SURVEY: POLITICAL PARTIES THE MOST CORRUPT

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians perceive political parties as the most corrupt institution in the country followed by the civil service, according to a survey.

Meanwhile, 67% of Malaysians said they were unconvinced with the Government’s efforts to tackle corruption, calling their actions ineffective.

This was in stark contrast to the 74% of Indonesians who felt their government was effective in combating corruption.

According to Transparency International’s 2009 Global Corruption Barometer, 42% of Malaysians viewed political parties, regardless of faction, as the most corrupt, followed by the civil service (37%), private sector (12%), judiciary (5%), legislative (4%) and media (1%).

The survey also showed that 9% of Malaysians paid bribes in the last 12 months, compared to 29% in Indonesia and 6% in Singapore.

TI Malaysia president Datuk Paul Low said more needed to be done to change the local public’s perception of corruption.

“It is a matter of political will. For example, the public still view political parties as most corrupt because of money politics and the lack of disclosure of political funding and financial statement.

“We must eliminate money politics and disclose where the funding comes from.

“In Indonesia, the public perceives their government’s anti-corruption actions as effective as there is a breakthrough in the fight against corruption,” he said when revealing the report yesterday.

Low said half of Malaysian respondents said they were willing to pay more to buy from a corrupt-free company. On the civil service, Low commended the Government for making the delivery service more efficient through Pemudah but called on further reduction of bureaucratic red tape.

More than 73,000 people in 69 countries were surveyed between October last year and February this year including 1,236 Malaysians.

Globally, 29% of respondents viewed political parties as most corrupt, followed by civil servants 26%, legislature (16%), private sector (14%), judiciary (9%) and media (6%).