KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's worry about corruption weakening the civil service has led to several quarters suggesting ways to curb the problem.
Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said a simple anti-corruption syllabus should be included in the education system to create an anti-corruption culture in the society.
“The family must also play a role in teaching children to detest corruption,” he said in a statement yesterday.
“We need a strong collective thrust in enforcement to effectively stamp out corruption as the country already has sufficient laws to deal with the problem,” he added.
On Monday, Abdullah, when opening a convention, described as alarming that about half of the 1,352 people held for graft between 1998 and 2002 were civil servants.
In a previous interview, Business Ethics Institute of Malaysia chairman Dr Zainal Abidin Majid said that officers in the Government and corporate sectors must say no even to small gifts.
Recently, Transparency International in its latest report stated that “Malaysia has what it takes to mount a serious attack on all forms of unethical public behaviour.”
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said yesterday that his ministry had always taken stern action against staff involved in abuse of power or corruption.
