Malaysia slips a point in TI's corruption index

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia dropped one point in Transparency International's (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2016.

It is now ranked 55 among 176 countries, with a score of 49 out of 100.

In 2015, Malaysia was ranked 54 out of 168 countries, with a score of 50.

TI-Malaysia president Datuk Akhbar Satar (pix) said the one-point drop "is not much" as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), under new leadership, has proven its effectiveness in tackling high profile cases last year.

"It has been doing very well. The raids by MACC also saw its officers seizing millions of ringgit, apart from arresting high-profile figures," Akhbar told a press conference Wednesday.

He stressed that the MACC also needs to pay attention to "corrupt politicians" in order to improve the country's CPI ranking and score.

Neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Laos and Myanmar have improved on their rankings.

Singapore is ranked seventh with a score of 84 (eighth with a score of 85 in 2015). Laos improved to 123 (139 in 2015) with a score of 30 (25) while Myanmar is ranked 136 (147) with a score of 28 (22).

Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad was appointed MACC commissioner last year, replacing Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed who had led the graftbusting agency since 2010.