Coming hot on the heels of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s pledge to rid the nation of graft, a survey reveals that more than one in three company executives feel that corruption is not only rampant but on the rise as well in Malaysia.

NONE Therefore Malaysia is perceived as the second most corrupt country in the region, after Indonesia.

On a positive note, 56 percent of the respondents agreed that the government’s efforts to battle corruption had a significant impact.

The survey by global management consultancy Ernst & Young (EY) garnered the views of 681 executives, senior managers and working level employees from March to May 2013 in Australia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam.

"Thirty-nine percent of respondents say that bribery or corrupt practices happen widely in Malaysia, which is nearly double the Asia-Pacific average of 21 percent," says the survey.

"In addition, 29 percent of respondents say that bribery or corrupt practices have increased due to tough economic times and increased competition, which is the third highest among the countries surveyed."

Among the countries surveyed, only Indonesia scored higher than Malaysia when executives were asked if bribery and corruption occurred widely in the country where they were based. Three in four Indonesians affirmed this.

Taking the easy way out

Malaysia, however, can claim to top the survey on one aspect - taking the easy way out.

When executives were asked if company management were likely to take shortcuts to meet targets when economic times are tough, 54 percent of the respondents said “Yes”, a higher percentage than China (34 percent) and Indonesia (29 percent).

As expected, Malaysians, like most others, do not publicly endorse corruption, with only five percent saying that it is “okay to pay a bribe to win or retain business”.

But neither are they willing to go all out to fight it.

EY noted that Malaysia has the highest whistleblowing schemes in place (77 percent) among the Asia-Pacific markets surveyed, but the measures largely go wasted.

“The top concerns are the lack of independence of the person receiving the complaints and the fear that reporting unethical behaviours would have a negative impact on their career,” EY said.

While some 51 percent of those polled say that internal audit is the best way to proactively detect fraud, only 21 percent of respondents indicate they were confident with the company’s existing measures to detect fraud.

'The Asia-Pacific Fraud Survey' is commissioned by EY and carried out by Asia Risk.

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