Malaysia’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score this year has improved by one step from the previous year but there are still many matters to be concerned about, stated Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M).

Malaysia had scored 50/100 compared to last year’s 49/100 in the CPI, and the country ranked 53 out of 177 countries compared to last year’s 54 out of 177 countries.

However, despite the improvement, there are still massive improvements to be done in the judiciary sector, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) sector and the corporate sector, said TI-M president Akhbar Satar.
“So there are some improvements (this year), of course we have a lot of things to do,” said Akhbar during his speech announcing the results.

Malaysia is currently ranked third among the 10 countries in the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean), with Singapore and Brunei ranking first and second.

It is a popular adage that a country with a higher gross domestic product (GDP) will be less corrupted. Malaysia, with a current GDP per capita of US$10,381 is the third highest in Asean, and this is reflected in Malaysia’s improvement in the CPI index.

Singapore is ranked fifth out of 177 countries, alongside Norway with a CPI score of 86. Norway is currently holding the highest GDP per capita of US$99,558, but did not obtain the top spot.

In this year’s CPI overall ranking and score, Malaysia is on par with Turkey. Denmark and New Zealand top the chart with a CPI score of 91.

Among those at the bottom of the chart, Somalia had retained its last spot for 10 consecutive years with a CPI score of eight.

The CPI has been published by Transparency International (TI) since 1995 to annually rank countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessment and opinion surveys.

The scale used to determine the severity of a country’s corruption range from zero to 100, zero being the most corrupted to 100 being clean from corruption.

TI-M had pointed out concerns over the lack of investigations and convictions in high-profile cases, privatisation and mega projects awarded without open tenders or competitive bidding.

Concerns over Official Secrets Act

Other than that, TI-M also pointed out concerns over the government’s Official Secrets Act, no public disclosure of assets, and corruption in the corporate and political sector.

Thus, TI-M had made several recommendations to improve on Malaysia's CPI score and to curb corruption:
  • Pursue corruption cases of officials at the highest levels without fear or favour to restore public confidence in the fight against corruption.

  • Improve transparency by repealing the amendment to Section 203A of the Penal Code. Repeal the Official Secrets Act and replacing it with a Freedom of Information Act. There must be public disclosure of assets, as well as a review of the weaknesses in the Whistleblowers Protection Act.

  • Grant MACC more independence without undue pressure or interference. MACC should improve and increase enforcement, intelligence and evidence-gathering.

  • Amend the MACC Act 2009 to close loopholes:

    Section 23 - A member of the administration can award contracts, tenders and procurement to a relative or associate merely with a declaration of interest.

    Section 36 - No power to require a declaration of assets without initiating a corruption investigation.

  • Companies should be punished along with their employees for corruption offences committed by their employees for the companies’ benefit.

  • More severe punishments for corruption convictions.

  • Political parties to be more transparent and accountable in how they receive and spend political donations.

  • No privatisation and mega projects without open tenders and competitive bidding.

  • Electoral reform along with the Election Commission for better accountability and to ensure integrity at federal and state elections.

  • Adoption of ‘Open Government Partnership’ to ensure better representation, better laws, better governance and better results.