Malaysia slides 9 places to 56th spot in 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index
(The Edge) – Malaysia dropped nine places to 56th position out of 180 countries surveyed in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2009, the anti-corruption watchdog announced yesterday.
Malaysia’s decline from 47th spot in 2008 is the steepest among the Asean countries in the ranking this year, although it fares better than all member countries except Singapore (3rd) and Brunei (39th), which is participating for the first time.
In the latest survey, Malaysia scored 4.5 points out of 10, where 0 means highly corrupt, and 10 is the best possible score.
“A fall of 0.6 from 5.1 in 2008 to 4.5 in 2009 is alarming not only to the people of Malaysia but also the government of the day,” said Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) president Datuk Paul Low at a press conference here to announce the survey results.
He attributed Malaysia’s poorer showing to the perception that there had been little progress in combating corruption and that political will was lacking in implementing effective anti-corruption measures.
“There are several examples in the survey period giving rise to grave concern,” said Low.
“They include no action being taken against parties implicated in tampering in the appointment of judges, the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) fiasco, where the cost rose from an estimated RM1.1 billion to RM4.7 billion and a possible RM12.5 billion, and political crossovers particularly in Perak.”
However, Low noted that there are positive signs.
“The PKFZ fiasco is being actively and vigorously investigated; police reports have been made and suits have been taken against certain parties, and corrective measures have been taken,” Low said.
He further noted that Malaysia ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in September 2008.
Integrity is a Key Result Area for the government, referring to the performance criteria introduced by Datuk Seri Najib Razak when he took over as prime minister in April 2009.
Also, the prime minister had formed a high-level task force to study and make recommendations for action to be taken on the Auditor-General’s 2008 Report, said Low.
The CPI ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. It is a composite index drawing on corruption-related data from expert and business surveys carried out by a variety of independent and reputable institutions, TI said.
New Zealand ranked No 1 in the CPI 2009 with a score of 9.4, followed by Denmark (9.3), and Singapore and Sweden in joint 3rd and 4th place with 9.2. In fifth spot was Switzerland (9.0).
“Fragile, unstable states that are scarred by war and ongoing conflict linger at the bottom of the index,” said the global anti-corruption coalition in a press statement released from its headquarters in Berlin. The worst performers are Somalia, with a score of 1.1, Afghanistan (1.3), Myanmar (1.4) and Sudan tied with Iraq (1.5).
