ISKANDAR Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang has slammed law minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar for saying that Malaysia’s corruption perceptions index (CPI) has dropped because of wide publicity in the fight against corruption and bringing cases to court.
“Wan Junaidi should stop making asinine statements or he will be highlighting another infamy of Malaysia – a jumbo-sized Cabinet comprising ministers with high pay but low IQs,” the veteran DAP lawmaker said.
On Friday (Jan 28) the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) said that the recent crackdown on corruption by the MACC has led to the perception that corruption is rampant in the country.
He however expressed confidence that the CPI will improve as action by the authorities will give a positive impression that corruption is being dealt with.
“Is Wan Junaidi denying that corruption is rampant in Malaysia?” Lim queried.
“If Wan Junaidi is right, then Malaysia’s 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.
“This is because there has never been so many ‘high-and-mighty’ people that were arrested and charged in court for corruption during this period, including former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who faced 25 charges of corruption and the former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who faced 87 charges of corruption.
“But instead, Malaysia’s 2019 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.”
Lim was referring to the recent news that Malaysia had dropped give places to 62nd place out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s CPI 2021 report.
In 2020, Malaysia was ranked 57th out of 180 countries, scoring 51 out of 100 points.
“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,” he remarked.
“Malaysia’s CPI for 2022 is likely to be worse than that for 2021 as the CPI 2021 report had not taken into account the recent Tan Sri Azam Baki scandal where the MACC chief commissioner had failed to be an example of integrity, probity and accountability.”
Commenting on recent news that the government agency was probing Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik and Sungai Buloh MP R. Sivarasa for graft, Lim said that both instances were indeed disturbing.
“Is Wan Junaidi going to stop MACC’s rampage against legitimate critics who had called the anti-corruption watchdog out for failing to be a true anti-corruption agency?” – Jan 31, 2022
