18 minutes
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia maintained its score of 47 points in Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2018.
Although it retained its marks, Malaysia went up in the overall rankings of 180 countries from 62nd to 61st.
The rankings are based on 13 surveys and expert assessments which measures the perceived level of corruption of the country’s public sector.
TI-Malaysia president Datuk Akhbar Satar said while he deemed the ranking as acceptable, he urged the government to provide the leadership and strong will to drive the message of zero tolerance for graft through solid actions.
“It is imperative for all stakeholders, including the private sector and society to strengthen the institutions to maintain the checks and balances over political power,“ he said after releasing the 2018 CPI study.
“Although there is confidence in the government, by next year it has to continue in its fight against corruption (and ensure) it is carried out without fear or favour.
“Procurement for big projects should be through open tender rather than direct negotiations.”
He added that government-linked companies (GLCs) and state-owned entities should be fully privatised rather than being run by the government.
“This is because there were cases of mismanagement and misuse of power. The government should focus on the peoples’ welfare, health, education and aspects of integrity.”
Malaysia ranked 55th among 176 countries in 2016, with a score of 49 out of 100. In 2015, Malaysia was ranked 54 out of 168 countries, with a score of 50.
It uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is perceived as highly corrupted and 100 as clean.
The 2018 study found that Denmark and New Zealand topped the index with 88 and 87 points respectively, while Somalia, South Sudan and Syria scored below 50.
In the Asean region, Brunei scored 63, while Indonesia stood at 38, while both Thailand and the Philippines scored 36. Vietnam was given 33, while Myanmmar, Laos and Cambodia scored 29 each.
