PRESS STATEMENT
12 FEBRUARY 2025
On 11 February 2025, Transparency International (TI) released the 2024 edition of their Corruption Perception Index (CPI) rankings, which revealed that both Malaysia’s CPI score and ranking for the year had remained stagnant. According to TI, Malaysia maintained its place at 57 out of 180 countries, with a score of 50 out of 100 total points. The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center) emphasises the urgent need for drastic institutional reform if the government is sincere in its plans to reach a top 25 CPI ranking by 2033.
This stagnation can very likely be attributed to the government’s failures to make good on their promises of introducing robust anti-corruption reforms. Despite the repeated affirmations by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of his government’s commitment to anti-corruption, the multiple failures to effectively enact justice on individuals involved in corruption has soiled this rhetoric. In the past year alone, the government has faced accusations of prosecutorial incompetence throughout their handling of several high profile corruption cases including:
- Zahid Hamidi: Granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) for 47 charges of corruption in the Yayasan Akalbudi case, as the prosecution needed to conduct “more thorough and comprehensive investigation”;
- Najib Razak and Mohd Irwan Serigar: Granted a DNAA for six corruption charges involving RM6.6 billion after the prosecution failed to hand over several classified documents required by the defence;
- Najib Razak and Arul Kanda: Received acquittals in the 1-Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) audit tampering trial after the prosecution failed to file their petitions of appeal in time;
- Najib Razak: Granted a reduced sentence of 5 years of imprisonment and a RM50 million fine after being found guilty in the SRC International trial, with the possibility of further reduction to house arrest.
Alongside these instances, the government has shown a willingness to welcome scandal-ridden individuals such as Zahid Hamidi and Musa Aman into the highest levels of government. In view of this, the government must not rely on rhetoric alone to realise their aspirations of a top 25 ranking — it must be backed up with action. Even still, it must be stressed that although the pursuit of an improved CPI ranking is commendable, a country’s rank does not necessarily reflect actual changes in the perception of corruption.
With rankings being dependent on the performance of other countries, an increase in a country’s rank can be caused if other countries perform worse for that given year. To illustrate, Malaysia ranked 61/180 in 2022 compared to 62/180 in 2021, despite the score being higher in 2021, at 48/100 compared to 47/100 the following year. As such, the higher rank did not reflect an improvement in the perception of corruption in Malaysia. The government’s fixation on the CPI as the primary benchmark by which they measure Malaysia’s real progress on anti-corruption is an approach with limitations that must be taken into account and publicly acknowledged.
The CPI serves its purpose of acting as a stepping stone towards guiding good governance and anti-corruption reforms — when the government proactively introduces such reforms, it prospectively creates the perception for relevant stakeholders and the general public that the nation is prepared to deal with corruption through established mechanisms. These do not necessarily imply that there is a real reduction in corruption yet. Hence, it is crucial that the government introduces these mechanisms and critical reforms that facilitate good governance, which would then improve perception and lead to a real reduction of corruption in the future. Such reforms are:
- Legislating new good governance laws such as the Ombudsman, Government Procurement, Right to Information, Political Parties Act(s);
- Creating asset declaration laws and conflict of interest frameworks for politicians;
- Amendments to existing laws such as the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010, Official Secrets Act 1972, and Section 203A of the Penal Code;
- Ensuring the independence of key anti-corruption institutions such as the separation of the offices of the Attorney General and Public Prosecutor, and the independence of the MACC from Executive influence.
Though a number of these reforms have been mentioned within the government’s National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2024-2028 (NACS), it must be noted that without an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanism, little effect towards grand corruption will be noted. C4 Center notes the recent launch of the NACS Dashboard — a live web page tracking NACS completion — and invites the government to engage in further discussion with experts, academics, and civil society to further develop this initiative.
In view of this, C4 Center would like to re-emphasise that the Madani Government must make good on their promises of anti-corruption by instituting long-anticipated reforms. It is important to recall that not only Pakatan Harapan, but several other major coalition partners such as Barisan Nasional, Gabungan Parti Sarawak and Parti Warisan Sabah have campaigned for better governance and integrity in the past. Therefore, aspirations of greater anti-corruption measures should be a collective effort by all government parties. In upholding the CPI as the primary anti-corruption benchmark, the government’s pursuit of anti-corruption measures must not merely be done, but also seen to be done. The pursuit of this goal must be achieved without fear or favour.
END OF STATEMENT
Issued by:
Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4 Center)
For further enquiries, please contact:
c4center@gmail.com
019-216 6218
