After the launch of the Eastern Zone-level Anti-Corruption Awareness Campaign at the Temerloh Rest and Recreation area yesterday, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy chief commisioner (Prevention), Datuk Shamsun Baharin Mohd Jamil said that MACC was confident of commanding 80 percent of the people’s trust and confidence as early as next year by effectively fighting corruption.
He revealed that public confidence in the MACC continued to increase from 65.8 percent last year to 73 percent this year. 80% is the international standard level.
Despite the fact that MACC has seized over RM170mil and arrested 1,037 civil servants in its crackdown against corruption and money laundering for the last three years, as revealed by Paul Low Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in a last month’s parliamentary reply, I believe that Malaysians’ response to Datuk Shamsun’s remarks will be surprise, skepticism and even disbelief. (http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/11/186674/1037-people-nabbed-rm170mil-seized-corruption-crackdown-civil-service-glcs-paul)
I am not surprised that if an independent public survey is carried out, the result will not be the same as revealed by Datuk Shamsun—that public confidence in MACC has been increasing and the support percentage have even been more than 70%.
I therefore call on MACC to reveal how they have measured the public confidence in them? Was it done by an independent and professional body?
In January this year, Transparency International-Malaysia president Datuk Akhbar Satar said that Malaysia’s ranking dropped four places in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) last year. (http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/01/27/malaysia-slides-four-down-global-corruption-perception-index/)
The index showed that Malaysia was ranked 54th out of 168 countries this year compared to 50th out of 175 countries last year. Malaysia ranked 52 the previous year.
Datuk Akhbar Satar also said that issues surrounding 1Malaysia Development Berhad and the RM2.6bil donation were among reasons why Malaysia slipped four points down the global corruption perception index (CPI).
With the 1 MDB mega scandal unresolved and with MACC not being able to play an effective role in investigating the scandal, public will not be convinced by the MACC’s claim that public confidence in MACC has been increasing.