KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s fight against graft must not be mere lip service, DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang said in urging the prime minister to practise what he preaches.
Lim said while it is too late for Anwar to influence Malaysia’s score for last year’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which is expected to be announced this month, it is indefensible not to improve the country’s score for this year.
“The 10th prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, must walk the talk on his anti-corruption commitment and produce results within a year when Transparency International (TI) releases its 2023 CPI next January,” Lim said in a blog post today.
“There will be no excuse for him not to be able to improve our rank and score in the 2023 TI CPI in the start of a long march for Malaysia to be among the top 30 countries in the world public integrity.”
Lim’s statement comes just a day after Anwar returned from an official visit to Indonesia – his first foreign trip since being appointed as prime minister in November.
Drawing comparisons with the neighbouring republic, Lim noted how Indonesia has shown improvements in its CPI ranking and scores in recent years, while Malaysia moves in the opposite direction.
“Since 2014, Indonesia has improved its TI CPI’s 107th rank and score of 34 out of 100 marks to 97th and score of 38 marks in 2021, while Malaysia has fallen from 50th and a score of 52 in 2014 to 62nd and score of 48 in 2021.”
In the 2021 CPI, Malaysia dropped five spots to 62nd among 180 countries – one of its worst showings in history. This is in stark contrast to when the country was ranked 53 just two years earlier, when Pakatan Harapan was in federal power.
“From the trajectory of both countries in the last seven years, Indonesia will overtake Malaysia by 2030 in the TI CPI series,” Lim said.
He added that this is most humiliating as when the index was first introduced in 1995 with the participation of 41 countries, Malaysia was ranked 23rd, while Indonesia was rock bottom.
Lim pointed out that many other Asian countries are also similarly showing improvements in their CPI ranking and scores, as opposed to Malaysia’s decline.
Among others, he noted that China, which was placed 100th in 2014, is now ranked 66th with a score of 45, trailing Malaysia by just three points.
India, while ranking lower in 2021 (86th) as compared to 2014 (85th), has improved its score from 38 to 40.
Lim said Malaysia is also in danger of losing to other Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Cambodia, which have shown improvements in their scores in recent years.
“We are in the sorry ranks of Sri Lanka and Philippines, and in great contrast to
Singapore, the only Asian country in the top ten of the CPI, improving from seventh in 2014 to fourth in 2021!”
However, Lim said Anwar’s assurance that he would not compromise in his anti-graft stand despite risking his position as prime minister, when speaking to the Malaysian diaspora in Jakarta two days ago, is welcome and reassuring.
“The ministerial retreat next week and the Parliament sitting next month should have more news about how Anwar proposes to end the nation’s decline on the anti-corruption front and place Malaysia as one of the 30 top countries in the world in public integrity.” – The Vibes, January 10, 2022
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