All political parties in Malaysia are corrupt, Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance president Megat Najmuddin said today.

"Whether it is Umno, MCA or MIC...they are the same. Even if the Islamic party (PAS) were to come to power, they are bound to be corrupt as well," he claimed.

Megat told the 6th Lawasia Business Law Conference, jointly organised by the Malaysian Bar Council and the Business Law Section of the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific that corruption is also rampant in the civil service.

"Fortunately, corruption is only a fact of life, and not a way of life," he said.

On his perception that all political parties are corrupt, Megat said there is a 'culture' in these political parties where people 'demand things'.

"To attend a meeting, people demand a big dinner. Sometimes this will go overboard," he said, citing the recently concluded Umno assembly where delegates were all over in the hotels.

"The same thing happened during other party assemblies. We are such a materialistic society now where everything is money " he said.

However, Megat did not think that corruption is rampant and that only two to three percent of politicians are involved.

Transparency is central

Other speakers at the session included Param Cumaraswamy, former UN Rapporteur on the Independence of the Judiciary and Emad Khalil, partner of Singaporean law firm Jone Days.

Param considered it politically incorrect if corrupt politicians are allowed to be involved in business.

"If the corrupt politicians are allowed to do business, what will happen to the business?"he asked.

Param said fighting corruption in the public and private sectors cannot succeed merely on blue prints and verbal rhetoric from political masters and corporate leaders.

"Transparency is central to sound corporate governance. If governments are not seen to be transparent, surely they would reflect on the corporations," he said, noting that it becomes more difficult in countries where there is close link between politics and business.

He said, if political parties are permitted to form business enterprises, either directly or indirectly, even to the extend of permitting majority shareholding in media corporations, there would be no way to apply good governance principles.

"In such an environment, combating corruption in business will necessarily be a slow process," he added.