Mahathir slams corruption survey

Mahathir slams corruption survey

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
hit out at a European business watchdog yesterday for its
assessment of global corruption, saying Malaysians who believed
such groups were mired in a colonial mentality.

Mahathir dismissed a corruption index released by a German-
based group, Transparency International, which ranked Malaysia
26th most corrupt country out of 50 states surveyed.

"We still have a colonial mentality," Mahathir told reporters,
referring to Malaysia's spell under British rule which ended in
1957.

"I ask that in Malaysia, we set up a Europe Watch, with an
index on racial discrimination, an index on corruption and an
index on immorality," he said, and accused European countries of
being far worse than Malaysia.

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, however, warned the
government not to ignore the survey and pointed out that the
index deemed Malaysia more corrupt now than in the early 1980s.