KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 — Singapore has done far better than Malaysia in building a country and society that practices fairness and national unity through “language, meritocracy and incorruptibility,” the Financial Times (FT) has said.

In an editorial written in conjunction with the island nation’s 50th national day, the FT acknowledged that it may be unfair to compare both countries due to their vastly different demographics, but stressed that Malaysia could stand to learn from Singapore’s zero tolerance for corruption.

“Malaysia, in the name of protecting Malays through positive discrimination, has by contrast created a crony capitalist state,” the international daily said.

The FT noted that the situation is no more evident than in the case of 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), for which the burden of responsibility rests solely on Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

The editorial stressed Najib has little choice but to come clean on the controversy surrounding some RM2.6 billion in “donations” said to have been deposited into his personal bank accounts.

“It (Malaysia) should show zero tolerance for corruption, starting with Mr Najib, who must clear his name or step down,” it said, adding that pro-bumiputera policies should be phased out to promote a sense of unity among Malaysians.

The FT said Malaysia is going through its “worst political crisis” over the donations controversy, which laid bare the “rotten contradictions” that arose over years of political, religious and ethnic accords.

It added that the public have already begun to notice that Najib’s party, Umno, has “long fronted a thoroughly corrupt political system”, and only managed to scrape into power in the 2013 national polls by virtue of an electoral system “stacked in its favour”.