Pay heed to public perception

The CPI finding is derived from statistics provided by the Malaysian government. This is why Malaysians find the results unbelievable.

COMMENT

By Chua Jui Meng

Just take the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by TI-Malaysia, on behalf of Berlin’s Transparency International, with a pinch of salt.

The TI finding is derived from statistics provided by the Malaysian government. This is why Malaysians find TI’s announcement that the country’s CPI had improved unbelievable.

Also, there cannot be a compatible comparison with the previous year’s CPI report because the scoring system this year had been revised. A comparison would likely be misleading.

I need not dwell into the hundreds of financial scandals exposed over the years by the media and political parties to prove my point. Also, many of the fiascos are backed with credible evidence.

I only need to highlight five high profile examples. But, before I state the cases, let me first take you back to 1983.

The first billion-ringgit financial scandal in Malaysia, which came with a murder suspense, unfolded in 1983. Do you remember what it was?

It’s the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) financial scandal cum murder of its internal auditor Jalil Ibrahim who was found dead in a banana grove in Hong Kong in July 1983.

The federal government had to bailout BMF three times to a tune of RM2.5 billion to keep it afloat.

After 29 years, has anyone been punished for the financial scandal? Has anyone been convicted for the murder?

Now I wish to highlight the five high profile cases:

1. Does anyone know why Mongolian interpreter Altantuya Shaariibuu was murdered, despite the convictions of two police security officers who served Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his wife? Why is the Barisan Nasional (BN) government so fearful of the French court’s ongoing probe on alleged corrupt practices over Malaysia’s Defence Ministry’s purchase of two French-made second hand Scorpene submarines at an inflated price of RM6.7 billion?

2. How did former Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s family secure a RM250 million cattle breeding project from the government without any experience and failed the project, but spent tens of millions of ringgit buying condominiums, luxury cars, land and failed investments, etc;

3. How businessman Michael Chia was caught carrying RM40 million in Singapore currency in Hong Kong and then claimed that the money belonged to Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman who then claimed that the money was a donation to Sabah Umno;

4. No plausible explanation by Prime Minister Najib on the Global Financial Integrity Report that over the last decade, Malaysia’s illicit capital outflow was the fourth largest in the world amounting to RM1.08 trillion! Similar results were also found in a study commissioned by Tax Justice Network (TJN), a London-based organisation of professionals including economists and tax consultants; and,

5. Disclosure of the Manser Bruno Fund of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s family wealth at RM65 billion which begs the question of what is the true wealth of Umno’s prime ministers from Dr Mahathir Mohamad onwards and their top leaders.

Independent surveys needed

Just these five examples are enough to tickle the funny bone of Malaysians and laugh until their ribs hurt to hear that the country’s CPI has improved by moving up six places to 54.

The fact that the TI findings are probably based on statistics provided by the federal government is enough to raise biasness.

The assertion by Pemandu that Malaysian crimes had gone down, based on government statistics, also gave us a good placing in the World Peace Index.

When this was announced, the people rebutted by showing that crime had actually increased based on their own experience and of the perception of the people.

Obviously the report was based on police’s own statistics which the people did not believe and rejected outright.

Both government and the police had to withdraw and agreed with the overwhelming public outcry.

Now, even a retired inspector-general of police, Musa Hassan, is disputing the police force’s crime statistics and also made damning accusations that ministers had interfered in police work and investigations.

The TI finding would have been more credible if it was based on independent surveys conducted with the public.

Chua Jui Meng is PKR vice-president and Johor state chief. He is also a former MCA vice-president and an ex-Cabinet member.