Advertisement

Kit Siang: Malaysia still has a long way to go despite improved ranking in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index

Lim Kit Siang speaks to Malay Mail during an interview in Sheraton, Petaling Jaya May 27, 2018. The elder DAP politician said 2020 is a make-or-break year for PH to convince Malaysians that they are serious in delivering their promises. — Picture by Firdaus Latif
Lim Kit Siang speaks to Malay Mail during an interview in Sheraton, Petaling Jaya May 27, 2018. The elder DAP politician said 2020 is a make-or-break year for PH to convince Malaysians that they are serious in delivering their promises. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — Despite Malaysia going up the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by 10 ranks to 51 in 2019 from 61 in 2018, this does not mean that the nation has achieved its objective to become a top world class nation in public integrity, Lim Kit Siang said.

What this means, the Gelang Patah MP pointed out, is that Putrajaya is on the right path by building upon its anti-corruption efforts.

“The TI CPI 2019 report does not mean that Malaysia has achieved the objective to become a top world class nation among the leading 30 states in public integrity, but it means that we are in the trajectory towards this direction if we build on the anti-corruption efforts of the past year.

“We must not be complacent and all sectors of society should work to ensure that we can repeat the Great Leap in the TI CPI 2019 in TI CPI 2020 and future TI CPI reports.

“In the past 25 years, Malaysia’s highest TI CPI score of 5.32 out of 10 (or roughly 53.2 out of 100 under the new system presently used by  TI) was achieved in 1996, in a survey involving  54 countries — which was why Malaysia could get the best TI CPI ranking of 23 (out of 41 countries) in TI CPI 1995,” Lim said in a press statement today.

In TI CPI 2016, Malaysia’s ranking fell seven places from 55 to 62 out of 180 countries and the nation plumbed the lowest TI CPI score of 4.3 out of 10 in the TI CPI 2011.

In the TI CPI 2019, Malaysia is ranked with four other countries in No. 51 with a score of 53 out of 100 — Grenada, Italy, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia.

For the 2019 report, Malaysia also improved in terms of score, going up to six points to 53 in the corruption index.

At the same time, the elder DAP politician also reminded the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration that it has to work harder for public confidence and trust especially since it seemed as if it could do no right in the eyes of the public last year.

“2020 is the year to leave the negative vibes of last year behind. Last year, Malaysia was virtually drowned in a sea of negative vibes.

“In the first seven months of the new government in 2018, there was nothing that the PH government could do wrong. But in the past year, there was nothing that the PH could do right,” he said.

Lim pointed out that 2020 is a make-or-break year for PH to convince Malaysians that they are serious in delivering the promises to reset nation building policies and reforming the institution.

Related Articles Let us make 2020 a Year of Positive Vibes for Pakatan Harapan and a New Malaysia — Lim Kit Siang GIACC: Malaysia should not rest on laurels in fight against corruption Dr M: Don’t let petty issues affect racial harmony