Praise for Malaysia at an international conference on corruption this week does not change the fact that the country is sliding down Transparency-International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI), said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

dap lim kit siang interview rebut may 13 01 In a statement today, Lim pointed out that Malaysia's score is still the lowest in the region, bar Burma.

He said that in the last 17 years, countries which were once behind Malaysia in the fight against corruption had overtaken the nation in terms of CPI scores.

 

He pointed out that China, scored 2.16 in 1995 but has improved to 3.6 in 2011 while Malaysia scored 5.28 CPI 1995, but dropped to 4.3 in 2011 - the worst result in 10 years .

“At the annual average rate of China’s improvement and Malaysia’s regression of their CPI score in the last 17 years, China will not only catch up but will leave Malaysia behind in the CPI, both in ranking and in score in a matter of four years – come 2015!” he said.  

 

He pointed out that the same “major strides” are taken by Thailand (up from 2.79 in 1995 to 3.4 in 2011), India (from 2.78 to 3.1) and Indonesia (from 1.94 to 3.0).

 

Lim was referring to the four-day International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) conference, which resulted in glowing news reports on how the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) was showered with praise by international participants.

How much spent on confab?

Lim also said the government should come clean on the cost of the event held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

 

NONE “How much of taxpayers’ money was spent for MACC to host the 6th (IAACA) and General Meeting 2012?  

 

“How has the IAACA helped to formulate a strategy to ensure that Malaysia keep abreast with other Asia-Pacific countries?”.  

 

Lim also lambasted Dimitri Vlassis, head of the Corruption and Economic Crime Branch for the UN Office in Drugs and Crime, for urging Malaysia to ignore the CPI, by saying it is counter-productive to focus on relative performance.  

 

Unlike “anti-corruption globetrotters like Vlassis”, said Lim, Malaysians would recall that the CPI is used as a marker by the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration as part of the National Integrity Plan.

 

Abdullah had aimed bring up CPI scores from 5.2 to at least 6.5 by 2008, he said, but under the Najib Abdul Razak administration, Malaysia's CPI score hit a new low at 4.3 in 2011.