Over 35% Of Malaysian Uni Students Think Corruption And Bribes Are OK

The Integrity Institute of Malaysia (IIM) conducted a study recently on the Students' Perception of Corruption and found that one in every three participants (35.8%) thinks that it is not corruption if a person receives gifts (in the form of money, goods or service) in exchange for another service rendered.

It was reported that a total of 402 students took part in the survey with 33.1% from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 47.5% from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), 15.9% from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) and the rest (3.5%) from other universities.

• 37.3% of the respondents assumed that submitting claims for fully-sponsored outstation duties was not wrong.

• 20.6% of the respondents considered direct involvement in the process of appointing family members to fill vacancies in their department is a permissible act.

• 8.1% of the respondents thought that it was not an offence for them to take company-owned properties or items, including pen drives, printer ink or papers for personal use.

Note: The findings listed above were reported by Bernama.

Anis said that the findings of the survey should not be dismissed easily as these students would be entering the workforce soon and will later become leaders of this nation. Thus, their views on matters related to corruption should be given a great deal of attention.

"The findings from the survey, if used as a yardstick, require us to review what values are being taught and sowed amongst these students."

"We are worried that the students with the above-mentioned views have been influenced by the wrong role models," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

He added this was a wakeup call to examine that education sector in Malaysia, saying that it needs "rethinking" as nearly a third of students believe that graft is morally acceptable even when a majority of them have a high comprehension of what is considered as bribery.

MACC deputy chief commissioner Shamsun Bahrin Mohd Jamil, reportedly said that the Corruption Prevention Action Effectiveness Perception Study conducted last year, showed that the number of university students who were willing to receive bribes if they have the opportunity or power has increased to 16% from 10.7% in the previous year.

It was learned that 1,000 university students participated in the survey.

According to the results of the study, 18.2% of the students were also prepared to offer bribes to avoid facing (legal) action, an increase from 17.4% in 2015.

The study also found that the number of students who were willing to report corruption cases had dropped to 66.3% compared to 74.1% in 2015.