PETALING JAYA: Malaysia faces a stiff challenge to achieve its target of 25th position in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranking by 2033, according to Transparency International Malaysia (TI-Malaysia).
Its president Dr Muhammad Mohan (pic) said this is because the national CPI 2024 score and ranking stagnated at 50, attributing it to the slow pace of reforms including discharge not amounting to acquittals (DNAAs) granted in several high-profile prosecution cases.
He said Malaysia needed to show a score of more than 60 points within that time-frame.
“Last year, we were at 50 points and I mentioned that we needed to go up by about two points each year to reach the target within the next eight to nine years.
“But when you remain at 50 points, it means the job will get tougher the following year because we will need to improve by between three and four points. This is very challenging,” he told reporters after announcing the Global CPI Report 2004 yesterday.
Malaysia maintained its score and ranking on the global CPI at 50 and 57, respectively, the same as in 2023. In 2022, the score was 47 and the ranking was 61.
Last November, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy chief commissioner (prevention) Datuk Seri Norazlan Mohd Razali said the country could achieve its target of 25th position in the CPI by 2033, provided all parties cooperated with it.
Muhammad said although the government has initiated institutional and legal reforms, including setting up a Special Task Force on the CPI, reforms in other areas are lagging such as amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act and enactment of the Freedom of Information Act.
“Amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act are one of the lowest hanging fruits. I don’t know where the stumbling block is,” he added, but noted that the government has assured that the amendments will be tabled during the current Parliament meeting which ends on March 6.
On the DNAAs granted to high-profile cases, he said: “I am not challenging the law but this is the perception and how the public perceives it.
“They (DNAAs) could have been an influence and I agree that if they did not come about, perhaps we could have done better.”
Muhammad said there is still a perception in the business sector that bribery continued to plague the public sector, which he identified as another factor weighing down the nation’s CPI.
“We have been struggling to keep our head above water and just managed at the passing mark of 50. If we are looking at a score of 60 and above, we need to aim for massive reforms and changes in the coming years,” he said.
The CPI is a perception index involving 180 countries and is based on data gathered from businesses and experts.
Malaysia is ranked second in Asean in terms of its CPI ranking, with Singapore holding the top spot, Vietnam third and followed by Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
The top 10 countries are Denmark, Finland, Singapore, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia which scored between 70 and 80 points.
