Kuala Lumpur, 23 January 2020 – The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) applauds Malaysia’s performance in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2019. The index released today sees Malaysia jumping 10 spots from 61st in 2018 to 51st, and a significant improvement in score from 47 in 2018 to 53 in 2019.

“After many years of languishing, the marked improvement in both our rank and score in the CPI 2019 is indeed very encouraging. In the nearly 2 years of the Pakatan administration, the MACC has proven to be serious in combating corruption at the highest levels – which contributed to the improved performance in 2019. The launch of the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) in January 2019 was also a bold step in recognising the weaknesses in the current anti-corruption system and more importantly in acknowledging the sectors most prone to corruption. Moreover, the persistent efforts and proposals submitted by civil society have also been a consistent force in pushing for institutional reforms,” commented Aira Azhari, Research Manager at IDEAS.

This positive development must now be sustained and meaningful structural reforms must continue to be prioritised. “Unregulated political funding remains one of the biggest sources of corruption in Malaysia, and I am very hopeful for the Political Finance Bill to be tabled in the March parliamentary session this year. Besides that, improving the public procurement system to ensure competitiveness, transparency and value for money must also be the government’s priority. The NACP named procurement as the sector most prone to corruption (42.8% of complaints received by the MACC). IDEAS remains ready to contribute towards improving our procurement system in any way we can,” concludes Aira.

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