The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today accepted the "far from flattering" findings that showed the country had slipped in its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score.

Berlin-based Transparency International's (TI) annual survey released last month showed Malaysia had slipped from 4.5 to 4.4 out of 10 on its index scale where 1.0 is the most corrupt and 10.0 is the least corrupt.

Southeast Asian neighbours like Singapore, scored 9.3, and Brunei 5.5.

"We accept the... score in its entirety even though it is far from flattering," said Hisham Nordin, Delivery and Monitoring Unit for Corruption NKRA director at MACC, in what appeared to be a rare admission of the level of graft in the country.

"There is absolutely nothing to hide. But we are not discouraged because we know what we have done and put in place to fight corruption under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP)," he said in a statement, referring to an ambitious plan launched early this year to reform the administration.

"These robust initiatives are still in their early stages of implementation and we are confident they will yield the results we want."

Political funding

Prime Minister Najib Razak came to power last year with a pledge to tackle corruption, which is endemic in Malaysian politics and society and a key factor behind the government's disastrous performance in the 2008 national polls.

However, in its latest ranking of perceived corruption, TI showed Malaysia remained at its spot last year of 56 out of 178 countries.

According to TI, Malaysia had failed to bring to book the perpetrators in several major corruption cases and authorities continue to award major projects without open tenders, which was criticised as promoting bribery.

Hisham said that steps taken to fight graft include the setting up of an online register to name and shame offenders, the issuance of directives to end the use of support letters in influencing government purchases and contracts as well as an online portal listing most government tenders and their winners.

"Clearly, more serious and effective actions need to be taken in 2011, with greater intensity and focus on driving out corrupt practices," he added.

The commission is also looking at reforming political financing.

"The government is considering requiring all contributions to political parties be credited directly to the party account and recorded, in a manner that enables a proper audit.

"Regulations under the Societies Act are being considered to implement this initiative - via requirements for submission of the annual statement to the Registrar of Societies."

- AFP