PUTRAJAYA, Dec 9 ― Corruption and power abuse among civil servants in the country is like cancer, that is feared will slowly damage the government institution.

Based on statistics by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for 2015 until October this year, a total of 2,607 civil servants were arrested for corrupt practices.

MACC Deputy Chief Commissioner (Prevention) Datuk Seri Shamshun Baharin Mohd Jamil said the highest arrest involved those in the implementing group, with 1,884 individuals, followed by the management and professional groups, totalling 658 people.

"The top management group recorded 65 individuals. We don’t want a situation, because of these individuals, it will hinder the smooth development of the country and tarnish the credibility of civil servants.

"Because of that, efforts to address and ensure the country, especially the civil service, is free of corruption, are shared responsibility and not placed on the shoulders of the MACC alone,” he told Bernama in an exclusive interview at the MACC office here recently.

Shamshun Baharin said in conjunction with the International Anti-Corruption Day today, the MACC will focus on local government authorities (PBT) with the theme "PBT Against Bribery”.

He said that local authorities are one of the focus in the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) and the commission is prepared to work together to assist the local authorities in dealing with corruption and abuse of power, as well as other malpractices, to transform them into into an organisation with high integrity and is corruption-free.

"There are many issues in PBT, not only corruption, but also service issues,” added.

 He also suggested the local authorities to develop their own Organisational Anti-Corruption Plan (OACP) to combat corruption comprehensively,  thus showing the commitment of all their employees in the fight against corruption.

He said the Taiping Municipal Council (MPT) was among the first of the 149 local authorities in Malaysia to develop the plan.

This reflects  the commitment and support of MPT staff in the fight against corruption, and further inspired the MACC to continue to fight corruption and power abuse, he added. "We are willing to assist other local authorities in preparing the OACP by providing advice and to work with the officers involved,” he said. ― Bernama