CEO of the Center for Market Education (CME), Carmelo Ferlito noted that the country’s position in the world ranking on legal protection over these rights has dropped steadily over the past 10 years.
For instance, he said, Malaysia ranked eighth globally in 2015 and 2016 but fell to the 22nd position in 2017. It rose to 19th in 2021 only to drop steadily to 27th in 2022.
Ferlito said the country’s weakness in terms of the legal and political environment “has been a constant”.
“It is therefore important to improve by strengthening political stability and judicial independence,” he said in comments on the just-released results of the International Property Rights Index 2024 (IPRI) today.
The annual survey is conducted by the Property Rights Alliance in the United States and CME is its Malaysian partner.
Overall, the survey shows, Malaysia saw a slight gain in ranking – from 31 in 2023 to 30 in 2024 – having improved its overall score from 6.174 to 6.191 over the past two years.
It remains in seventh position at the regional level.
The survey shows that while Malaysia scored “relatively well” in terms of the rule of law in which it was given 6.124 points for a global ranking of 38, it “showed fragility” in other areas.
In the area of judicial independence, it scored 5.065 points to rank 46th.
It did not do better in the political stability and control of corruption categories either, scoring 5.281 points for a 49th global ranking and 5.498 for a 43rd global ranking, respectively.
According to the IPRI report, rich countries consistently score better than their poorer peers in protecting property rights.
“This disparity highlights the critical role of property rights in fostering economic growth,” the report said.
Finland scored 8.1 points overall to lead the pack this year, with Singapore, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand rounding off the top five.
The weakest five countries – from the bottom – are Venezuela, Yemen, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad.
The report noted that these countries face significant challenges, such as political instability and a weak legal system, which undermine property rights and limit economic opportunities.