The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) should be accorded the status of a commission in order to expunge the negative perception that it was not independent, said Transparency International (TI) today.

TI vice-chairperson Tunku Abdul Aziz, said the change was needed to regain the people's trust and correct the agency's negative image abroad.

The agency is under the purview of the Home Affairs Ministry.

Abdul Aziz said it was unfortunate that the agency suffers from such an image although he knew that it acts independently and investigates cases reported to it.

"The perception, unfortunately, is that they are not independent. That they are part of the executive.

"But I think if the ACA is converted into a commission, an independent commission, I think the perception would change. They may get much greater support from the public," he said during a press conference at his office in Kuala Lumpur

The press conference was called in conjunction with the worldwide release of TI's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2002.

Abdul Aziz, who is also Kuala Lumpur Society for Transparency and Integrity president, said while ACA was doing a "good job" on the whole, it still requires public support to execute its duties efficiently.

He added that the agency's role will be hampered if the public do not report cases of corruption.

Up three ranks

Meanwhile, Malaysia's CPI ranking moved up three notches from 36th placing (out of 91 countries) to 33rd placing (out of 102 countries) this year but the CPI score dropped from 5.0 to 4.9 this year.

Abdul Aziz explained that while ranking was important, it was not very significant. "What we should be looking for is the overall score," he said.

The index is based on various international surveys, and as such is actually a perception of foreign observers which may not reflect the true situation in a country.

He stressed that it is nevertheless still important to pay serious attention to their perception because it could affect foreign investor's decision to invest in a country.

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