Malay rights group Perkasa has welcomed the proposal to form a Royal Commission Inquiry (RCI) to probe corruption scandals in the country.

This includes the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF), 1MDB, SRC International, illegal logging, government-linked agencies and government agencies, said Perkasa Integrity and Anti-Corruption bureau chief Mohamad Shahiran Safwan Che Mohd Asemari.

"This is because Perkasa believes that the existence of an RCI will stop such issues from happening again for good.

"Also, with the RCI, it will clear the names of those marred by corruption," he said.

The reports and investigations done by an independent group, should also be made available to the public, he said, so that everyone is satisfied with the transparency and no one can make assumptions.

The rakyat is also responsible to ensure the administration of the country does not have corruption or abuse of power, he explained.

Shahiran, who is also Perkasa vice-chief, urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to have offices in each district, so that it is easier for the rakyat to lodge reports about corruption.

"With these offices, the rakyat will become used to lodging reports about corruption. This will minimise the number of corruption cases in this country," he said.

He called for all Malaysian citizens, regardless of political idealogy, to unite against corruption.

Yesterday, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as well as DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang both welcomed calls for an RCI into the BMF and Bank Negara forex dealings.

Lim later stressed that 1MDB was the more important issue right now.

The Mahathir-era scandals re-entered the spotlight after the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) declassified a report on BMF recently.

The report suggested that Mahathir's government was aware of BMF's dubious dealings in the 1980s.

The BMF scandal had cost US$1 billion in losses due to its lending practices.

Meanwhile, former Bank Negara assistant governor Abdul Murad Khalid had claimed that the central bank had lost US$10 billion in the foreign exchange market during Mahathir's era.

Murad said despite the heavy losses, there was no investigation over the matter.

Meanwhile, 1MDB is the focus of multiple investigations in various countries.