Get rid of corruption, political parties told

(Bernama) – Political parties in Malaysia need to rid themselves of money politics while being more transparent in terms of funding, to change public perception towards their credibility.

President of Malaysian Society for Transparency and Integrity, Datuk Paul Low, said the move may also require some changes in the electoral laws.

"The issue concerning the political parties is the pervasiveness of money politics. There is a lack of transparency in political funding, as nobody knows how the political parties are being funded.

"If we want to change the perception towards political parties, we need to eliminate money politics and have more transparency and visibility as to the sources of political funding," he told a media briefing after unveiling the results of the 2009 Global Corruption Barometer survey here, Wednesday (3 June).

The survey showed that 42 percent of the 73,000 respondents drawn from 69 countries, believed that political parties were perceived to be the most corrupt institutions, followed by public officials/civil servants (37 percent) and private sector (12 percent).

Low said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency could help battle corruption and clean the image of the country.

"The government is also doing a good job via the formation Special Taskforce to Facilitate Business to help improve the delivery system," he said.

He said the private sector, especially those doing business abroad, must practise good ethics and integrity.

"Consumers today are not only willing to pay a premium for quality products and services but also buy from corruption-free company," he said, adding that corruption could also lead to higher cost of doing business.