This country still has a society that is tolerant of corruption, according to Transparency International Malaysia secretary-general Paul Low.

"We still have a society that is not intolerant of corruption. It is accepted that it is common and good to pay your way out," he said.

Speaking to some 50 people at a dialogue at the Bar Council Auditorium last night, Low placed the blame on the direction of religious teachings in Malaysia as a contributing factor.

"I think that we went to the wrong way to a certain extent that religion became legalism. So, it is enforcement by law and not one of changing the heart," he said.

The dialogue titled 'Rethinking Malaysia: Media and Civil Society' was organised by Youth For Change and the Bar Council Young Lawyers Committee.

Agent of change

Meanwhile, prominent local blogger Jeff Ooi talked about the internet as a new 'subversive' element in Malaysia that has made people the agent of change.

"In 1994 or 1995, when commercial internet came to our shores, we got not only the first hand news, at times we also obtained news not picked up for print in the mainstream media.

"So these are the groups of people who became agents of change in a sense that they are exposed to even the earlier edition of the first draft of history," he said.

He added that younger people who are always connected to the internet have a very big role in being the transmitter to the people who are thrown on the wrong side of the digital divide.

As for Suaram secretariat member Elizabeth Wong, she pointed out that civil society has a particular function to play.

"In democratic theory, civil society is an essential element in mobilising opposition against authoritarian and totalitarian regimes," she said.

In relation with the media, she said that even with the existence of alternative media, civil society has to make the mainstream media accountable by thinking of ways to restructure the media in the country.