The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law), Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, should stop making asinine statements or he will be highlighting another infamy of Malaysia – a jumbo-sized Cabinet with Ministers with high pay but low IQs.
How many of the Ministers agree with Wan Junaidi that Malaysia’s corruption perceptions index (CPI) dropped because of wide publicity in the fight against corruption and bringing cases to court?
Wan Junaidi said the recent crackdown on corruption by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has led to perceptions that corruption is rampant in the country but he is confident that the CPI will go up as soon as people see the results of these cases.
Is Wan Junaidi denying that corruption is rampant in Malaysia?
If Wan Junaidi is right, then Malaysia’s TI CPI should plunge to its lowest in the nation’s history in both score and rank during the 22 months of the Pakatan Harapan government, as never had so many “high-and-mighty” been arrested and charged in court for corruption during this period, including the former Prime Minister who faced 25 charges of corruption and the former Deputy Prime Minister who faced 87 charges of corruption.
But instead, Malaysia’s 2009 CPI score was the best in 25 years, with a score of 53 out of 100 and a ranking of 51 out of 180 countries.
According to Wan Junaidi’s logic, Malaysia should have a better CPI 2021 and not suffer the ignominy of a five-point drop in score from 53 to 48 points and a 11-rung drop in ranking from 51 to 62 position in two years in the 2020 and 2021 TI CPI.
Malaysia TI CPI 2022 is likely to be worse than TI CPI 2021, as the CPI 2021 had not taken into account Azam-gate, where the MACC Chief Commissioner, Azam Baki, had not only failed to be an example of integrity, probity and accountability, but where the MACC had gone on a rampage not against corruption but the legitimate critics of MACC as a true anti-corruption agency.
It is disturbing to read of MACC targeting the MP for Simpang Renggam, Maszlee Malik, after it had targeted the MP for Sungai Buloh, R. Sivarasa.
Is Wan Junaidi going to stop this MACC rampage against the legitimate critics of MACC for failing to be a true anti-corruption agency?
Malaysia is the second worst performing state in the original list of 41 countries in the TI CPI 1995.
The TI CPI 1995 ranked Venezuela as No.38 with a score of 2.66 out of 10 in 1995.
In the TI CPI 2021, Venezuela ranked as the fourth most corrupt nations out of 180 countries, ranked No. 177, with a score of 14 out of 100 points.
Countries which were regarded as more corrupt than Venezuela in 1995, Pakistan (39), China (40) and Indonesia (41) have made important strides in the battle against corruption in the last three decades, while Malaysia joins Venezuela as the second state which had regressed the most in the battle against corruption since 1995.
I do not belong to those who have no objection if Malaysia joins Venezuela in CPI score and ranking as I expect better of Malaysia.
This is why I feel great consternation at Malaysia being back on the slippery slope of kleptocracy, kakistocracy and a failed state.
When future generations of Malaysian look back, say during Malaysia’s Centennial in 2063, the key question today is whether Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region or even politics could rise and unite to save the country from becoming the Venezuela of ASEAN in CPI score and ranking or sink to the bottom of international tables.
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 31st January 2022)