Malaysia rated 47th least corrupt

Global corruption watchdog, Transparency International (TI), has ranked Malaysia as the 47th least corrupt nation in the world and commended the island state of Penang for its anti-corruption efforts. Malaysia came in 47th out of 180 countries in the index, tied with Hungary and Jordan

Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden was listed by TI as the top three least corrupt countries as measured by the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which ranks countries in terms of the degree to which businessmen and country analysts perceive corruption to exist among public officials and politicians. Singapore, Finland, Switzerland, Iceland, Netherlands, Australia and Canada rounded off the top 10 least corrupt countries.

In its report on Malaysia, TI highlighted the Malaysian practice of the "revolving door" whereby individuals move from government to business, or business to politics, and back again, and estimated that corruption could cost Malaysia as much as RM10 billion a year.

"Significant government participation in the private sector and considerable business participation in politics means that the movement of gatekeepers to players and players to gatekeepers has a negative influence on the concept of checks and balances," said TI.

"The complexity of the relationships between politics and the public and private sectors means that corruption may take place with impunity. Until drastic action is taken to separate the cosy relationship between government, business and politics, the anti-corruption effort will remain no more than a token gesture," said TI.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng says he is "humbled" by the recognition by TI and added that he was concerned over the fact that that corruption could cost Malaysia as much as RM10 billion a year – an amount equivalent to 1 or 2 per cent of GDP as pointed out by the GCR when it cited the findings of the special government business facilitation task force Pemudah and the World Bank.

Additional report contents that were of concern to Lim was Malaysia’s per capita spending of only RM5 on anti-corruption efforts and the fact that only about 10 per cent, or just 7,223 potential corruption cases, of the total 71,558 reported between 2000 and 2006 were investigated by the Anti Corruption Agency, the precursor of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, with a conviction rate of less than one percent.

"The GCR 2009 concluded that this illustration of the Malaysian government’s inaction in the light of the serious corruption allegations, along with its seeming inability to catch the big fish instead focusing on the ‘small fry’, suggests that what anti-corruption efforts exist are mere tokens," said Lim.

Further details, please download from Transparency International