saw MPHLG permanent secretary Elizabeth Loh and MACC Sarawak director Hasbillah Mohamad Salleh ink the pledge, with Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian in attendance.

In his speech, Dr Sim, who is also Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government, said the MPHLG Integrity Day (MPHLG ID), now in its fourth year, is about reaffirming their commitment to core public service principles – integrity, kind and caring, professionalism, sense of urgency and ownership, team spirit and result oriented.

“The implementation of this Integrity Day is one of the national transformation agendas, particularly in developing high-quality human capital with integrity within the ministry as well as promoting good governance to increase the positive impact to the rakyat.

“I’m very glad to support the good efforts of the ministry’s administration through the Integrity Units, to make Integrity Day as a platform for cultivating integrity and good values in the ministry, agencies and local authorities under the ministry,” he added.

Dr Sim said as government servants, they bear a profound responsibility to serve fellow citizens with unwavering integrity, dedication and transparency.

“Integrity is the cornerstone of adherence to ethical standards in all our actions and decisions. It is not merely a virtue but a fundamental requirement that ensures public trust and confidence in our institutions.

“In general, our ministry is one of the ministries in Sarawak that has huge responsibility because we supervise and monitor three main agencies, namely Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID), the Sarawak Sewerage Services Department (SSD) and the Sarawak Housing Corporation (HDC) and 26 local authorities in Sarawak.

“Each agency and local authority under the ministry has its own role, especially development projects implementation to ensure the well-being of the rakyat,” he added.

Dr Sim acknowledged the frequent reports of abuse of power, corruption and lack of transparency, especially involving development projects for the rakyat.

Dr Sim said that statistics from MACC have shown a total of 437 and 319 arrests for corruption offences among civil servants in 2023 and the first half of 2024, respectively.

“This to some extent has a negative impact on the image of the government, especially civil servants,” he said.

In this respect, he urged all civil servants to adhere to integrity and inculcate a high level of discipline in themselves and then portray a good personality while carrying out their responsibilities.

“Besides that, management’s commitment can be demonstrated through a declaration of interest and confidentiality during any meeting involving project or service and I presume it has been practised by everyone in the ministry, agencies and local authorities.

“There is no doubt that each officer in my ministry, agencies and local authorities under the ministry are not involved in such cases and have carried out their duties diligently,” he added.

Also present were Dr Sim’s deputies Datuk Dr Penguang Manggil and Datuk Michael Tiang.