KUCHING: The State Education Department yesterday pledged in an oath to eradicate corruption within the organisation by taking the anti-corruption vow.
Leading the pledge was its director Rakayah Madon who was accompanied by deputy director, Abang Mat Ali together with the majority of the department’s staff.
Present during the ceremony was the state’s Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Deputy Director (Prevention), Zulhairy Zaidel who said in his speech that the pledge was different than the ones taken by corporate bodies.
“Pledge taken by government departments stresses more on the leadership and involves all individual of the department to hold up to their accountability and responsibility to stay away from any forms of bribery, deviation and conflict of interests.
“It is accurate and statistically proven that public servants have a higher tendency to be involved in corruption, abusing their positions as public servants.
“They are also more prone to conduct crimes that are inter-related with corruption to the extent of pawning their own dignity for their personal gain.
“This act brings about a negative image towards the whole department and hence, leading the public to slowly lose confidence in the public sector and the government as a whole.
“Corruption is like a small fire. It will grow and burn whatever it touches if no action is taken to extinguish it,” said Zulhairy.
Apart from that, he also stated that through the pledge, both MACC and the State Education Department could work closely in eradicating any form of corruption within the department itself.
“No one can force anyone to practise integrity but the person themselves. It has to be practised sincerely,” said Zulhairy.
