YOURSAY | 'TI-CPI is the yardstick used by international bodies to measure corruption.'

DAP calls for Azam's resignation over his views on graft index

Vijay47: Congratulations to Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Adnan Mat as this profound revelation by MACC head Azam Baki is clear evidence that Adnan was correct when he proudly announced that appointment to the government service is based on merit, and I presume, intelligence.

The basis that Azam has adopted in dismissing any perception that Malaysia’s standing in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (TI-CPI) is alarming and should instead be seen as “I’m alright, Jack, the lark is on the wing” is perhaps as heartening as his other famous statement that “I was doing it for my brother”.

Unbelievably, he appears to believe that corruption reports and valuations from recognised international bodies are lacking in credibility.

Perhaps he will accept these “perceptions” only if supported by statutory declarations from practitioners of corruption. Or better still, if verified by, yes, his brother.

As expected, when Azam refers to other nations which are lower in the corruption hit parade, he seems proud that ‘Hey! Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand are worse off, so malu apa’ (why feel ashamed?).

And the 61 countries that are more honest and honourable than Malaysia is? Damn that little red dot. No doubt, the listing is the product of Western and Jewish interests.

And I suppose that in keeping with the MACC head’s brilliant measure of global standings, Malaysia must be a shining tower to progress and development – yeah, just look at Sri Lanka.

MarioT: When absolute power is practised by the powers-that-be, logic and reality play a minor role.

TI-CPI is the yardstick used by prominent international bodies to measure the level of corruption and investment risks. Criticising its findings or blaming it for being biased does not do well for developing countries like Malaysia.

Why not compare and compete with Singapore? We must accept our flaws in order to improve our international standing.

Newday: We have Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin stating that the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons report is subjective, and now Azam is saying the TI-CPI report measures perception not reality to dismiss our country’s corruption ranking.

Certainly, there is a pattern by our authorities to discredit any international agency casting a discerning eye over our governance.

Azam needs to remind himself of the many corruption cases that are under investigation and the corruption court cases that are in progress, some involving billions of ringgit.

Then he needs to compare how many they are in other countries. We are well in front of just about everyone else.

Is there a ranking for having the most corruption cases? We would be number one.

TI-CPI ranking: I would resign if I were MACC chief, says Rafizi

Dr Raman Letchumanan: Malaysia is likened to a country that behaves as 'katak di bawah tempurung' (a frog under a coconut shell). It not only wants to isolate itself but gets highly sensitive when something bad is said about it by the international community.

Remember the furore when our academic ratings went down and the professors started screaming that the methodology was all wrong. When the ratings went up recently, they were all full of praise.

So Azam, you are not alone in this line of thinking. But the problem is by saying this, you are revealing your lack of common sense and are contradicting yourself.

Whether it is perception or based on actual cases, it is irrelevant. The same methodology is used for all countries worldwide, 180 of them. And this is a survey participated by experts and businesses.

So, the scores, points and ranking are all relative measures. Unless you say Malaysia wants to be ‘katak’ (frogs) and needs to be assessed separately and only by Malaysians.

In business and investment, perception is all important. Do you know perception precedes and predicts the fate of the economy and stock markets, for example?

Perception is forward-looking, predicting the future, while actual cases are history and of no predictive and actionable value. To the ‘katak’, time stands still, there is no future and no learning from history or others.

That said, you then compared Malaysia with other countries. How can you compare your 'flawed measurement' with other countries? Oh, because it suits our narrative.

In fact, you should be happy the measurement is only perception, otherwise our ranking will be much lower.

The whole world has witnessed our court cases on kleptocracy, and several other similar cases not investigated, prosecuted or withdrawn during trial.

Oh, one more thing, Sri Lanka was ranked 102 in 2021. This is good news for Malaysia because at 62, we are a long way from becoming a failed state like Sri Lanka.

Here, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz will say it is not perception, but reality. He already said our finances are better than Singapore and Japan.

Faustus: Despite being tarred and feathered, there are those who continue unabashed worldwide.

And one can assume, go about looking at the eyes of children and grandkids with a faked utmost propriety and continued claims to public leadership.

Have we, and especially some of our leaders in governance, joined these ranks in some sense? Perhaps, going by what seems obvious.

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