Only five percent of Malaysians have been involved directly or indirectly in corruption, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Razali Ibrahim has claimed.

NONE Malay daily Berita Harian quoted Razali ( right ) as saying the statistic was based on a Corruption Barometer done by Transparency-International Malaysia (TI-M) last July.

He said that the country’s low position in the global corruption perception is because of people’s “perception alone”.

“We realised that when we talk about perception, only 31 percent of Malaysians feel that the government is fighting corruption while the rest are not,” he was reported as saying in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Meanwhile, the paper also quoted the candidate for the Wanita Umno chief’s position, Raihan Sulaiman Palestin, as urging the party’s disciplinary board to provide individual candidates with the freedom to personally meet party grassroots.

The candidates are currently restricted to tagging along with a Jelajah Calon programme organised by state Umno liaison offices.

“Candidates who don’t have a government or party position find it difficult to meet with the delegates,” she was quoted as saying.

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