The DAP will submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi expressing concern about the conflicting signals from the top over the government's anti-corruption commitment.

DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang said the official memorandum will express the party's "grave concern" over conflicting remarks between Abdullah, who declared graft-busting as top priority, and the Chief Secretary to the Government Samsudin Osman saying it is not a serious problem.

"Samsudin's statement is most shocking for if Malaysia's corruption is not serious, was Abdullah wasting everybody's time focusing on corruption, raising public expectations that at last there would be an all-out war against corruption?" he posed in a statement today.

"Or was Abdullah just putting up a big public relations exercise for political mileage?"

Last week, Abdullah announced that Malaysia would set aside RM17 million to establish a regional anti-corruption academy, and invited regional leaders to give input before formulating the proposal.

Lim was referring to Samsudin's remarks at the closing of the 4 th Regional Anti-Corruption Conference for Asia and the Pacific on Friday that the rate of corruption in Malaysia was low in the civil service.

Unacceptable and inexcusable

"Samsudin's claim that Malaysia's corruption problem is not serious is completely unacceptable and inexcusable, when we have fallen from 23 rd position in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index in 1995 to 37 th placing this year!" exclaimed the DAP leader.

He said Samsudin's attempt to minimise the problem, following Abdullah's high-profile stand in his first month as prime minister, seemed to confirm the confab's conclusion that a lack of political will to eradicate corruption was a major stumbling block to regional development.

"Malaysia is in danger of committing the mistake of just talking about fighting corruption and then forgetting about it.

"The prime minister can 'talk' but if (Samsudin) and the entire civil service which he leads want to 'forget' it because it is 'not a serious problem', then everything will come to naught."

Lim said as the head of the civil service, Samsudin must bear responsibility for the plunge in ranking.

"When will Samsudin regard Malaysia as facing serious corruption, is it when the country plunges to the ranks of the most corrupt countries in the world, including Myanmar, Paraguay, Haiti, Nigeria and Bangladesh.

These countries occupy the last five spots in the 133-country index.

Bear full responsibility

He said Anti-Corruption Agency director-general Zulkipli Mat Noor should also bear full responsibility for Malaysia's deteriorating ranking.

"Both of them should publicly apologise for Malaysia's worst ranking with a commitment to improve on the country's international ranking."

Lim also questioned Malaysia's decision to become a signatory to the United Nations Anti-Corruption Convention, given Samsudin's "smug and complacent attitude".

A total of 30 signatories are needed before the convention can come into force, and so far more than 100 countries have indicated interest to sign the UN instrument in Mexico next week.

In early October, Parliament was told that the Home Ministry topped the list of the most corrupt ministries, based on the number of malpractice cases and officials who were found guilty.

Abdullah's first task right after assuming the premiership on Nov 1 was to declare war on corruption, and so far he has maintained the momentum .