Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong brushed off Malaysia’s poor showing in the Transparency International (TI) Global Corruption Barometer Survey 2009 as mere perception.

NONELiew (right) told the Dewan Rakyat today that the index, which is compiled through surveys, does not reflect reality.

Opposition parliamentarian Fuziah Salleh (PKR-Kuantan) had asked the government why Malaysia’s political corruption cited as “very bad” in the TI poll but the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Report 2009 cited that only 15 politicians had been charged.

“The MACC’s report is based on the 15 people they have acted on and it is based on the complaints they had received and the statement they had recorded during investigations,” said Liew.

However, Fuziah retorted that the government was acting as though there was no corruption and it was just a perception.

“Perception is shaped based on several factors. In the same research study, when Malaysians were asked whether the government is successful in combatting corruption, 67 percent of the respondents found the government to be ineffective,” said Fuziah.

NONE“In comparison, for the Indonesian government, 76 percent of respondents were confident that the government is doing all it can to tackle corruption.

“Meanwhile, in Singapore, 97 percent of respondents are confident that their government is effective in combatting corruption,” said Fuziah (left).

She argued that perception was a result of experience and interaction which has imbedded in the minds of the people that the corruption rate is high.

“Maybe the refusal of the prime minister and BN cabinet members to disclose their assets has caused the perception that the government’s efforts are not enough,” she jibed.

Other institutions fare better

Liew then fired back at Fuziah, dragging in the allegations of election irregularities in PKR’s recent party elections.

“I agree that perception is shaped based on experience, so what is the perception of the people on the elections in PKR where there are allegation of malpractices. But that’s just the perception on Pakatan Rakyat, right? It isn’t really true, is it?” he said mockingly.

He pointed out that the global index looked into political parties among five other institutions - parliament/legislature, business/private sector, media, public officials/civil servants and judiciary.

Liew argued that other Malaysian institutions beside political parties fared much better than their Indonesian counterparts.

“Looking at parliament/legislature, only 4 percent believe that Malaysia is affected by corruption, while 47 percent of respondents in Indonesian think their parliament is affected by corruption.

“It’s a game of perception - how people look at you and how people look at us,” he said, adding that the index was compiled in February 2009 before Premier Najib Abdul Razak took over in April and introduced the National Key Results Area (NKRA) initiative.  

On the same note, Liew, responding to an additional question posed by Mohamad Aziz (BN-Seri Gading), revealed what the MACC has completed its probe on sand theft allegations in Selangor.

The deputy minister said that so far two out of six suspects have been charged, but added that they can escape prosecution sometimes as the accused hired the “best defence counsel”.

“When a politician is accused in court they can afford to get the best defence lawyers to defend them. If they are found not guilty, it doesn’t mean the MACC didn’t do their job but it shows that their lawyers are probably some of the best and have to win the case for their clients.

“MACC is colour-blind and will proceed to charge anyone,” said Liew.