KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 — A local survey has found that public perception towards corruption in Malaysia has remained unchanged since 2005, with 77 per cent of Malaysian voters saying it is either “very serious” or “somewhat serious”.
According to the survey carried out by independent pollster Merdeka Center in collaboration with BFM Radio, similar polls conducted in August 2005 and June 2012 found 76 per cent and 78 per cent of voters saying the same.
The latest survey, conducted between November 26 and December 5 this year, also found that more Malaysians believe that corruption here has increased since last year, with 49 per cent of those polled agreeing, and just 21 per cent disagreeing.
Twenty per cent, however, said they felt corruption has remained the same.
In the survey, 1,019 voters aged 21 and above from all states across the peninsula were polled via the telephone. They were selected through random stratified sampling method along the lines of ethnicity, gender, age and parliament constituencies.
The 1,019 comprised 61 per cent Malays, 30 per cent Chinese and nine per cent Indians.
Of the total 1,019 polled, a majority of 56 per cent perceived the government’s fight against corruption lacking, despite recent successes by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Thirty per cent, however, said government efforts have been “somewhat effective”, while nine per cent said they were “very effective”.
These views were more apparent among younger voters and those with internet access, the survey found.
A majority of the Chinese and Indian respondents were less positive towards Putrajaya’s corruption-fighting measures, with 75 per cent and 54 per cent saying they were ineffective.
But the Malays, however, were more evenly divided in their views, with more of them at 48 per cent saying they perceived the government to be doing well in tackling corruption while 46 per cent disagreed.
The same survey also saw a near-even split in views on the Auditor-General’s report, with 51 per cent saying the federal audit on the performances of government agencies and ministries has been taken seriously while 39 per cent felt otherwise.
“Again, these views were more prevalent among younger voters,” Merdeka Center observed in a press statement accompanying the survey results.
The independent pollster also observed that despite the negative viewpoints of Malaysians towards corruption in their country, one “silver lining” is that a majority of 67 per cent of those polled felt that it was possible for ordinary citizens to make a difference in combating the problem.
“This sentiment was particularly strong among rural and low income households,” it said.
Earlier this month, a similar survey conducted by global anti-graft organisation Transparency International found that Malaysia fared marginally better in its Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
Malaysia ranked 50th out of 175 countries studied with an index score of 52, two points better than its 2013 score of 50. The country recorded a score of 49 in 2012 edition.
Despite the minimal advancement in score, Malaysia managed to take second place among its peers in Asean by virtue of much worse scores assigned by the index to the Philippines and Thailand — ranked joint-85th with a score of 38 — followed by Indonesia which ranked 107th with a score of 34.
Other Asean countries closer to the bottom of the pile were Vietnam (119th) with a score of 31, Laos (145th) with a score of 25, and Cambodia and Myanmar, which were joint-156th with identical scores of 21.
TI said in its report that not enough is being done to fight corruption in the Asia-Pacific region despite “many public declarations and commitments” made to deal with graft in the world’s fastest growing region.
