Graft Report A Wake Up Call For Muhyiddin Govt

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Malaysia slipped 6 places in Transparency International’s world corruption index. (Bloomberg pic)PETALING JAYA: Corruption watchdogs have expressed concern over the worsening graft in the country after Malaysia dropped six places to rank 57th in the Corruption Perception Index for 2020.
They urged Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to rework his government, strengthen the independence of institutions and restore rule of law.
The corruption watchdog group C4 Center said the report shows that corruption was seeping deeper into institutions and the administration running the country.
“The Perikatan Nasional government has decisively rolled back many initiatives that were started by the previous Pakatan Harapan government,” C4 said.
“This is not just in the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP), but even to the extent of suspending elections and the function of Parliament, subverting the rule of law, a key pillar in upholding good governance.”
Malaysia ranked 57 among 180 countries and went down 6 places in the 2020 CPI with a score of 51 out of 100.
In 2019, Malaysia was ranked 51 with a score of 53 which was also the country’s best score over the last seven years. Countries are scored from zero to 100, with zero being perceived as the most corrupt, and 100 marks for those perceived as the cleanest and most transparent.
Transparency International (TI), which released the report, said the drop in score can be attributed to the sudden change in government following the “Sheraton Move” in early 2020.
C4 said influencing factors included stalled institutional reforms, limited access to information on matters of public interest, the continued abuse of power and corruption by enforcement agencies, and a lack of political will to fight institutional corruption “which is embedded in the system”.
“This does not augur well for our future, given that a United Nations report said that foreign direct investment in Malaysia had plunged by 68%,” it said.
Other factors included were the appointment of politicians to head government-linked companies, the lack of progress on the Whistleblower Protection Act and Government Procurement Bill, as well as continued adverse findings in the auditor-general’s annual report.
Another example pointed out by TI was the trials of high profile politicians involving corruption charges which resulted in several acquittals and conditional discharges.
“We urge the public to call for the government to wake up and shake up, and move towards improved transparency, especially in narrowing the scope of the Official Secrets Act to only matters of national security, to provide updates and progress on the NACP, and to amend the Whistleblower Protection Act,” it said.
Malaysia Association of Accredited Fraud Examiners president Akhbar Satar told FMT that the drop is due to the increase in corruption, political instability and crisis in democracy “where weak institutions are less able to control corruption and a weak economy”.
Akhbar also said corruption was also thriving due to lack of good governance and the uncertain future.
Bad for economy
From an economic perspective, an economist cautioned that it will chase away foreign direct investments to regional peers such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.
“Malaysia is perceived less as a country where to invest. An increase in the perceived level of corruption can only further deteriorate such a situation, further undermining Malaysian competitiveness,” said Carmelo Ferlito, chief executive of the Center for Market Education.
He said corruption would prosper in a government framework with too many laws and regulations, red tape and procedures.
“The best way to fight corruption is to clarify and simplify the regulatory framework. Corruption prospers in dark corners while it suffers when clarity shines,” he added.
Nazari Ismail, an economist at Universiti Malaya, said Malaysia’s attractiveness for foreign investment would suffer as costs of doing business in the country would go up if corruption worsens.
He urged the rakyat to put more pressure on the government to be transparent. “Politicians should be questioned in terms of their wealth and also their sources of wealth,” he said. - FMT

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