PETALING JAYA: Malaysia needs drastic institutional and legal reforms now in order to improve and meet its aims in the global corruption perception index (CPI), say experts, following the latest ranking which showed that the score has stagnated.
The administration must back up its talk about eradicating graft with concrete action such as separating the roles of Attorney General and Public Prosecutor, they said.
One expert proposed improving how the government implements projects involving the private sector – one of the main respondents in the CPI survey.
This is because delays in implementation give the impression that palms need to be greased for projects to move forward, they said.
Malaysia’s 2024 CP score of 50 is unsurprising, said Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) chief executive officer Pushpan Murugiah, as the government’s anti-graft drive did not improve.
“Narratives about fighting corruption have to be backed up with necessary reforms. When these reforms are passed, it is not just about checking items on a list. They must actually address corruption.”
Without drastic reforms, the unity government’s aim of achieving the 25th spot in the CPI by 2033 will be hard, he said.
Rasuah Buster chief executive officer Nurhayati Nordin said that the stagnant results are not a good sign.
“Even though we see a lot of efforts made by the government and civil society, the score indicates that we have a lot more to do,” she said, adding that strong political will was needed to change the existing public perception on corruption and the government’s actions must be clearly communicated to the public.
Transparency International Malaysia president Dr Muhammad Mohan expressed disappointment with this year’s stagnant score.The government must improve the process whereby projects that have been approved are implemented, he added.
“There are businesses whose projects have been approved but were not implemented. When they ask the government officers, they are told their file has gone missing or that the project is still under consideration. This gives room for corruption,” he said.
Since chambers of commerce and trade associations are the main respondents in the CPI survey every year, Muhammad said that the Malaysian Productivity Council should engage them to identify such inefficiencies.
He added that reducing personto person contact and digitalisation of processes will aid in transparency and reduce corruption.
