Poll: Anti-graft actions ‘effective’

By Florence A. Samy, The Star

More people have faith in the Government’s capability to combat corruption this year, revealed the latest Transparency International (TI) survey.

A poll involving 1,000 rural and urban respondents in the country showed that 48% perceived the Government’s actions as effective, compared with 28% last year.

Last year, 67% of those surveyed felt that the Goverment’s efforts to combat corruption were ineffective.

However, 41% of those surveyed this time felt that the level of corruption would remain the same next year, 27% said it would increase, while 25% felt that it would reduce.

The remaining 7% chose to abstain.

Respondents gave police a score of 4.1 out of a rating of five for “most corrupt”, political parties a 4.0 and Parliament 3.4.

Civil servants and the private sector trailed closely behind with a score of 3.3, followed by the judiciary at 3.0, non-governmental bodies at 2.9 and media 2.7.

The survey involving over 91,500 people from 86 countries also revealed that 9% of households in Malaysia admitted to giving bribes in the last 12 months, putting Malaysia in the same boat as Singapore and China.

Transparency International Malaysia president Datuk Paul Low said the Government’s various initiatives such as placing integrity as a National Key Result Area and enacting the Whistleblower Protection Act had helped boost public confidence.

However, he said stronger political will “without fear or favour” was needed to eradicate corruption, especially in ensuring that “big fishes” were caught and convicted.

“More needs to be done. We do not have a good record in catching the ‘big fish’.

“We are also concerned that major projects are being awarded without open tenders, the poor progress in the Port Klang Free Zone and the non-implementation of integrity pacts,” he said.

He added that the police were still being viewed as the most corrupt, partly due to the nature of their job which was open to abuse.

The Government, he said, should give the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission more independence to reinforce the rule of law, publicly disclose politicians’ assets, promote freedom of information and ensure effective enforcement.