A survey by Transparency International (TI) found that Malaysians and Vietnamese viewed their respective countries as having the most severe corruption problem.

The survey, from July 15, 2015 to January this year, obtained the feedback of more than 20,000 citizens in 16 Asia Pacific countries.

The questions posed included if citizens believed the level of corruption has changed, how is the government fighting graft, how corrupt are the police and if people felt empowered to fight corruption.

The survey, titled "People and Corruption: Asia Pacific", also questioned respondents on whether they had given bribes themselves.

According to the survey, Malaysia and Vietnam performed the worst, with not a single positive rating to the questions.

“In these countries, the governments were rated poorly in their fight against corruption, people saw widespread corruption among the police, and many thought that corruption is on the rise.

“Fifty-nine percent of Malaysians think that the corruption level has increased,” said TI in its report.