Muslims must return to their roots and learn to embrace ethics and integrity as many sorely lack these two qualities in modern times, says PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu.

He said Muslims had been left behind by other races in terms of being "honest, ethical and upstanding" as Malaysia moved towards achieving developed nation status by 2020.

"I am not pointing the finger at any political party. It is a general view which I have observed with the passing of time," he said during a forum at Taylor's University today.

The forum, entitled Strengthening Political Integrity, was held at the university in Subang Jaya and organised by the Malaysian Integrity Institute.

Mohamad, also known as Mat Sabu, in closing the forum, said Nordic countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Norway lead the way in terms of being free of corruption and graft. "The people in these countries have a strong sense of integrity and honesty, a process which began in the classrooms. "Muslims should actually be at the forefront of such rankings, in terms of being honest, and not prone to either giving or receiving bribes."
He cited an example which occurred at a restaurant he owned in Alor Star, Kedah.

Mat Sabu was having a drink and there was a group of civil servants at a table nearby.
"The waitress walked over to their table to calculate their bill. The bill was RM50 but was told to issue a receipt for RM100."

Mat Sabu shook his head as he related this story, saying it had become normal for civil servants to inflate their expenses to increase their claims. "The problem seems to be differentiating between personal and public funds. We are prudent when it comes to spending our own money but spendthrift when using funds which we can later claim."

Mat Sabu gave further examples of government officers who didn't attend seminars and functions held in other states but still put in claims that they had. "Why do they do this? So that they are able to make claims for traveling and transport expenses," Mat Sabu said, in a voice tinged with disappointment.

Another lament of Mat Sabu was cleanliness, a cornerstone of the Muslim faith, which he claimed seemed to be sorely lacking in modern times.

"I have been abroad to other countries and I've seen with my own eyes that the non-Muslim areas were always much cleaner and hygienic compared with the Muslim areas," he said. He said during a trip to Pakistan, he asked to be taken to a clean halal restaurant for a meal but was instead told by his tour guide that such restaurants were located in the non-Muslim areas.

"Even in London, where the majority of Muslims reside in the eastern part of the city and the non-Muslims and Caucasians lived in the west, it was the former which was in a deplorable condition. "What kind of message are we telling the rest of the world when we can't even keep our own places clean? Why is this happening?" Mat Sabu questioned.

He said an ongoing operation in Indonesia where the chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), an Islamic party, had been arrested for graft was a sad fact. "This is a question of ethics and integrity. Muslims today are lacking in these qualities and walking down the wrong path." But, he said, politicians had to first learn what civic values and ethics were before expecting the public to understand and adopt these values.

During the forum, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy chairman (management and professionalism) Datuk Zakaria Jaffar said the public sometimes had the wrong attitude. "Sometimes, they know that corruption is taking place right under their noses but choose to turn a blind eye. They comfort themselves by saying it is MACC's responsibility and we will take care of it. "But what the public doesn't know is that we need witnesses to assist our investigations, and in some cases, testify in court," he said.

"MACC can give statistics about arrests and prosecutions but it doesn't portray the whole picture," he said, adding the bigger picture often emerged during political campaigns. He said between 2009 and 2012, the MACC had arrested 3,063 people in connection with graft cases, including 32 politicians.

Of the 32 politicians, 20 were charged in court. Zakaria said 16 were from Umno, two from Gerakan and one each from Parti Keadilan Rakyat and DAP.