(The New Straits Times) - A CORRUPTION perception survey found that a majority of 1,800 university students interviewed saw no harm in offering or accepting bribes.

The year-long survey was carried out by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) at selected universities nationwide in 2007.

National Key Result Areas (NKRA) Fighting Corruption director D. Ravindran said the result showed the importance of instilling the youth with positive core values against corruption.

"A large number of students felt it was acceptable to give or receive bribes, and they would now be employed as mid-level management employees in the workforce today," he said at a press conference on the re-engineering of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) here yesterday.

He said the anti-corruption initiatives focused on the regulatory and enforcement agencies, government procurement and grand corruption. On improving its programme management offices (PMO) operations, he said several discussions were held benchmarking MACC with international corruption agencies. "These measures will help restore public confidence and fully establish MACC as an independent body."

Cuepacs president Datuk Omar Osman said various measures over the years had helped reduce graft in the civil service. On the 5,900 who were investigated between 2005 and last year, he said the number was small compared to the 1.4 million public servants.