By Stephanie Sta Maria
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's dream of turning Malaysia into a high-income nation rests on his political will to eradicate corruption, said Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M).
At the launch of TI's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2010 here today, Malaysia found itself with a 4.4 score and a ranking at 56 out of 176 countries. The score is a historical low for Malaysia after last year's plummet to 4.5 from 5.1 in 2008.
TI-M's president Paul Low said foreign investors view the CPI as a barometer of a country's corruption level which has a direct correlation with the country's per capita income.
He urged the government to view this seriously considering that 38 industrialised countries have ratified the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD's) anti-bribery convention in April 2009. The convention forbids the bribery of foreign officials.
“Many multi-national companies (MNCs) originate from those countries,” Low said.
“Investing in a corrupt environment becomes a high risk for these MNCs because of the heavy penalties imposed. In other words, Malaysia will struggle to attract foreign direct investments if its society is known to be corrupt,” he warned.
“Malaysian society has to reach a level where we practice zero tolerance for corruption. And it is the government's responsibility to create this culture.
“We are not short of rules. We've studied so many models from so many countries but somehow we're unable to enforce those rules as they should be,” he added.
Low also noted that Malaysia should be enjoying a 13% instead of a 6% growth based on the amount of its current investments.
“This is proof that Malaysia needs to kill its culture of corruption before it can gain a high level of economic growth,” he said. “No one is going to invest in a corrupt environment because corruption has an economic and time cost.”
Perception takes time to change
Low, however, took a softer stance towards Malaysia's 2010 CPI score, calling it “insignificant” and a “retention of the current position” rather than a “decline”.
He also commended the initiatives under the National Key Results Areas (NKRA) and the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) to stamp out corruption.
“To be fair we haven't seen the result of their efforts because perception takes time to change. Perception is based on past experiences so unless and until civil society sees a radical change that affects their lives, their perception will remain unchanged,” he said.
Asked how long it would take for these initiatives to bear fruit, Low estimated that change could be expected to take place after two years.
“The fact that the government is using the CPI as a performance index is a big step forward,” he emphasised. “I don't think any other country uses the score in this manner. So there is a recognition by the government of the need to deal with corruption.”
While Low cited other developed countries like Australia and Denmark as model nations, he also cast his sights on Malaysia's neighbours.
He pointed out that Indonesia's improved CPI was due to its president's political will and the effectiveness of its Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
The KPK achieved a 100% success rate in prosecution compared to Singapore's 90% and Malaysia's 68%.
“The other country to watch out for is the Philippines,” he added. “Its president has announced a commitment towards curbing corruption but let's see whether word turns into action.”
The 2010 CPI saw Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore in a tie for first place with a score of 9.3.
Unstable governments crowded at the bottom rung with Afghanistan and Myanmar sharing a score of 1.4 and Somalia coming in last at 1.1.
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