Malaysia's performance in the latest Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) under Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is “worse” than during the tenure of his two predecessors.

The ranking is not the worst in 10 years as claimed by TI Malaysia, said DAP leader Lim Kit Siang, but the lowest in 17 years since its introduction in 1995.

azlan The 2011 ranking released last Thursday recorded a dip in Malaysia's position from 56th last year to 60th this year out of 183 countries.

Malaysia's score of 4.3 was also the third consecutive fall since 2009. (Under the scoring system, 10 is ‘highly clean’ while 0 is ‘highly corrupt’.)

Lim said in a statement today that, in the nine years from 1995 under Mahathir’s tenure, the score had been stuck in the narrow groove between 4.8 in 2000 and 5.32 in 1996. The ranking fell 14 places from 23rd in 1995 to 37th in 2003.

Over the five years under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the position fell 10 places from 37th in 2003 to 47th in 2008. The CPI score was stuck between 5.0 and 5.1, Lim noted.

However in the 2.5 years of Najib’s administration, Malaysia has recorded the worst CPI ranking and score on many fronts:

  • Worst single-year plunge in ranking: from 47th in 2008 to 56th in 2009;
  • Most precipitous fall in ranking: from 47th in 2008 to 60th in 2011;
  • From 2009-2011, the score has consistently fallen below a score of 5, compared to just twice between 1995 and 2008: 4.8 in 2000 and 4.9 in 2002;
  • From 2009-2011, the score has fallen to ever new lows: 4.5 in 2009, 4.4 in 2010 and 4.3 this year.

‘Najib's Transformation Programme in fighting corruption is a major washout ... Malaysia (is) perceived as  more corrupt (now) than ... under Abdullah and ... Mahathir," Lim said.

‘Not in Umno DNA’

He noted that the worsening ranking was not mentioned by any leader or delegate at the Umno annual general assembly (AGM) last week, although the results were announced the same day as Najib's presidential speech.

azlan On the contrary, the country was given the impression that the entire Umno leadership and membership had rallied in support of Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil despite the ‘Cattle Gate’ scandal.

"The message from the Umno AGM cannot be clearer. The war against corruption, cronyism, abuse of power and the urgent need for national reforms to ensure accountability, transparency and integrity are just not in the Umno DNA and are totally beyond the political will and capacity of Umno and BN.

"Malaysia can only be saved from corruption to begin a new era of national prosperity, international competitiveness, government efficiency, accountability, transparency, integrity, justice and democracy if the country is saved from Umno and BN in the 13th general election.”

Shahrizat, who is the women, family and community development minister, has been the target of the opposition in recent weeks.

It has claimed that her husband, Mohamad Salleh Ismail - the National Feedlot Corporation executive chairperson - had abused the RM250 million soft loan issued by the government.

Enjoying overwhelming support from the Wanita Umno wing, however, Shahrizat has maintained that she had nothing to do with the company and has refused to answer any of the allegations.

However, several Umno leaders and delegates have insisted that she should explain the allegations and step down.

 

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