Tuesday 11 February, Kuala Lumpur – Transparency International (TI) the global anti-corruption coalition today released its 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) drawing on 9 surveys, based on business and country expert assessments measuring the perceived level of corruption of public sectors in 180 countries and territories in the world.
This year, Denmark, Finland and Singapore are top 3 of the index with 90 points, 88 points and 84 points respectively as “clean countries”, while Venezuela, South Sudan and Somalia are at the bottom of the index, with 10, 9 and 8 points respectively.
The survey results indicate that Malaysia’s score has remained at 50 points in 2024, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupted) to 100 (perceived to be very clean) compared to 50 points in 2023. Malaysia’s ranking in the CPI also remains at 57 similar to 2023 among the 180 countries surveyed. Although Malaysia has maintained its score and rank but the government must be cognizant that we have a vision to be among the top 25 countries globally by 2033. To be there we need to score 68-70 points which means every year we must improve our score by at least 2 points.
Among the possible reasons for the stagnant scores and ranking are as follows:
i.Businesses still feel corruption is a problem in the public sector. Bribe asking and bribe giving is still existing. There is no news on the progress of the two Corporate Liability cases (Pristine Offshore-2021 & Hydroshoppe-2023) possibly causing commercial organizations to take Adequate Procedures lightly.
ii.Institutional reforms have been slow despite the Madani government’s strong emphasis on good governance and institutional reforms (eg. Amending the Whistleblower Protection Act, Tabling the Freedom of Information Bill, Public Procurement Bill, Parliamentary Services Bill, Political Financing Bill and the separation of powers between the Attorney General and Public Prosecutor).
iii.Revised lower jail sentences and fines after conviction by the highest court on high profile cases creates the perception of political interference in the judiciary.
iv.High number of DNAA (Discharge Not Amounting to Acquittal) cases given for high profile cases also creates the perception of political interference in the judiciary or in the prosecution.
v.Continued cases of abuse of power and corruption by public officials despite crack down by MACC. For example, the recent arrest of customs officers in KLIA for vape smuggling worth RM8 Million.
vi.Continued adverse reports on wrong doings and poor governance by government officials in the Auditor General’s report which seems to go unpunished.
However, the Madani government over the last 2 years after coming to power has some notable achievements and among them are as follows:
i.Chief Secretary to the government (KSN) took responsibility to champion the NACS and lead the CPI vision to be among the top 25 countries by 2033.
ii.Introducing the Public Finance and Fiscal Responsibility Act in 2023 (Act 850) to ensure responsibility and transparency in the country’s fiscal and economic policies.
iii.NACS (National Anti-Corruption Strategy) launched in June 2024.
iv.Special Task Force formed to propel Malaysia to the top 25 in the CPI ranking.
v. Audit Act 1957 amended to empower the Auditor General (AG) to audit the accounts of any other body, including companies registered under the Companies Act 2016, in receipt of "financial guarantee" given by the federation or the state. This will include Government Linked Companies.
vi.Amendment to the Trustee Act to prevent malpractices by trust entities.
vii.Amendment to the Companies Act to include mandatory disclosure of Beneficial Ownership Transparency.
viii.Implementing DEEP (Demerit Performance Evaluation System) for civil servants starting 2025 to transform the civil service to a high -performance culture.
Moving forward the government must accelerate the institutional reforms to ensure there is transparency, accountability and ensure no political interference with enforcement bodies like MACC and with the judiciary. Malaysia’s rank in the World Justice Project under rule of law and judicial independence improved to 55th rank in 2023.
TI-Malaysia would reiterate that the government should seriously consider improving the Integrity Pact to international standards with establishing independent oversight for mega projects to ensure tax payers’ money are properly spent.
The government should leverage on new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain and big data to reduce bureaucracy and improve service delivery in the public sector which will have an impact of reducing corruption.
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Note to Editors: For clarification on any and all official statements from Transparency International – Malaysia (TI-M), kindly refer to its President, Dr Muhammad Mohan (mmohan@transparency.org.my) For more information on Corruption Perception Index, visit www.transparency.org/research/cpi.
