Malaysia’s long road in corruption fight

Upholding integrity: The MACC headquarters in Putrajaya. A study has suggested that the agency be placed directly under Parliament, as this will enhance the independence and transparency of its check-and-balance process.

Malaysia’s non-improvement in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2024 should lead to questions on how to better implement the measures to fight corruption under the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) 2024-2028, where the goal is to be ranked 27th globally by 2028, which seems sadly distant.

To put things in perspective, under the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) 2019-2023, which is a continuation of the NACS, the target was to be ranked 30th in 2025 and 25th in 2030. Malaysia was ranked 57th out of 180 countries in 2024, the same as in 2023, with the same score of 50 out of 100.