PETALING JAYA: Downplaying Malaysia's position on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) could prove devastating for the country's economy, especially where its foreign direct investments (FDIs) are concerned.
Noting that the CPI is internationally recognised as a reasonable assessment of the state of corruption in 180 countries, former Transparency-International Malaysia (TIM) president Ramon Navaratnam said that “to negate it will come at our own peril”.
“Whether we like it or not, this index is taken seriously by both the international community and investors (alike), and should be recognised (by Malaysia.) So to negate it, or to play it down will be at our own peril,” he said.
Navaratnam said domestic investments including the ones by Bumiputeras would not be spared from a fall in FDIs, adding that this would in fact have a greater impact on the economy.
Malaysia's CPI score fell to 4.4 this year from 4.5 in 2009, maintaining a historically-low 56th position.
Even with this decline, the response from many government officials has been largely lacklustre.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said that the government was unable to mend public perception on corruption.
Beyond government control
Citing both the VK Lingam and Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandals, Nazri said that these cases were beyond government control. He added that they were left to the Attorney-General to act upon.
"We can't simply charge Lingam just to get an extra 0.1 or 0.2 in our rating point. We cannot do anything about PKFZ because it is already in the hands of the judiciary," Nazri said.
Minister in the PM's Department Idris Jala shared Nazri's views.
Downplaying the CPI as a survey for “business people, experts and analysts”, he said that the drop in score should not be viewed as a negative development.
Jala said the government had put in place several measures in recent years to combat corruption, including the formation of 18 special corruptions courts, and introduced laws such as the Whistleblower Protection Act.
But Navaratnam, however, believes these measures are not enough.
He said the country's anti-corruption and legal departments needed more training and resources.
“Many of the (corruption) cases with the Attorney-General go to court but end up losing, partly because these lawyers face more experienced lawyers,” he said.
Grounds of technicalities
Navaratnam said that some defendants would escape on grounds of technicalities, while some judges were intent on getting “100% proof” when it came to convictions.
“There is no such thing as a perfect case. Judges should be able to recognise that corruption is a scourge and convict those on overwhelming evidence,” he said.
Navaratnam currently serves as the chairman of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) panel on corruption prevention and consultation.
He strongly feels that all of these measures would be meaningless unless money politics is abolished.
Describing money politics as the “mother of all corruption”, he said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak needed to be much tougher in turning it into a thing of the past.
“You can't have money politics on one side and a well-equipped force on the other. If you get rid of money politics, it would be much easier to fight corruption. But efforts (to combat corruption) are not good enough.”
“If we have done so, then our rankings (on the CPI) would have gone up,” he said, adding that Malaysia should emulate Singapore, which scored first on the CPI charts.
He said although no index in the world was “absolutely perfect”, the CPI was one of the world's most reliable indices and Malaysia would do well to examine its own faults.
“We need to accept the index despite (our) reservations, and resolve as a government and as a people to combat corruption more effectively.”
“We need to constantly examine the index to see where we did well, and where we are lacking,” he said.
However, Navaratnam admitted that Malaysia had a difficult road ahead when it came to combating corruption.
“The road to Vision 2020 will be filled with large potholes, and this will make it more difficult for Malaysia to achieve a developed nation status by 2020,” he said.
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