GEORGE TOWN (June 13, 2012): Former Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is slated to speak on clean governance on June 25 when he attends the inaugural conference of the Asean Coalition for Clean Governance here.
Organised by state think-tank Penang Institute (PI), Abhisit, who is the Thai opposition leader and known as a strong proponent for clean governance, will deliver the keynote address at the conference.
Others speakers include former Indonesian Audit Board head Prof Anwar Nasution, Philippines Akbayan Party chairperson Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, Transparency International Malaysia president Datuk Paul Low, and Donald Low who is a former fiscal policy director of Singapore’s Ministry of Finance.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the conference will reinforce how important it is to establish institutions for clean governance like declaring assets.
“This is one of the ways to strengthen the integrity of those in leadership,” he said today after attending a gathering with the state’s civil servants.
The conference is themed “What enables clean governance in democracies? Asean perspectives”.
Lim said it was unique, being the first time the concept of clean governance was stressed upon in a conference in the region.
“This is not only the first in Malaysia but in the region so we hope that we can do this annually so that more Asean leaders can attend,” he said.