The Lowest Score Recorded of 48 In The 2021 Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) Adds On To Malaysia’s Growing List Of Failures That Is Endemic To A Failed State.
The drastic drop of 5 points from 53 in 2019 to 48 in the 2021 Transparency International’s(TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) adds on to Malaysia’s list of depressing failures that is endemic to a growing perception of a failed state as highlighted by Bloomberg in July 2021.
This is reflected in Malaysia’s ranking which dropped to the 62nd spot from 57th in 2020, the lowest ever recorded. United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar are among the best-performing Islamic countries on the CPI, with 69 points and 63 points respectively.
Malaysia’s depressing failures include managing the COVID-19 pandemic, our economy continues to be mired in recession from the disastrous serial total lockdowns that caused more than RM500 billion in economic losses, the political crisis caused by weak leadership with an unelected government, the national flood disaster resulting in more than 55 lives lost and RM20 billion in economic losses and now the corruption scandals.
TI Malaysia(TI-M) said that whilst Malaysia has launched a National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) in 2019, this is meaningless if not executed or enforced as well as not accompanied by promised institutional reforms, amongst them the Anti-Hopping Law.
These are one of the reasons why PH leaders signed the Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) with the Prime Minister Ismail Sabri to expressly amend the Federal Constitution to enact the Anti-Hopping law by March 2022 parliamentary session, to prevent “bought” defections by elected representatives and betrayal of voters’ mandate.
TI-M also mentioned the appointment of politicians without experience to head government-linked companies (GLCs), limited progress or public updates on high-profile cases, lack of action against public officials found to have abused their positions and the need to reform Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission(MACC) to make it truly independent and place it under the purview of Parliament as well as protect whistle-blowers that have not enjoyed full protection under the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010.
Not only has MACC been used as a political weapon against opposition politicians, MACC high-ranking officers are embroiled in corrupt practices and abuse of power. MACC investigations and threats of prosecution for corruption charges will descend upon opposition MPs but then magically disappear after they defect to support the Prime Minister,
Nothing highlights the fact that MACC is part of the problem than MACC chief Azam Baki’s refusal to take leave and allow an independent and credible panel of investigators to seek the truth from the attempted cover-up of the scandal involving his shares trading account.
Unless Azam (pictured) fully explains why he lied that his brother operated his shares trading account by proxy as well as the source of funds to conduct large shares transactions, Malaysia’s TI-CPI index will never improve.
Malaysia’s sharp decline in rankings and performance in fighting corruption in 2021 was not in time to cover the share shenanigans involving MACC chief graft buster Azam Baki. By including Azam Baki’s shares scandal, Malaysia’s TI-CPI rankings will further deteriorate in 2022.
Lim Guan Eng
DAP Secretary-General
