DAP says the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission’s record budget of RM202.2 million for 2011 is an “utter  waste of public funds”, considering the country’s worst Transparency International (TI) ranking in 17 yeas.

NONE “Parliament approved a RM202.2 million budget for MACC for 2011 and all it has to show is the country’s lowest CPI ranking of No 60 and lowest-ever score of 4.3.

“On the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day, Malaysians are entitled to ask whether MACC, which took over from ACA in 2009, is an utter  waste of public funds,” DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said in a statement today.

In comparison, the Ipoh Timor MP said, the previous Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) in 1996 ran on a budget of RM29.4 million - 15 percent of MACC’s 2011 budget - during which Malaysia ranked No 26 and achieved the highest CPI score of 5.32 for that year.

“Malaysians are entitled to compare the budgets given to ACA in 1996 and that to MACC in 2011, and the TI Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Malaysia in these two years.

“We ask why MACC, which has been given a budget almost seven times that given to ACA in 1996 and with greatly increased staff and resources, had brought Malaysia’s TI CPI in 2011 to the lowest ranking of 60 and score of 4.3 when in 1996 we could be ranked No 26 with a score of 5.32?”

Nothing positive from massive MACC expenditure

Lim said MACC had nothing positive to show for its massive expenditure, notable results apart from the CPI slide being two deaths at MACC premises since 2009 and a “grand total of four politicians arrested for corruption in 2010 as compared to 23 in 2009".

The results, he said, were in stark contrast to Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Government Transformation Programme (GTP) that claimed to prioritise combatting corruption as one of the seven National Key Result Areas.

“What has Malaysia got to show on the anti-corruption front on the 8th International Anti-Corruption Day, bearing in mind Najib’s assurance that GTP is aimed at delivering big results fast in the public service that were most important to the people?” asked Lim.

The United Nations General Assembly on Oct 31, 2003, declared Dec 9 to be International Anti-Corruption Day after adopting the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.