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Corruption now a thing of the past in Malaysia, says Mahathir.
KUALA LUMPUR: Corruption in Malaysia has become a thing of the past following the change in government, said Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
In an interview with television station Astro Awani broadcast live on Sunday (Oct 21), he said people no longer talked about having to pay bribes when dealing with government officials.
“We don’t hear about corruption anymore. People can deal with the government without having to pay bribes.
"And if we go abroad, no one asks us what's going on in our country anymore. This is because when we replaced the (previous) government we also curbed corruption," he said.
Dr Mahathir won the country's general election in May on promises of fighting corruption and reforming institutions. He has blamed the previous administration of Najib Razak for taking the country into heavy debt, including that of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund, which is the subject of corruption and money laundering investigations in Malaysia and other countries.
Dr Mahathir said in the interview that the government's efforts at combating corruption have been successful.
“Corruption is almost no more as there is a fear of the law. This is a major success .... we don’t get government officers looking to make profits through corruption.”
He said the government's administrative machinery was now free from officials who were found to have failed to perform the tasks entrusted upon them, and instead, reaped profits for themselves.
"We've got rid of these people and if we find that there are criminal elements then action will be taken against them," he said.
He noted that the government needed to ensure that strong evidence was obtained before bringing any corruption case involving politicians or non-politicians to court.
"If we want to prosecute everybody all at once, it won’t be possible, because each case must be investigated so that we have clear evidence that the court can accept. That’s why we focus on the (important) cases first and the rest will follow when we get enough information and evidence."