Corruption perception index: Malaysia sees marked improvement, hits 8-year high

Malaysia has markedly improved in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2019, jumping 10 spots from the 61st place in 2018 to be ranked 51 last year.

Malaysia’s score also showed a significant improvement with an increase of six points from 47 in 2018 to 53 points last year.

This is Malaysia’s highest score on the CPI since 2012, with the next highest score in 2014 being a score of 52 points. Before 2012, the scores were measured on a 10-point scale before it was changed to a 100-point scale.

“The whole nation needs to be congratulated. It’s not just the enforcement people or the government, I think the public itself needs to be congratulated,” said Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) president Muhammad Mohan (above) at the announcement of the CPI 2019 results in Kuala Lumpur today.

Among its Asean neighbours, Malaysia came up behind Singapore and Brunei, which were ranked fourth and 35th respectively.

However, Malaysia is ahead of the other Asean countries, the next closest being Indonesia (85th).

TI-M also compared Malaysia’s CPI with several other Islamic countries, with Malaysia was behind UAE, Qatar and Brunei and tied with Saudi Arabia.

Muhammad said Malaysia’s score had been improving from 2012 to 2014 when it hit 52 before nosediving in the subsequent years up to 2018.

He said one of the main reasons for this dive in Malaysia’s score was the 1MDB financial scandal.

Meanwhile, the improvement in Malaysia’s CPI score for 2019, he said, could most likely be attributed to the change in government and the new government’s seeming commitment to combating corruption.

Among the specific reasons for Malaysia’s improvement in the CPI, he said, included the government’s swift action in high-profile cases such as 1MDB, SRC International Sdn, Felda and Tabung Haji as well as the arrests of several political figures for corruption and money-laundering.

There is also greater media freedom now with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) being led by an opposition leader and the passing of the compulsory asset declaration motion in Parliament, he said.

Finally, there is also the incorporation of the corporate liability provision (Section 17A) in the MACC Act and the formation of the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP), he added.

On the other hand, there is still room for improvement, Muhammad said, and TI-M’s area of concern included the lack of a timeline for the tabling of the Political Financing Bill, the Government Procurement Bill and amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act as well as the continued delay in passing the Independent Police Complaints of Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill in Parliament.

He also pointed out that the culture of money politics was still ongoing during by-elections.

He also questioned whether issues raised in the auditor-general’s report were addressed effectively and efficiently,

Muhammad stressed that one of the main problems of the current Pakatan Harapan government was that they needed to improve their communication with the public in conveying information on the work they have done. 

“Moving forward to further improve Malaysia’s standing in the index, the Harapan government should accelerate institutional reforms such as making the MACC more independent, pushing for the IPCMC bill, enactment of the political financing law to stop money politics and regularly engaging with the public and civil societies to update them on reforms progress and to get feedback.

“The NACP has 115 initiatives and it is believed that as of the end of 2019, 22 initiatives had been completed. However, the government is urged to make public these completed initiatives for public scrutiny and transparency.

“Only with such momentum and progress can we expect to see further improvement in the index next year,” Muhammad said. - Mkini