Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low has suggested this to be the case, noting that many cases of corruption were highlighted last year.
He is the minister in charge of governance, integrity and human rights.
“The high degree of publicity and exposure given by the MACC to these cases, especially in the last year, may have created a more negative perception which could have contributed to the drop in Malaysia’s CPI score and ranking,” Low said in a statement today.
He was responding to the release of the latest global index on corruption by Transparency International (TI).
Malaysia scored 47 out of 100 — two points lower than last year — in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2017, released today by the anti-graft group.
As a result, Malaysia dropped seven places and was ranked 62 among 180 countries, its worst performance in the last five years.
The CPI is an annual survey measuring the perceived level of public sector corruption in 180 countries around the world.
“The government recognises the CPI results are a fair indication of the level of public sector corruption within a country.
“We take the results seriously and continually strive to improve our annual scoring,” Low said.
“The fight against corruption and improving governance requires firm action on two fronts — enforcement and prevention.”
Low said this was shown in the numerous arrests by MACC, including that of many high-profile individuals last year.
He admitted, however, that these actions must be followed up with effective prosecution and convictions.
“Still, this should not deter the MACC from aggressive enforcement and the government from making the necessary long-term transformational changes.
“Effective prevention requires long-term, sustainable and continuous transformational changes,” Low said.
Good governance
He added that in view of such long-term goals, the government had expanded the roles and responsibilities of the previous Bahagian Integriti dan Tadbir Urus (BITU) to the new Jabatan Integriti dan Tadbir Urus Negara (JITN) or Department of National Integrity and Good Governance.
“Moving forward, the responsibility for prevention and driving transformation towards a more resilient public service that practises good governance rests with JITN.”
Low, who is a former president of TI-Malaysia, said the government would not waiver in its commitment to fight corruption and improve governance in the public sector.
“We are confident the initiatives currently taken will produce the desired results in the long term and will be reflected in Malaysia’s future CPI scores.”
His successor at TI-Malaysia, however, did not mince his words over the drop in Malaysia’s ranking.
Akhbar Satar said several high-profile cases, such as those involving 1MDB, the issues surrounding Felda as well as the Sabah Water Department scandal, contributed to Malaysia’s poor performance.
The TI-Malaysia president said the latest ranking put Malaysia further from Putrajaya’s goal of achieving the 30th spot within the next two years.
“This should be our ‘wake-up call’ but is the government listening or will this deplorable ranking be explained just like so many other warning signs?” Akhbar said.
Malaysia drops further in global graft index, worst in 5 years