KUALA LUMPUR – A study cited by PAS leaders to claim that non-Muslims are the “roots of corruption” also shows that the majority of convicted bribe solicitors in the sample size used are Malays.
The author, Christine Chong Siew Pyng, also said the research paper should not be used to make generalisations, Malaysiakini reported.
Chong said that statistics from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) from 2010 to 2014 showed that 88% of convicted bribe givers were non-Malays, while mostly Malays made up the other side of the coin.
“My thesis also found that approximately 82% of convicted bribe solicitors/takers were Malay,” she said in a brief message to Malaysiakini. The sample size is 449 people and is drawn from the MACC’s database on convicted offenders.
She then dispelled misconceptions that have been linked with her research, warning against “generalisation” of the study’s results.
“The conclusions drawn from the profile are merely suggestive and should not be taken as a generalisation. I have no comment on allegations made by political parties,” she said.
Yesterday, PAS central committee member Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki had backed Hadi for his comments claiming that non-Muslims and non-Bumiputeras are the “roots of corruption” by citing the mentioned study.
Zuhdi had only highlighted how 88% of the 449 people in the study were non-Malays. Citing the study by a university which he did not name, he said of the total percentage, 57.46% were Chinese, 30.51% were Indians and 12.03% were Malays.
The study reportedly mainly analysed the perspective of bribe givers with an emphasis on the factors that could lead to a substantial bribe being offered.
The role played by bribe recipients in such corrupt schemes was not examined, while the MACC Corruption Offender Database, from which the data for the thesis was drawn, only carried details on convicted offenders.
As such, the study’s authors disclose that they were unable to examine individuals who did not engage in bribery, those who did but were not caught and those who were apprehended but not convicted.
“These omissions are likely to bias our estimates. Unfortunately, there is no ready means to correct for this selection bias,” the authors state in the study, as quoted by Malaysiakini.
Published in the Asian Economic Papers journal in January 2017, the study was conducted by researchers based at the Universiti Sains Malaysia and Tunku Abdul Rahman Universiti College in Penang.
Hadi has since given his statement to police after 28 reports were lodged against him. At the PAS muktamar or general assembly last weekend in Kedah, he stood by his comments and said that he was ready to be charged in court. – The Vibes, September 8, 2022
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