Azam recently said that simply increasing civil servants’ salaries – they will see a wage hike of at least 13% in December – would not be enough to curb corruption as low wages and poverty were not the main factors behind graft in the civil service.

Transparency International Malaysia president Muhammad Mohan said although salary increments in the civil service were overdue, they would not necessarily reduce corruption due to the persistent nature of greed and abuse of power.

He called on the government to focus on implementing the various initiatives listed in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) 2024-2028, which aims to uphold the rule of law, create a culture of transparency and accountability, and encourage participation among communities in anti-corruption efforts.

Muhammad also said MACC must be made more independent, particularly regarding the appointment of the chief commissioner – which he said should not be at the prime minister’s discretion.

“This should be done through a parliamentary select committee, and the tenure of the chief commissioner must be fixed to prevent the executive from removing him,” he said.

Meanwhile, Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) CEO Pushpan Murugiah said the lack of mechanisms to ensure accountability against abuse of power significantly hindered efforts to combat corruption in the civil service.

He said regardless of any salary increase, civil servants would continue to exploit their privileges if they could do so without fear of reprisal.

“Therefore we can expect the same practices to persist, even with higher wages,” he said.

Pushpan added that establishing an independent ombudsman office would be a more effective solution to address corruption in the public sector.

He also suggested major reforms to the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 to help boost transparency.