'Political parties, civil servants the most corrupt': report
By: Karen Arukesamy (Wed, 03 Jun 2009)
PETALING JAYA (June 3, 2009) : Malaysians generally consider political parties and civil service to be the most corrupt groups, and the government's anti-corruption drive to be ineffective, the 2009 Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) report revealed.
The GCB, a global public opinion survey of 73,000 respondents from 69 countries, commissioned by Transparency International, found that political parties were perceived to be the most corrupt by 42% of respondents, while 37% picked civil service institutions.
About 12% of respondents rate the business and private sector as the third most corrupt in Malaysia.
In a survey conducted globally from October last year to February, in which Malaysia participated for the first time, 67% of respondents believe the government's efforts in fighting corruption is ineffective, leaving Malaysia way behind Indonesia where 74% of respondents said the government was effectively fighting graft.
Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) president Datuk Paul Low said: "The reason could be the lack of transparency and disclosures in the funding of political parties. Nobody knows how the campaigns and activities of political parties are funded, in both the Barisan Nasional and opposition parties."
"If political parties want to be perceived to be less corrupt, they should increase visibility of the sources of political funding, which may require making some changes to electoral laws," he said.
"We also need to eliminate money politics," Low said, adding that this includes crossovers between parties involving money.
He said political parties should also submit financial statements which should be made public.
Malaysia's regular spot in the Corruption Perception Index is close to five out of 10 and last year it ranked 47th out of 180 countries.
Low said TI-M, with its expertise and knowledge, was willing to work with the government to fight graft because it affects the poor the most.
The barometer showed that the poorest families continue to be punished by demands for petty bribe.
"Across the board, low income respondents were more likely to meet demands for bribes than high income respondents. Additionally, petty bribery was found to be on the rise in many regions, compounding the already difficult situation of low income households, as jobs and incomes dwindle in the economic downturn," Low said.
The report found that in Malaysia, 9% of respondents offered bribes in some form in the last 12 months.
Low said that in some countries poor citizens had to pay a bribe just to get their children into school, receive medical treatment in hospitals, or to have water services connected -- the most basic rights as citizens.
"The other area of interest is the 12% who voted the private sector. Although we are not as bad as other countries, corruption in the private sector is on the rise and must be dealt with seriously.
"It has to be tackled at the enterprise or corporate level. The CEO or board of directors will have to set the tone to fight graft. Put in place an anti-bribery policy and a whistle-blowing policy, and integrity agreements must be signed between companies and vendors."
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