KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 — Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM), which is making its electoral debut in the coming Johor state election, today announced its candidates will undergo an anti-corruption psychometric test.

Its deputy president Haniza Mohamed Talha said the move is in line with the party’s six core principles and the aspiration of voters for clean and responsible leaders.

"Johor will be PBM’s first election and we want our candidates to be clean and free of corruption so they can carry out their jobs responsibly if they win,” the Lembah Jaya assemblyman said in a statement.

The party plans to field two candidates for the March 12 Johor poll.

PBM information chief Zakaria Abdul previously said the party will contest two seats and will make public its candidates before nomination day on February 26.

PBM’s move follows the announcement last Friday by another political party, Pejuang — founded by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad — to subject its Johor election candidates to a psychometric test known as RBTag, prepared by a non-government anti-corruption outfit called Rasuah Busters.

A psychometric test evaluates a person’s personality, aptitude, ability, knowledge and behaviour for a certain role, commonly for recruitment purposes.

Rasuah Busters launched its RBTag last year ahead of the Melaka state election and invited all political parties serious about fighting corruption to take it to prove their sincerity and commitment.

At the November 11, 2021 launch in Shah Alam, Rasuah Busters’ chief secretary Nurhayati Nordin described RBTag as a "mechanism to identify the credibility and capabilities of the candidates in leadership and governance”.