PUTRAJAYA (Jan 29): The government has identified six priority areas to be addressed under its five-year National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP).

"Today we have launched the NACP, which is an important step for the future of the country. We are focusing on several important areas in our move to cleanse Malaysia," said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad during the launch of the plan today.

The key areas comprise political governance, public sector administration, public procurement, legal and judicial, law enforcement and corporate governance.

The strategies to be employed under the plan to address these key areas include strengthening political integrity, accountability and effectiveness of public service delivery, and increasing the efficiency and transparency in public procurement.

Besides that, the plan looks to enhance the credibility of the legal and judicial system, to institutionalise the credibility of law enforcement agencies and to inculcate good governance in corporate entities.

These six strategies will be implemented via 22 specific priority initiatives out of a total list of 115 initiatives.

The highlights of these initiatives include the introduction of new legislation on governing political funding and to include an offence on lobbying, to strengthen the mechanism in enforcing mandatory job rotation for public servants holding sensitive posts and to promote clear separation of powers and impartiality.