New Malaysia needs a National Integrity Plan which will transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity within 10 years.
This National Integrity Plan for a New Malaysia should be debated and adopted by Parliament.
We should see results in the National Integrity Plan for a New Malaysia hopefully in the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2018 but steady and solid improvements in the from TI CPI 2019 without any turning back or the MACC Chief Commissioner and the members of the various anti-corruption monitoring bodies must assume personal responsibility to Parliament and the nation.
Under the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2017, Malaysia plunged to the lowest TI CPI ranking in 23 years – No. 62 out of 180 countries.
The history of the 23-year annual TI CPI from 1995-2017 shows that Malaysia had stagnated and even regressed in integrity and principles of accountability and good governance in the past two decades as compared to some countries, like China and Indonesia, which had made significant improvements with steady strides.
In the first year of TI CPI in 1995, which listed only 41 countries, Malaysia was ranked in the middling position of No. 23 with a score above the midpoint – i.e. 5.28 in a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean).
China and Indonesia came in at the bottom end, with China ranked as No. 40 with a score of 2.16 out of 10 while Indonesia came in last ranking No. 41 out of 41 with a score of 1.94.
If Malaysia had made a decimal improvement in the TI CPI score of 0.1 point each year the past 22 years, Malaysia’s present score would have been 7.58, or roughly translated into 75.8 out of a scale increased from 10 to 100, which would have placed Malaysia in the rank of No. 16 out of 180 countries.
Unfortunately, Malaysia’s 2017 TI CPI ranking and score had worsened, ranked No. 62 out of 180 countries with the TI CPI score plunging further down below the midpoint to 47/100 in the revised scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
In contrast, both China and Indonesia have continued to make significant improvements in the TI CPI in the past 23 years, with China improving its score from 2.16/10 in 1995 (under the original scale) to 41/100 (revised scale) with its TI CPI Ranking improving from No. 40/41 in 1995 to 77/180 in 2017 and while Indonesia upped its score from 1.94/10 (old scale) in 1995 to 37/100 (new scale), with TI CPI ranking from 41/41 in 1995 to 96/180.
If China continues to improve its TI CPI score at the annual average rate of 0.84 points (old scale) in the past 23 years, China would overtake Malaysia in both TI CPI ranking and score in eight years time (41 + 6.7 = 47.7) without Malaysia regressing further in TI score (which is a tall order under Najib’s global kleptocracy!).
In the past 23 years, Indonesia’s improvement on the TI CPI score is lower than China, making an average annual improvement of 0.76 (old scale). Without Malaysia further regressing, Indonesia will overtake Malaysia in both TI ranking and score in 14 years time, when it would have registered a score of 37 + 10.6 = 47.6.
I do not want to see China and Indonesia slow down in their upward climb up the TI CPI ranking and score, but Malaysia must improve substantially so that we not only eradicate the “kleptocratic” label but become a leading nation of integrity by being among the first top countries of integrity in the annual TI CPI.
To do this, we must not only get to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal, “kleptocracy at its worst”, and other major corruption scandals involving MARA, FELDA, Tabung Haji, even more important, we must introduce structural and institutional reforms as well mind-set changes throughout our society so that we have a zero-tolerance for corruption.
(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday 31st May 2018)