Omar Osman said any review should be in line with the current cost of living as income disparity and the pressures that come from the increase in expenses could tempt civil servants to turn to corruption.

“Why is it that there was no question of corruption involving civil servants in the years past as there is now? The matter needs to be looked into,” he was quoted as saying by Sinar Harian.

He added civil servants who fall under the B40 category are especially facing a hard time if they want to buy a house.

“Some of them have to do other jobs in the evenings just to make a living,” Omar said, adding that as a result, they do not have time to rest and spend time with their families.

“When the salary is not enough, and if there is an opportunity, corruption can occur,” he added.

According to Omar, when he led Cuepacs from 2006 to 2013, the government reviewed the salaries of civil servants every five years.

He said that frequent salary reviews will also help motivate civil servants to carry out their work with integrity.

He also called for Putrajaya to reduce corruption by ensuring any decision is not made by an individual and suggested the government carry out more programmes to strengthen integrity among its workforce.

According to statistics released by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) last month, civil servants made up 46.3% of 4,860 persons arrested for graft offences from 2014 to June 2019.

MACC had also revealed that last year, 467 civil servants were arrested for various graft offences. Of this number, 349 were from the support group, 109 from the management and professional groups, and nine from the top management group.

This was a slight decline from the 525 civil servants arrested for graft in 2019.