Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo today denied there was corruption in the Selayang Municipal Council as stated in a recent survey, insisting instead that the only problem was garbage collection.
"There's no corruption in Selangor. The allegations are not true. I want to see the report," Khir said at a press conference after the weekly state exco meeting in Shah Alam.
Khir said this when asked to comment on the findings of a recent ground-breaking survey conducted jointly by corruption watchdog Transparency International and the Malaysian Institute of Management.
Locals in the suburban municipality located about 10km north of Kuala Lumpur ranked the police as the most corrupt among government agencies (60 percent), followed by the Road Transport Department (20 percent), the local council (7 percent), the land office (6 percent) and others (7 percent).
Khir, however, said allegations of corruption were untrue because the local council had been able to carry out enforcement work including demolishing squatter houses.
"If it was true, we would not have been able to enforce the laws. As far as I'm concerned, garbage collection is the only problem in Selayang.
"I have gone there myself and found that some houses did not even have rubbish bins, so how to collect the rubbish?" he asked.
Authenticity questioned
The survey covering ratepayers in Selayang Baru and Bandar Baru Selayang which have a combined population of 164,000 people, also showed that businesspersons, Chinese and higher income earners were more likely to condone bribery and commit it.
The study, which is funded by the Netherlands Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, was based on a strata sampling of 250 each from among users of local council services, hawkers, shop owners and households.
The findings took two months for data collection alone and were released last week at a forum entitled: "Putting local council governance under the spotlight: Is local council governance up to the mark?"
Khir, who said he had not seen the findings, questioned the authenticity of the survey.
"I'd like to know the authority of the researchers, who they are, what type of questions were asked, how it was done, how many people were involved and who they had met.
"Of course, if they had only spoken to PAS and Keadilan people, I'm sure the findings would show there was corruption," he said, expressing his concerns on whether the survey was done bona fide or with the intention to tarnish the government's image.
Level of perception
When contacted later, President of Transparency International's Malaysian chapter Tunku Abdul Aziz said a more in-depth study would be able to show the root causes of corruption, which the current survey did not attempt to cover.
"We didn't go into that because we only wanted to find out whether there was corruption at the local council level and the findings have confirmed long-held suspicions that local councils are susceptible to corruption."
He said a roadshow will be held in Ipoh next month to explain the findings and create awareness among the locals.
Public education is crucial in this area as the local government is the first contact for an average person, he said.
"Whatever impression given at that level reflects on how the government operates at the higher level, but this may not necessarily be the case.
"This is not so much finger-pointing at the local council or the government but more of a signal to show the level of perception on corruption," he added.
Copies of the survey were sent to Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Ting, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim, the local council, the Anti-Corruption Agency, the police and the Road Transport Department.
Respondents numbered 979, comprising 582 Malays, 261 Chinese, 125 Indians and 11 others (Bangladeshis and Indonesians) in the 30-39 age group, with men outnumbering women 684 to 295.
