THE two “backdoor” governments of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob must shoulder the responsibility of having discontinued the anti-corruption efforts of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration, leading to another plunge in Malaysia’s Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2022 to a 62nd ranking out of 180 countries.
The best attempt in the last three decades to check the decline of anti-corruption efforts was in the 22-month PH government before it was toppled by the Sheraton Move political conspiracy which brought in two unaccountable “backdoor” governments, according to retired DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang.
“TI Malaysia president Muhammad Mohan said Malaysia is back to square one in the annual TI CPI and that urgent action is needed to improve the nation’s CPI score in the following years,” lamented the 81-year-old veteran lawmaker in his latest blog.
“(But) Muhammad Mohan is wrong. Malaysia is not back to square one but is in a even worse position than at the beginning of the annual TI CPI series in 1995.”
He added: “We have lost out not only to the Top 10 countries led by Denmark and which includes Singapore, we have also lost out to five countries in the first annual TI CPI 1995 list (Taiwan, South Korea, Spain, Italy and Greece).
“Furthermore, we have also lost out to countries like Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Croatia, Mauritius and Vanatua, and drew with Jordan.”
To-date, Malaysia’s TI CPI 2019 was the best anti-corruption efforts in 25 years since TI started its annual CPI in 1995. Back then, Malaysia achieved a score of 53 out of 100 marks with a ranking of 51 out of 180 countries as compared with its TI CPI 2017 when it had a score of 47 out of 100 with a rank of 62 out of 180 countries.
Kit Siang also took a swipe at PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang for Malaysia being ranked lower than Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) countries, namely United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
“What should be of great concern to those who want a clean and non-corrupt Malaysia is that we have an Islamic leader who have twisted Islamic teachings against corruption by giving a racist instead of an Islamic interpretation of corruption,” berated the former Iskandar Puteri MP.
“We stand to lose out to more OIC countries if we continue on the trajectory of decline in the TI CPI series.”
Kit Siang also expressed concern at how the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition is “impatiently waiting at the wings to replace the Anwar unity government but has nothing to offer in anti-corruption and moral regeneration”.
“(If this happens), except further decline in the TI CPI series which will see Malaysia joining the last countries in the TI CPI series in the next few decades – countries like the failed states of Yemen, Venezuela, South Sudan, Syria and Somalia,”
“While Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has admitted that corruption ‘is a big problem in our country from the top to the bottom and we must be firm and not tolerate it’, both Muhyiddin and Hadi have no commitment to make Malaysia a clean and non-corrupt country.” – Feb 1, 2023
Main pic credit: Bernama
