Dr M: Leaders must show best example to fight corruption

PUTRAJAYA: The top leadership of the country needs to show the best example in the effort to combat corruption, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He said if the government’s top leaders only asked subordinates not to commit corruption but they themselves were not exemplary, then corruption would continue to occur.

“Pakatan Harapan ( PH) promised to fight corruption when it took over the country’s leadership by undertaking various efforts, including setting up a body to prevent corruption and strengthen the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission ( MACC).

“We are drafting laws and ways to govern so that we can reduce corruption and possibly eliminate corruption in Malaysia,” he said.

Dr Mahathir said this at a media conference after attending a special briefing on Governance, Integrity and Anti- Corruption in the MACC headquarters here yesterday.

The briefing was also attended by 160 government administration officers, including Cabinet ministers and PH members of Parliament.

To a question if he had done enough in preventing Pakatan MPs from committing corruption, Dr Mahathir quipped : “I do not know whether I have done enough until I find them break the law.”

On the asset declaration, Dr Mahathir said the government was still considering on how much information to reveal to the public pertaining to the MPs and their families so that it would not affect their privacy.

To date, he said no one had declared their assets and there was no time frame being given to do so.

Asked if there would be an increase in the salary of lawmakers as it was significantly lower than the private sector, Dr Mahathir said: “I know the MP’s salary is low compared to the private sector. We don’t want to be too much lower than the private sector so we are reducing the salary of the private sector,” he said in jest while receiving mixed responses from the crowd.

Dr Mahathir also revealed that some of those who run governmentlinked companies ( GLC) received as much as RM7 million annually. — Bernama