Elected Representatives Blacklist Criteria

 

Online Draft for Comment: Sinar Project Elected Representatives Blacklist Criteria

Elected Represtenatives Blacklist Criteria

Better quality representatives

Candidate Blacklist Criteria is an effort to define an objective criteria to guide political parties and the public to select better quality candidates as our elected representatives. Nominated candidates that fail any of the following criteria will be added to a list of blacklisted candidates.

Blacklisted candidates will be prominently highlighted on Sinar Project’s upcoming GE14 Candidate website. After the elections, elected representatives will also be continuously monitored for compliance with this criteria, and be added to or removed from the blacklist on a Malaysian elected representative website.

The criteria is defined and based on international definitions and best practices for accountability, integrity and transparency.

Nominated candidates will not be blacklisted if they comply to all of the following criteria:

  • Publish their CV

  • Not implicated or in position of responsibility for cases of corruption or gross mismanagement

  • Are upstanding citizens that do not take positions or make statements that would be classified as hateful, discriminatory or in support of curtailing basic human rights as declared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Transparency

Candidates must be transparent in publicly disclosing their professional qualifications.

Curriculum Vitae

CV published should be clear, concise, complete, and up-to-date with past and current employment and educational information.

  • Biography

  • Educational Qualifications

  • Professional Qualifications, current and past employers and positions

  • Talks and Presentations (if any)

  • Publications (if any)

  • Awards and Honors (if any)

  • Hobbies and Interests (optional)

Examples

Examples of acceptable CV providing relevant educational and professional background

Notes and Definitions

None at this time.

Accountability

Candidates must not have been implicated directly or be in position of responsibility for any corruption cases or gross mismanagement in any capacity.

Candidates must not have made statements, decisions or actions that would hinder investigations or disclosure of corruption or gross mismanagement involving public funds.

Examples

The following examples provide guidance on accountable persons that would be blacklisted for several high profile corruption or gross mismanagement cases

  • Case: 1MDB Stolen Funds
    Persons holding the following posts would be held accountable

    • Minister of Finance for being in accountable position, hindering investigations through false statements and classification of parliamentary reports under Officials Secrets Act

    • Deputy Finance Ministers for false statements in parliament

    • 1MDB Chairman and Board of Directors past and present as signatories to agreements and fraudulent fund transfers

    • Senior Management of 1MDB past and present as signatories to agreements and fraudulent fund transfers

    • Inspector General Police for actions hindering investigations or disclosure of corruption

    • MACC Commissioner for actions hindering investigations or disclosure of corruption

    • MCMC Commissioner and Minister of Communications and Multimedia for hindering disclosure of corruption through online censorship of online media and whistleblowing sites

  • Case: Yayasan Pembangunan Ekonomi Islam Malaysia (YaPEIM)  Misuse of Orphan Funds for golfing trips

    Persons holding the following posts would be held accountable

    • Minister of Islamic Affairs as beneficiary of golfing trips

    • Director and management of YaPIEM Foundation for releasing funds not meant for recreational golfing trips

  • Case: Foreign currency violations, money laundering and unexplained amounts of funds/valuables

    • Menteri Besar stopped by Australian Immigration authorities for currency declaration violation with USD1 Million in Singapore, Malaysian and New Zealand banknotes

    • Chief Inspector of Police with frozen foreign account on suspicion of money laundering by Australian authorities

  • Case: False imprisonment and wrongful arrest of 6 members of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) under Emergency Ordinance Act

    • Home Minister for being in accountable position

    • Inspector General of Police for being in accountable position and approval of abuse of police powers

    • Politicians in support of illegal actions of police and enforcement agencies

Notes and Definitions

Corruption

Classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs.

  • Grand corruption consists of acts committed at a high level of government that distort policies or the central functioning of the state, enabling leaders to benefit at the expense of the public good

  • Petty corruption refers to everyday abuse of entrusted power by low- and mid-level public officials in their interactions with ordinary citizens, who often are trying to access basic goods or services in places like hospitals, schools, police departments and other agencies

  • Political corruption is a manipulation of policies, institutions and rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing by political decision makers, who abuse their position to sustain their power, status and wealth

Definition of corruption by Transparency International

Gross Mismanagement

Factors including but not limited to the following:

  • The possible adverse impact on trust or confidence in the organization’s ability to carry out its mandate and fulfill its duties in the public interest

  • The degree of departure from standards, policies, or accepted practices (in the case of a breach of a code, the degree of departure from the code itself)

  • The position, responsibilities and duties of an alleged wrongdoer (for example, there is a higher expectation of probity upon employees who hold positions of trust within the organization)

  • The degree of willfulness, deliberateness or recklessness involved, including any malicious intent to cause harm or purposely engage in wrongdoing

  • The nature and /or frequency of the actions (for example, whether they are isolated, systemic, endemic or repetitive or ongoing)

  • The potential consequences of the actions on the well-being, health or safety of others or the environment and/or serious efforts that are not debatable amongst reasonable people

Definition of wrongdoing under Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act,  Government  of Canada

Exceptions

A person charged would pass this criteria if the person is classified as prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, or under laws that do not comply with UN Human Rights Declaration and Conventions (see Integrity).

Examples of exceptions include Anwar Ibrahim (Prisoner of Conscience) and Khalid Samad, JAIS Unauthorized Speech in Mosque (Freedom of Expression. Also persons charged under laws such as Sedition Act 1948 and Section 233 of Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Integrity

Hate speech

Candidates must be upstanding citizens that do not take positions or make statements that would be classified as hate speech.

For this guideline criteria, candidates will be only be held to Article 19’s definition of hate speech that would be considered as “Must Be Restricted”

Notes and Definitions

Hate speech

“Must Be Restricted” hate speech, as defined by Article 19, ‘Hate Speech’ Explained Toolkit (2015):

  • Direct and public incitement to genocide

  • Any advocacy of discriminatory hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence

  • All propaganda based on ideas or theories of superiority of one race or group of persons of one colour or ethnicity, or the promotion of racial hatred and discrimination

Examples

  • Statement: “I want to warn the Chinese Malaysians, don’t think when you have a problem, you want to complain, just a little bit also complain so that there will be people to protect them. Nak kena lempang macam itu (get a slap for that)”

  • Statement: “I am racist but it’s racism based on Islam. Racism is allowed in Islam”

  • Proposal to set up Malay traders only electronics mall

  • Support of racially discriminatory policies such as segregated universities or institutions. “UITM is university for Malays only”

Uphold Universal Declaration of Human Rights


Candidates must not have made any statements or endorse policies which are against any articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Core Human Rights Instruments.

These rights and conventions include but not limited to:

  • Freedom of Expression

  • Freedom of Religion

  • Elimination of Racial Discrimination

  • Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

  • Rights of the Child

  • Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Examples

Freedom of Expression

Candidates must not have made public statements in support of legislation or policies that curtail freedom of expression and assembly, online and offline.

  • Declarations or statements of peaceful protests as illegal

  • Support for legislation that limits freedom of expression and association including but not limited to Sedition Act, Communications and Multimedia Act, Printing and Presses Act, University and University Colleges Act

  • Statements or directives to curtail freedom of the press

Racism

Candidates must not have made public statements in support of racial discrimination either through racist comments, support of racist policies or organizations.

Example statements:

  • “Chinese were merely 'menumpang di tanah air kita' (squatters in our land)”

Sexual Harassment and Discrimination

Candidates must not have made public statements or behaved in a conduct, or support policies of sexual discrimination, that constitute sexual harassment, sexist or demeaning in nature.

  • Member of Parliament disclosed publicly as sexually harassing journalists

  • Member of Parliament- "Mana bocor, Batu Gajah pun tiap-tiap bulan pun bocor juga (Where is the leak? Batu Gajah MP also leaks every month.)"

Child Rights

Candidates must not have made public statements or conduct that violate the rights of the child. This includes supporting policies or laws that provide for underage marriage, detention and physical punishment of minors.

  • Member of Parliament stating “Rape victims can ward off a “bleak future” by marrying their rapists”

  • Minister or senior public officials supporting policies denying children the right to education

Indigenous Rights

Candidates must not have made public statements or behaved in a conduct, or support policies that discriminate indigenous people by denying their rights to their lands, territories and resources.

  • Supporting policies or projects that destroy their lands through deforestation or flooding through building of dams or plantations

Notes and Definitions

Document Notes

About Sinar Project

Sinar Project is an initiative using open technology and applications to systematically make important information public and more accessible to the Malaysian people.  It aims to improve governance and encourage greater citizen involvement in the public affairs of the nation by making the Malaysian Government more open, transparent and accountable. We build open source civic tech applications, work to open government with open data and defend digital rights for citizens to apply their democratic rights.

Contact: [email protected]

Contributors

Khairil Yusof, Sinar Project

Change Notes

Version 1.0 - Published 2018-03-12

  • Asset Declaration section was removed as criteria for candidates. It will be included for blacklist criteria for elected representatives website. 

    Malaysian Bar Council Pledge for Asset Declaration will be included for candidate website as an additional checklist for politicians that have pledge directly or via political party. 

  • Copy editing and formatting