Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has cautioned that a delay in services provided by the government might invariably, result in corruption.

He said all departments should give specific time to officers to complete a job because only the time taken would determine whether it was done well or otherwise.

“No delays. I am afraid, delays invariably result in corruption. If a thing can be done in one day, let it be done in one day.

“If it can’t be done, call up the officer and ask him why he can’t do it in one day,” he said at a luncheon talk, ‘In Person with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’, in conjunction with the National Digital Conference 2012 in Putrajaya today.

Mahathir was asked by Multimedia Development Corp chief executive officer Badlisham Ghazali on what his dream services were, as a private citizen in the country.

The former prime minister also advised civil servants to love the country more than they loved themselves.

“When you love your country, you will provide good services. But, if you love yourself, you are thinking, ‘what do I get for this’, (and) you will become corrupt.

“So, love your country more than yourself,” he said.

On another question raised by representatives of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission pertaining to its problem in obtaining data-sharing information from other government agencies to facilitate investigations, Mahathir said: “Data in the government cannot always be freely shared. There must be some classification of data which can be shared, and those which cannot be shared.

“Most countries have classified information which they would not share with anyone.

“But, between government departments, if there is a case for sharing, then it must be cleared that this kind of information can be shared... but not all information can be shared because it will cause a lot of problems for a lot of people.”

- Bernama

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