Chief Secretary to the Government Samsudin Osman said today that developing countries will not be able to develop and manage their economies well if they did not have good administration for their poverty eradication programmes.

He also said that without strong political will among the leaders, the eradication of poverty would not be implemented by all sections of society because it was the leaders who would provide the framework and initiate the poverty eradication machinery.

Samsudin said the people would receive the full benefit of whatever government plans or funding allocations if its managers or officials implemented them honestly and sincerely, and with high integrity.

"Leaders attending the Global 2004 Langkawi International Dialogue (LID) are very much attracted to efforts by Malaysia in implementing its National Integrity Plan.

"From the feedback I received, the participants were impressed with our efforts," he told Bernama TV.

Working paper

Samsudin, who presented a working paper on "A civil servant's perspective on integrity in policy-making & business practice" at the dialogue, said corruption was often seen as an inhibitor in poverty eradication efforts among developing countries.

"Although there had been a lot of efforts in the last 20 to 30 years in Malaysia to reduce and eradicate corruption and abuse of power, and to ensure better corporate governance, the National Integrity Plan marks a new phase in our efforts. For the first time, we now have a holistic and comprehensive plan which covers all sections of society," he said.

Prior to this, Samsudin said each of the sectors had their own efforts and as such they were not comprehensive.

"But with this plan we can now view each sector comprehensively," he said.

And following the launch of the Malaysian Integrity Institute, he said it would not only become an organisation to launch and co-ordinate the efforts of various parties but it would also "help us to achieve what we hope to achieve."

Samsudin, saying that he was often asked whether it would be difficult to adopt such a plan, replied that it was up to the countries concerned.