Young Malaysians Must Take The Lead To Reject Corruption, Uphold Good Governance - PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called upon young Malaysians to take the lead in rejecting corruption and upholding the principles of good governance.

The Prime Minister stressed that integrity and accountability are essential to sustaining the nation’s advancement.

“This is why I've been talking about governance. Leadership must be clean and stop this nonsense, corruption in our country. I need the support of the young.

“You must take the lead. You must say no more corruption in this country, no smuggling, no syndicates,” he said at the ‘In Conversation with Prime Minister’ session in conjunction with International Young Future Leaders Summit (iFUTURE)2025 at the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre, here, today.

Also present were the Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir and his deputy Datuk Mustapha Sakmud.

Anwar said that while traditional economic theory dictates that governments must increase taxation to generate revenue for sectors such as education, health and infrastructure, Malaysia’s experience shows that addressing leakages and corruption can be a more effective approach.

He said just for the past two years, the government had successfully recovered RM15.5 billion in illicit funds from various syndicates and cartels.

“There are still leakages, corruption, smuggling and cartels. Why don’t we deal with this first? Those involved are not small players…they are powerful individuals who have squandered billions. 

“The government must recover these funds and spend them for the people, for education, healthcare and the young,” he said.

The Prime Minister noted that the government’s success in curbing corruption and recovering public funds had enabled the introduction of new social initiatives, including the phased implementation of free education for the very poor beginning next year.

He said this initiative would gradually be expanded in line with improvements in national governance and fiscal management, with the long-term goal of transforming it into a full scholarship scheme.

“If governance remains strong and right, we will slowly expand it until eventually, it becomes a scholarship,” he said.

-- BERNAMA