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
#1 by Tickler on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 10:50 am
Another one:
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Malaysia’s halal connection, Badawi and Temasek
Is there conflict of interest in halal corporation?
Malaysia’s plan to develop internation Halal certification and halal food industrial parks, is raising a web of sinister conflicts. The newly-formed Halal Industry Development Corp or HDC is under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s office, although ownership of the company is unclear. HDC even processes foreign direct investment (FDI) for the halal sector, a role designed for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti).
HDC, and its links to Badawi’s family, got a lot closer when HDC signed up with Tamadam Bonded Warehouse, a company which is being taken over by the PM’s brother Ibrahim to develop halal parks.
http://rockybru.blogspot.com/2008/05/malaysias-halal-connection-badawi-and.html
#2 by Tickler on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 10:55 am
Transition costs to teach Science/Maths in English – 317 million for teachers, 2.21 BILLION for.. computers?
….And of course, the Education Ministry can’t afford a scholarship for a student with 10 A1’s to go to medical school.
http://jelas.info/2008/05/14/transition-costs-to-teach-sciencemaths-in-english-317-million-for-teachers-221-billion-for-computers/#comments
#3 by cheng on soo on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 11:01 am
So can spent, RM40 million or more a yaer on Msia Philharm… Orche… but no money to give scholarships to outstanding, deserving students for further studies
#4 by Jong on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 11:02 am
HDC connection – I notice government is used for publicity and free advertisement at Malaysian rate-payers expense, involving those under government payroll! Son&Son Incorporated?
#5 by pjboy on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 11:02 am
Unrelated but will PM agree that the recent GE & denial for BN 2/3 majority was also due to many more new voters? Imagine if there was more new voters allowed to vote. Many complaint no forms, too late, etc. Why can’t we have automatic vote system? If the person has moved & want to vote elsewhere, just notify the nearest post office or police station, what’s so difficult about it. It’s only “made” difficult.
Coming to the CPI, I think our PM need to be advised the definition of INDEX. Previous index & current index cannot be compared with in terms of %. So, in a class of say 20 people, you are 3rd in class means you are worst off than say being 20th in a class of 100 people? Think it is important to value the 20 students & the 100 students whether the students are genius/average/idiots.
The question/answer we should be seeking is: how are we going to improve on the CPI for next year? Don’t tell me there will be over 400 countries next year & if we are at 100th, we are still good coz the % of new countries included are higher than the % of position lost. Now we know why we are doomed.
#6 by concerned_citizen on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 11:04 am
Is a consistent rate every year reflects improvement? Consistent means stagnance! Or for better words, while the world getting in front, you are getting behind.
Anyway, we must not not behave naively. How the performace of the country and those corruptions scheme involved has already made sense, but the rakyat couldn’t do more than agree than what those people up there has said. Just the practice of Boleh Land.
- Perjuangan anda tidak pernah bermula, sila balik ke tempat asal dan beri peluang kepada perjuang yang berkebolehan. Bukan itu, dan itu dan itu, aha yang ini, yang pernah ditumbuk di matanya.
#7 by badak on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 11:12 am
What a good move ACA now directly under PM…AG under PM Now he has the full power for selective prosecution.This is the guy who used goverment funds for his G.E campaing.I wonder how much in total the goverment spent on BN ,s Election campaign during the last G.E.Remember BN IS A POLITICAL PARTY FIRST.BN got no right to use my hard earn money for their own use.
#8 by kingkenny on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 11:17 am
Yes, I do feel there are less road blocks nowadays and traffic policemen seem to be more cautious in carrying out their duty.
It is good for us and also good for BN/UMNO, because these police force are the front line (interaction with the populace).
Our ultimate aim is the BIG BIG FISH, PKFZ, AZALINA LONDON ADVANCED SPORTS INSTITUTE, PDRM, GOVERNMENT PROJECTS, ACA, LINGAM, ALTANTUYA, SPACE EXPERIMENT REPORT (WHERE?) & ETC.
As we can see, HUGE HUGE AMOUNTS are used (or wasted) on this kind of projects, if the reverse was employed, resources saved SHOULD & COULD BE used to help Malaysians improve infrastructure (less dependency on toll concessionaire), promote tourism, eco-tourism, education, medical, and many more.
Please look at real BIG picture Malaysians!
FREE MALAYSIA FROM TYRANNY & CORRUPTION!
#9 by Tickler on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 11:18 am
Platitude Minister (PM) says no one has a right to stop him.
#10 by grace on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 11:18 am
,
Talking to Pak Lah is ‘kek khi’ you know.
Mr Lim is an ‘A’ class material and won’t be satisfied with just scoring first in the class. Mr Lim wants to score all A1s.
But Pak Lah is a third rated material. Just like LAT portrayed in his cartoon, Pak Lah would jump with joy if he scored a grade 3 with all P7s and P8s.
So susah la if you wantto debate with him.
Tomorrow if MU is placed in position 500, Pak Lah would give a standing ovation to himself and the VC.
Forever we would remain behind.
Look at Singapore. They are never satisfied with their excellent achievements. If they have the best, they still strive to improve further.
#11 by kingkenny on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 11:23 am
And of course, I missed out ONE which matters most, that is the welfare of and standard of living for Malaysians!
FREE MALAYSIA! FREE MALAYSIA!
#12 by k1980 on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 11:48 am
The old desperate swindler is just trying the fool the warlords in umno who are braying for his ouster. Who knows, he may yet succeed considering the low mentality of those warlords
#13 by Jong on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 11:49 am
“You see, they go all the way to HK to learn from the world’s most efficient corruption agency, and came up with something that is ENTIRELY DIFFERENT! What a waste of tax-payers money.” – Laliloo
Much of tax-payers money would have been saved if IGP Musa Hassan just walked across the Causeway eh?! Pakatan Rakyat’s Lim Guan Eng, Penang’s Chief Minister flies ‘economy class’ whilest Perak MB Nizar Jamaluddin takes a bus to attend Parliament! See the difference? IGP Musa behaves more like a BN politician now, don’t you all agree?
#14 by Justicewanted on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 11:57 am
A sad case of self comforting or shoik sendiri.
Some spin doctors must have convinced the PM that if we are consistently bad or not so good, it is okay.
What an idiot……..
#15 by Bigjoe on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 12:03 pm
Another way to look at this is that Malaysia has always really been the same ALL this time which means nothing has changed. The question is were/are we bad or not. Is falling in just inside the first 25% quartile bad, OK or good?
Generally I use the 80/20 rule. 20% are good, 80% are not good. We are definitely NOT good..Hmmm.. Haven’t I heard that before? yeah. Throughout my freaking life!!!!
#16 by kingkenny on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 12:04 pm
To BN “Gomen”:
Had a dream last night, DSAI -PM, LKS – DPM, KS – ISA DIRECTOR, guess what KS did to you guys!
I hope it will come true! :)
#17 by Cinapek on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 12:06 pm
Pak Lah said:
“….In 1995 there were 41 participating countries, rising to 163 and 179 in 2006 and 2007.”…. suggesting that Malaysia’s ranking dropped because the base of counntries ranked had increased.
Can someone please enlighten him that the bigger the base sample used, the more accurate the ranking?
As for the IGP visiting HK to learn from the ICAC, my first question is why the IGP? Is he in charge of the ACA too or is the ACA independent? Nazri went to great lengths to explain the separation of powers in Parliament just a few days ago and it seems to me that is just hogwash because clearly the IGP is also involved with the ACA. All this talk about the independence of the ACA is just a bunch of crap. And last but not least, you can copy the best system in the world but at the end of the day if the people who are implementing it are not sincere and honest, then it is just a waste of time. The extra layers we are adding to this whole shit mess is simply to allow more opportunities for manipulations. And already we can see the seeds of that rot being planted here in the “new” MCAC system.
#18 by k1980 on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 12:12 pm
Perak DAP headquarters in Ipoh town was hit by Molotov cocktails, causing two loud explosions, early this morning.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/NewsBreak/20080515120921/Article/index_html
#19 by beankadok on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 12:33 pm
Inspector General of Police(IGP) Musa Hassan has been behaving like he’s a Umno politician long ago. Any case against Umno or any of its members, swift actions will be taken eg the arrest/intimidation of those “voices of conscience” – RPK and Karpal Singh “sedition” cases, to silence them.
What about the illegal transfer rm9.9 by those desperate Balkis wives – one day after their husbands cease to be the people’s choice of “elected representatives”? Same goes to those at Penang’s end, how come the police have not gone for KTK’s annoying wife for doing the same? Look at the many thefts/robberies, mat rempit and missing children cases that have remained unsolved and forgotten.
#20 by beankadok on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 12:50 pm
Sorry, should be – “rm9.9 million” .
#21 by pky103 on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 1:27 pm
- I find Badawi’s response on corruption specious, if not misleading.
- No doubt the number of countries included in CPI survey increased tremendously from 1995 – 2007. Subsequently, it may be argued that better performing countries may have lowered the rank of Malaysia.
- Notwithstanding the fact that new countries have been added, our score has remained stagnant, if not decreased, over the last 10 years.
- This is indisputable since our CPI score in 1995 and 2007 was 5.28 and 5.10 respectively.
- By way of example, Taiwan (28; 5.08) was below Malaysia (26; 5.28) in 1995. But in 2007, the former scored 5.7 and ranked 34 while Malaysia with 5.1 and ranked 43.
- On a separate note, I have NEVER trusted Bernama’s pro-government news reports.
#22 by UtopiaInJapan on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 1:32 pm
How can 1995 figure be compared with 2007 figure when there was a huge difference in number of countries taking part in the index survey?
For comparision purpuse, the common denominator should be used. Otherwise, the performance of index for the last 5 years can be used to deduce the conclusion, provided the number of participating countries must be relatively constant.
#23 by sheriff singh on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 1:47 pm
We are STILL at number 43.
#24 by pgsilai on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 1:56 pm
We are in no 43, how about revealing in terms of amount corrupted?
#25 by LALILOo on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 2:23 pm
“How can 1995 figure be compared with 2007 figure when there was a huge difference in number of countries taking part in the index survey?” – UtopiaInJapan
In 1995, the PM was a different person using a different denominator to calculate that.
In 2007, Pak Lah used yet another different denominator to calculate that. You know lah, his arithmatics is “setengah masak”, so his figures are diffferent lah.
“IGP Musa behaves more like a BN politician now, don’t you all agree?” – Jong
He thinks he is smart. He thought that he was smart enough to be an IGP but his current position was given to him on a silver platter. He was nothing but a mattress salesman during Anwar court case time.
Just like Mansion King Zakaria, he used to be nothing but a railway gatekeeper. But how did he ended up with his riches and giant mansion, you know I know lah.
#26 by oknyua on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 3:41 pm
Reading this reminds me of an incidence where the speaker bragged the Ringgit was gaining strength against the US. “It was RM3.8 and through the effort of the government we are seeing RM3.00 as a possibility.”
One attende asked in the question time. “How is our currency aginst the neighbours for example Singapore? Has it changed that much?”
That is Malaysia boleh, shiok sendiri.
#27 by limkamput on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 5:11 pm
No matter how we study corruption, real or perception, no body is telling you for sure. That is why is it called corruption – it is supposed to be “under the counter” and opaque. But then some years back, I read about this concept known as the “geography of corruption”. It is simple according to this guy. There is a landscape of corruption that most of us can quite easily discern. If you see a building that is not supposed to be there but it is there, it is corruption. If you see a project where the cost has escalated beyond reason (like PKFZ), it is corruption and not mere incompetence or lack of monitoring. If you see extreme opulent living, it is corruption because those who build their wealth in the hard way will certainly learn to appreciate it more. If you see uncollected rubbish, clogged drain and filthy rivers and housing estates, it is corruption because someone is getting paid without doing the job. If you see an exorbitant toll increase, it is corruption because I have not seen the price of a product or service rendered by a monopoly increased by 60% without an explanation or justification. So my dears friends, there is no need for Transparency International or other indices. We know it, we can smell it, we can feel it.
#28 by jumpingjack on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 6:00 pm
It is so obvious that all these BN goons are desperate. Trying all means to fool the nation that they are capable in running the country with AAB trying to show that he is “walking his talk” as promised 4 years ago.
#29 by subject on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 9:12 pm
Hey, PM…what else you know others than sleep???? If you are smart enough, you shouldn’t answered such idiot way to YB Lim..Such simple -minded idiot also can be PM…..world is up-side-down..
#30 by pjboy on Thursday, 15 May 2008 - 10:57 pm
Surely the CPI would have taken into consideration the number of countries, the working population, etc etc…then come out with an index. Point is, we did not improve on our position – regardless of how many countries…even if there was only 2 countries, & we are at no.2…we are still the more corrupt! What it means is that we are still so & so times more corrupt than the country with index 1. Not the other way around. How can we be comparing with a more corrupt country? We should be comparing with the least corrupt. Having index 1 does not define a corruption-free country. Thus, we are 43 times more corrupt than the least corrupt. Can someone drill this into our PM brains. Since it was such a big improvement from 44 to 43, why not have a national holiday to celebrate!!! with fireworks & all that.
#31 by HB Lim on Friday, 16 May 2008 - 12:59 am
It is just a matter of relativity; so long as there are more countries below us than those above us, we are fine. It is all a numbers game or a matter of statistics – the quota system, acceptable level of deaths in the NS, the number of acquittals in courts etc. Values are not important. There is no remorse, no sense of shame.
I was caught in a very bad traffic jam in the Serdang area this evening and could manage less than a couple of hundred meters in half an hour and decided to call the Serdang Police Station. I was informed that just in front of the South City Plaza, there was an overturned truck which had caused the jam and that the police were there to control the situation. All the way to the Mines and beyond, I could not see any overturned truck nor any policeman. I called again after about an hour while still caught in the jam and after identifying myself as the same caller who called before, I was promptly told that I should have contacted the traffic department. I asked for the number of the department and he could not give me and after some wranglings, he said he would call for me.
This is but a microcosm of the general state of the present government – no sense of responsibility, no sense of any loyalty to or any desire to serve the people, no sense of governance, no sense of shame, no sense of urgency at all except to jump into the gravy train. And the PM says we have improved in our Corruption Perception Index! Numerically, we may have been placed above many other countries but ask any right thinking Malaysian, he will tell you Mr PM, “come on-lah, you must be kidding.”
#32 by taiking on Friday, 16 May 2008 - 8:42 am
Improve corruption rating?
Its easy.
It is just a number game.
Go after all the small fish and small cases.
Charge them and then get them convicted and sentenced.
There.
Good Results.
Can someone pls pat me.
Yes my back please.
#33 by lakilompat on Friday, 16 May 2008 - 2:37 pm
Najis babi announced that the purchasing of scorpene does not arise to commission, then who the hell is A.R.B. is he, a minister, MB, prime minister, or a politician, or merely owner of a registered company who facilitate the transfer of scorpenes & shukoi jet for the BN goons?
#34 by lakilompat on Friday, 16 May 2008 - 2:40 pm
Looks like the lies are getting bigger now, this is what Tun Dr. M told Najis babi to do. Also to tell PL and KJ men’s who wanted to topple him, who care, i don’t give a shyt anymore i will go ahead to announced the world this case does not relate to me even though that C4 & commandos are authorize by me in Malaysia.
#35 by DG on Saturday, 17 May 2008 - 7:09 pm
To be truly un-corruptable we had to have the government answerable to many other parties of non-govt. and also citizens and the process is long but its worth it int he long run. Everything on policies changes and why is transpired must be compiled and posted online and had one dedicated channel like channelnewsasia on news solely on malaysia news and political situations, there must be more check and balance! Politics is not about the status and also money abuse it needs to change for the better and more transparent! We citizens had every right to know what happened to our money and also land tittles, projects, all events and seminars attended right to the cost of purchase of toilet paper used in government offices. Also why continue with the space program when the money can be put to better use! We as a normal citizen check on prices of rice and food and ect. why can’t the government check every cent of theirs, its the citizen money for gods sakes! Had not the recent polls shows a wave of change?