May 14, 2008 21:28 PM
Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Performance Has Improved – Abdullah
KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Bernama) — Malaysia’s fight against corruption has shown a marked improvement and it is placed among countries which had succeeded in tackling the menace, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
He said the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by Transparency International last year showed that Malaysia had done better than 76 percent of the 179 countries listed in the report.
“There was a 73.1 per cent improvement from 2006 while from 1995 it was 43.9,” he said in reply to a question by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur).
Lim had urged the government to form a royal commission to find reasons for Malaysia’s drop in the CPI ranking from 23 in 1995 to 44 and 43 respectively in 2006 and 2007.
Abdullah said the government had no plans to form the commission as a study of the CPI showed that Malaysia had performed better.
He added even Transparency International had admitted the rise or drop in the CPI should not be based on the annual ranking.
“This is because the number of countries taking part in the index differs annually. In 1995 there were 41 participating countries, rising to 163 and 179 in 2006 and 2007.”
Abdullah said a more accurate way to gauge the performance trend was the score where Malaysia had consistently scored five points since 1995.
“It is a good and stable performance. If we calculate from the percentage of countries, Malaysia has in fact done better.
“Although public perception on corruption is taken into account, the government believed substantive efforts must be undertaken to stamp out corruption and uphold integrity among the people.”
He added the government would take positive measures in the fight against corruption including improving and restructuring the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) into a commission.
— BERNAMA