KOTA KINABALU: A campaign to encourage the public to report corruption to the authorities should be carried out after a survey by Transparency Malaysia showed that 52% of the people did not bother to report it, says Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.
The Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister said there should be a public awareness campaign to address this.
"This is something we should take seriously. There needs to be awareness that it is not okay to take bribes," he said at the opening of an anti-corruption forum here on Wednesday (Aug 17).
"I am shocked by the Transparency Malaysia survey that found only 48% of the people feel the need to report corruption while the remaining 52% are prepared to turn a blind eye," he said.
Masidi said the statistics showed that Malaysians were willing to forgive the corrupt and do not want to get involved in the fight against corruption.
"It is worrying especially when our country has reached a degree of development where integrity should be part of our way of life.
"We have laws but the problem is apathy. We cannot remain aloof to corruption," he added.
Masidi, who is also Sabah Finance Minister II, said government-linked companies (GLC) and government bodies should form integrity units with contact details easily available to the public.
"This will allow people to report any suspected misdoings within GLCs and government bodies," he said, adding that this could then be reported to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for further action," he said, adding that corruption involves the rakyat's money and they should fight any corrupt practices.
Masidi noted that the state government was still investigating oil palm companies that had evaded state sales tax on crude palm oil by allegedly paying off government officers.
"We are uncovering it little by little. I am quite shocked by the result," he said, referring to the recent Sabah MACC investigation into oil mill companies who were under-declaring their crude palm oil production numbers to avoid paying the tax.
