By Akhbar Satar
On Jan 23, global anti-corruption coalition Transparency International (TI) released its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2019, an annual survey that measures the perceived level of corruption in 180 countries. The annual CPI has become one of the most widely recognised indicators of corruption worldwide.
More than two-thirds of countries surveyed score below 50 on the latest CPI, with an average score of just 43. As in previous years, the data shows that despite some progress, a majority of the countries still fail to tackle public sector corruption effectively.
Malaysia, meanwhile, ranked 51 among the 180 countries. This is an improvement of 10 places in CPI 2019. Its score was 53 points out of 100. In 2018, Malaysia was ranked 61 with a score of 47. There was a significant improvement both in ranking and score this year and it was the best score in the last seven years.
A country’s rank indicates its position relative to the other countries in the index. The smaller the ranking the less corrupt a country is perceived to be. On the other hand, the score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Thus, countries with a higher score will rank much higher in position (as being less corrupt) compared to the lower-score countries.
The CPI makes use of surveys done by business people from around the world, including experts, risk analysts and thegeneral public working in the countries evaluated. The CPI is based on at least three independent surveys of the perceptions in each country. For Malaysia, nine out of 13 sources were used.
The data sources used to compile the index include questions relating to abuse of public power and focus on bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds and the strength and effectiveness of public-sector anti-corruption efforts.
The CPI has increasingly become a highly regarded and influential survey of good governance and a key marker in international efforts to fight corruption. Furthermore, studies show there is a correlation between CPI ranking and economic growth.
CPI standing is an important factor and it can influence the rate of investment as investors increasingly recognise the evils of corruption and stay away from countries suffering from it.
Asean countries
Among its Asean peers, Malaysia was ranked third (51st in the world) below Brunei (35th) and Singapore (4th) with scores of 60 and 85 respectively.
Indonesia took the fourth spot in the region with its global ranking of 85 and CPI score of 40, followed by Vietnam (96, 37), Thailand (101, 36), the Philippines (113, 34), Laos (130, 29), and Cambodia (162, 20).
Least corrupt countries
Globally, Denmark has reclaimed its ranking as the least corrupt country in TI’s international survey. The CPI for 2019 gave Denmark a score of 87 points out of 100. It thus shares the first spot with New Zealand. These two countries have a longstanding reputation for having little corruption in the government and private sectors.
Criteria
Amongst the criteria used to determine the rankings are the presence of robust rule of law, independent oversight institutions and a broad societal consensus against the misuse of public office and resources for private interests.
Denmark and New Zealand’s reputation for honesty, transparency and justice, strong access to information systems and rules governing the behaviour of those in public positions helped them to top the list of the least corrupt countries in the world.
The countries which scored the lowest were Somalia and South Sudan. Somalia ranked 180 with a score of nine on the 2019 CPI. South Sudan ranked 179th with a score of 12 points.
Muslim-majority countries
In Muslim-majority countries, the United Arab Emirates is the cleanest or least corrupt with a score of 71 out of 100 and ranking 21st in the world. Meanwhile, Qatar scored 62 points and is ranked No. 30 and Brunei Darussalam followed closely with 60 points and No. 35 in ranking. Somalia and Syria are perceived to be the most corrupt in Muslim-majority countries in 2019.
Countries with lower scores are deemed to be more corrupt and there are indications that corruption tends to thrive in fragile countries and those enmeshed in conflicts, and generally characterised by poor governance in institutions and impunity for corruption.
2019 CPI success and Pakatan Harapan
Malaysia’s 2019 CPI ranking is fully indicative of the Pakatan Harapan administration’s performance as it took over Putrajaya only in May 2018. The country’s standing has improved, especially when the majority of the people voted in favour of the opposition alliance to serve as the new government – the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.
The experts and rakyat were all excited and believed that PH will bring forth positive change. Serious programmes and policies have been outlined in the new government’s manifesto, which promised to reform the administration, curb corruption especially the prosecution of big scandal cases, asset declaration and politics as well as sustainable growth and economic development. All this caused the rise in the score. This is just the beginning. The government must continue to work hard towards a corruption-free nation.
The government should not rest on its laurels or be complacent with its current ranking and score but to sustain it is quite difficult looking at the current leadership crisis, too much politicking and uncertain future of the country.
Political Donations and Expenditure Act
The government should continue to step up its fight against corruption as there are still promises to be fulfilled, including introducing the Political Donations and Expenditure Act (PDEA).
According to Delia Ferreira Rubio, Chair of Transparency International, governments must urgently address the corrupting role of big money in political party financing and the undue influence it exerts on our political systems.
The other factors that need to be addressed include strong, sincere political will, freedom of information, the independence of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Auditor General Department and Attorney General and getting full support from the civil servants and the private sectors in the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Plan. The upcoming CPI needs to be improved or at least sustained.
Corrupt culture
We have been warning that corruption is bad and the mother of all evils. It is not easy to educate society of the ills of corruption when bribery has become a concept or part of the “corrupt culture” that has been planted in their heads. It is like telling some corrupt Malaysians not to eat rice.
Corruption erodes trust in government, undermines the social contract and impedes investment with consequential effects on growth. Corruption can further be thwarted on a large scale if we find out the root cause for the decline in integrity taking place in the system.
In fact, if the government has set a key performance indicator (KPI) to achieve the 30th or better by 2030 in CPI, it has to be subjected to significantly closer scrutiny in the years ahead.
Given the country’s performance, if the government wants to achieve its target, it needs to be very serious and fully committed to combating corruption. The challenge for PH is to ensure that it does not repeat the same mistakes and wrongdoings of the previous government. Failing this, it will never be a reality.
So let’s get on with the great fight and rid our nation of this great evil of corruption.
Datuk Seri Akhbar Satar holds HELP University’s Institute of Crime & Criminology Professorial Chair. He is also the president of the Malaysia Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
