Can Malaysia improve by 40 rankings in one year in Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) as in RSF’s World Press Freedom Rankings, which would make Malaysia the top Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) country and a leading Asian nation in fighting corruption as in the early years of the annual TI CPI series?
I do not expect such a “miracle” to happen to Malaysia on the anti-corruption front, as it would overnight restore Malaysia’s position as the top OIC country and a leading nation in Asia in ensuring good governance with public integrity with minimal corruption.
Malaysia is now ranked No. 61 out of 180 countries with a score of 47 marks out of 100, one of the lowest recorded for the country.
If not for the change of government in the 15th General Election, Malaysia would have continued to slither down the annual TI CPI ranking and score as happened under the Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri “backdoor” governments, undoing the efforts of the Pakatan Harapan government which achieved the best TI CPI performance in 2019 with a jump of 10 rankings with a score of 53 out of 100 marks.
Muhyiddin and Hadi are not against corruption. Muhyiddin is only opposed to the monstrous 1MDB scandal while Hadi was quite comfortable with the 1MDB scandal as he had performed the feat of never criticising the massive 1MDB scandal.
Muhyiddin and Hadi have no qualms if Malaysia falls lower and lower in future TI CPIs, even if China overtake Malaysia before 2030 and Indonesia, India and more OIC countries overtake Malaysia in the decade after 2030.
But with the Anwar unity government, Malaysians can hope to see Malaysia reach the top 30 slots of countries in the world with minimal corruption and restore its position as the top OIC country and a leading nation in Asia in fighting corruption – if not by the end of the full five-year term of the Anwar Unity Government in 2027, at least by the end of the second Anwar term as Prime Minister in 2033.
Will the Perikatan Nasional of Bersatu and PAS support a 10-year programme to make Malaysia one of the top 30 countries in the world in public integrity with minimal corruption?
Meanwhile, the best way to celebrate the 40-ranking jump of Malaysia in RSF’s World Press Freedom Ranking 2023 is for Malaysia to set up a Media Council.
Veteran journalists Johan Jaafar and Zaini Hassan are among those who said the establishment of a media council would be timely and would raise the professionalism of journalists to a higher level, thus creating a new benchmark for the profession.
Much work had been done in the 22 months of the Pakatan Harapan Government before it was toppled by the infamous Sheraton Move political conspiracy in February 2022.
It is time for the Anwar unity government to announce the good news about the establishment of the media council.