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.