Speech by Lim Kit Siang at the Pahang DAP Chinese New Year Open House at the Bentong C hinese Asssembly Hall on Wednesday, 15^th February 2012 at 9 pm: 

Indonesia and China may overtake Malaysia before 2020 in the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index both in ranking and score

Just before I came up to the rostrum, I was reading the Jakarta Post report today “We are the best at anti-graft: SBY”, as follows:

Amid intensifying reports of massive corruption implicating many of his Democratic Party members, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono claimed on Wednesday that his administration had conducted the best anti-corruption campaign in Indonesia’s history.

“We have carried out the most aggressive anti-corruption measures in this country’s history,” the President said in his speech before 128 foreign envoys assigned to Indonesia in a meeting held at the Foreign Ministry office.

The foreign representatives, which included foreign ambassadors and country leaders of international organizations, were invited by the Indonesian government to listen to Yudhoyono’s remarks on the latest developments on various issues.

In his speech, which was delivered in Indonesian, the President also claimed that his administration had been eager to impose decisive measures against corrupt state officials without exception.

“From ministers, governors, to regents and mayors, many have been tried for graft. Corruption still exists from the central government through the regional administrations and legislative bodies,” Yudhoyono added.

“However, our work is still far from finished. There is still much homework to accomplish, particularly when it comes to boosting bureaucratic reform,” he said.accomplish, particularly when it comes to boosting bureaucratic reform,” he said.

I felt mortified as a Malaysian reading this report.

Dare the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak make a similar claim as the Indonesian President that under his watch as the Prime Minister of Malaysia for nearly three years, his administration had conducted the best and most aggressive anti-corruption campaign in Malaysian history?

Yudhoyono can boast that under his presidency, many have been tried for graft “From ministers, governors, to regents and mayors”, but what has Najib got to show in his three years as Prime Minister although he elevated “Fighting Corruption” as one of the six key NKRAs (National Key Result Areas) in his Government Transformation Plan (GTP)?

Najib has nothing positive to show on the anti-corruption front as there are only negatives – like the mysterious and unresolved murder of Teoh Beng Hock at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Shah Alam in July 2009, the unexplained death of Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamad, Selangor Customs assistant director at MACC premises in Kuala Lumpur, the misuse and of the MACC as a political tool of the Barisan Nasional government to persecute and victimise Pakatan Rakyat leaders, etc.

What is most shocking is the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2011 released last month which showed that Malaysia has fallen to the lowest TI CPI ranking of No. 60 with the lowest CPI score of 4.3.

Based on the latest TI CPI 2011 ranking and score, Malaysia under Najib is even more corrupt than under the two previous Prime Ministers, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah. Comparing Najib's administration with those of the two previous Prime Ministers, Malaysia's worst and best TI CPI ranking and score were:

What should concern all Malaysians is that from recent trends, Malaysia runs the risk of being overtaken by both Indonesia and China before 2020 in the annual TI CPI both in ranking and score unless Malaysia quickly buck up and show its seriousness on the anti-corruption front.

In the first TI CPI in 1995, Malaysia was ranked No. 23 out of 41 countries with a CPI score of 5.28.

Seventeen years later, after numerous anti-corruption campaigns, two major anti-corruption legislation, the “elevation” of the former Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) into Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the National Integrity Plan, the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme with massive infusion of public funds and increase of staffing, Malaysia has now fallen to the lowest TI CPI ranking in 17 years, viz: No. 60 with the lowest CPI score of 4.3.

In comparison, Indonesia was ranked at the very bottom of No. 41 in 1995 with CPI score of 1.94 while China was ranked No. 40 with a CPI score of 2.16 in 1995. Now Indonesia is ranked No. 100 with a CPI score of 3.0 in 2011 while China is ranked No. 75 with a score of 3.6.

At the annual average rate of Indonesia and China’s improvement on TI CPI ranking and score in the past three years, compared with Malaysia's regression in CPI score in the past three years, Malaysia will be left behind by both Indonesia and China well before 2020.

How are Malaysians going to hold their heads high when the world perceive Malaysia as being even more corrupt than Indonesia and China before the end of the decade?

Is this the fate awaiting Malaysia in the TI CPI ranking and score before 2020?

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor