Task of addressing corruption challenging: Mahathir

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he was finding it difficult to address the issue of corruption within the government due its magnitude.
The veteran statesman, who turned 93 today, blamed the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) regime under the then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, whom the former described as having made corruption commonplace under his reign.
"When I first became prime minister back then, the government was clean. There were some cases, but not many. But now, we find that Najib is promoting it, claiming 'cash is king'.
"We discovered that a huge number of the force are also involved and we have to filter (and investigate) them all before taking action.
"We can't just fire all the officers that we suspect may be involved, because then we may not even have anyone to do the job," he told a press conference after attending an anti-corruption briefing, here, today.
The briefing, which was delivered by the National Centre for Governance, Integrity, and Anti-Corruption (GIACC) chief Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed, was attended by some 160 Pakatan Harapan (PH) MPs and government officers.
Mahathir said the briefing was one of several measures taken by the PH government to curb and prevent corruption, including the setting up of a Cabinet Select Committee on Anti-Corruption, which sat for its second meeting on Monday.
Asked if enough was being done by him to address the longstanding issue, Dr Mahathir said: "I cannot know until I find them (PH leaders) breaking the law. If they do, then it means I have not done enough."