TI-M president Akhbar Satar said the results of its 2017 Global Corruption Barometer (Asia Pacific) showed that 54% of the respondents aged 18 and above stated that the country’s economic problems should be the government’s priority.

In contrast, only 15% of the respondents felt corruption and bribery should be the top priorities addressed by the government.

“They (the respondents) don’t care much about corruption. They say it has nothing to do with them,” Akhbar told reporters after announcing the survey results.

“Because they are thinking about their own survival. So they are more concerned with bread and butter issues.”

A total of 1,009 people nationwide were interviewed for the survey from November 2016 to January this year. They ranked the issues that the government should give priority to.

Wages, incomes and salaries came in second in the ranking with 37% regarding it as a priority issue. Poverty came third with 25%, followed by unemployment and rates and taxes at 24% and 18% respectively.

Only crime and security issues were ranked lower than corruption, with 13%.

The results were consistent with a similar survey conducted by PKR MP Rafizi Ramli last year. The two-day survey conducted on Facebook, drew a total of 718 respondents.

According to the Pandan MP, the majority of the respondents said that public welfare should top every MP’s list of priorities, not issues surrounding the Prime Minister Najib Razak or state-owned firm 1MDB.

“The results revealed that Pakatan Harapan leaders and parliamentarians should go back and fight to resolve the public’s bread and butter issues,” he was reported as saying.