By Deborah Loh, New Straits Times
July 3, 2008
PUTRAJAYA: Until a scientific way is found to measure integrity, mere perception will have to serve as a gauge.
Based on that, the inaugural National Integrity Perception Index Report 2007 showed a commendable score of 6.97 out of 10 in the Malaysian public’s happiness with the level of perceived integrity in six sub-indices.
Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, who launched the report yesterday, said the overall score was good for a first report and would be used as a base to make further improvements.
Sidek, who is also chairman of the Institute of Integrity Malaysia which published the report, said the sub-indices were used because integrity “involves more than just anti-corruption and covers other aspects of society”.
He said Malaysian institutions should use the survey’s findings to do more to improve their services and win people’s trust.
“It is not about changing people’s perception, but to take this as a lesson that we should improve our services and to let the index reflect that,” he said.
The survey was conducted in August and September last year, and was funded by the Economic Planning Unit under the Prime Minister’s Department.
Its purpose was to evaluate the level of integrity among Malay-sians since the National Integrity Plan conceived by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Ba-dawi was launched in April 2004.
A total of 14,967 people were surveyed at random and they were from three target groups — households (67 per cent), public sector employees (26.9 per cent) and the private sector (6.1 per cent).
This year’s survey will be held from the middle of this month until mid-September.
RELATED STORIES