Asian political parties call for anticorruption measures

Asian political parties call for anticorruption measures

Associated Press, Bangkok

Officials of ruling and opposition political parties from eight Asian nations agreed at a regional meeting Wednesday that they must take a leading role in combating corruption, including in their own organizations.

"The stench of corruption should be enough to make the corrupt choke on their ill-gotten shark's fin soup, tom yam goong, chapatis or pretzels," urged Malaysia's Abdul Aziz Ibrahim, vice chairman of the transnational anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International.

The three-day workshop, attended by party executives from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, was sponsored by the National Democratic Institute and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, or CALD.

The National Democratic Institute is the international affairs branch of the Democratic Party of the United States, and the council is a loose coalition of mostly opposition political parties from around Asia.

CALD chairman Sam Rainsy, head of Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said the meeting produced a series of far-reaching but practical proposals to control money politics and introduce more transparency.

Recommendations included pushing for legislation to ensure financial and ethical accountability of politicians and their parties, enforcement of anti-corruption measures by independent institutions such as election commissions and counter-corruption commissions, and state funding for political parties.

Other targets included greater transparency and accountability within political parties themselves - particularly in regard to financial contributions - and greater democracy, especially in the selection and election of party officials.

Abdul Aziz, who chaired the workshop, said such strategies would "prove to be formidable weapons in the fight against political corruption."

The battle against corruption "should be grounded in humanitarian, ethical and utilitarian considerations," he said, noting that corruption "widens the already widening gap between the rich and the poor" and destabilizes society.

"Take a look at Argentina; once among the richest, it is today a totally broken country because of rampant political corruption," said Abdul Aziz.