LAXENBURG (Austria): Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the number of corruption cases being reported is increasing after the new Pakatan Harapan government put in place efforts and policy to fight graft.
The prime minister said the people and whistleblowers were no longer afraid of reporting graft cases since the government was now more open about them.
"When we ask the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Comission (MACC) they said surprisingly the number of cases is increasing," said Dr Mahathir during his lecture themed Fighting Corruption in Malaysia: Achievements, Challenges and Perspectives at the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA), here.
He said now the people felt at ease to report graft and the government was giving them protection under the Whistleblowers Act.
Elaborating on graft, he said it was categorised into two sections, namely over the table and under the table.
He said if a country was in the ‘over the table’ stage it could create trouble as people would offer bribes voluntarily for services from government officers and thus became a norm of society.
"When a country is on the under the table stage there is still hope to fight corruption as people don’t offer bribes but are forced to do so," he added.
Dr Mahathir said it was impossible to eliminate corruption if the country was in the over the table stage.
The prime minister said the government was doing everything to reduce graft if not eliminating them totally.
He said nobody was above the law and the law alone was not enough in the fight against graft.
Dr Mahathir said some countries had very minimal cases where people were against corruption and this should be nurtured from a young age.
He said that among other efforts that the government had done to fight corruption was that all ministers including himself had to declare their assets to the MACC. -- BERNAMA