The country scored 51 out of 100 in the latest report. In 2019, it had reached a score of 53, a significant increase from 47 before the 2018 polls – the lowest since the methodology was revised in 2012.

With the latest drop in the score, Malaysia now ranks 57th in the world, from 51st previously, falling behind Saudi Arabia, Mauritius and Italy.

Presenting the 2020 CPI, Transparency International Malaysia president Muhammad Mohan said that while the two-point drop was “statistically insignificant” due to the 1.6% margin of error, the result should not be dismissed.

“When you see a downtrend, it is something to worry about and address,” he said.

He recommended a range of actions that could be taken to prevent a further drop in the score, such as narrowing the scope of the Official Secrets Act to exclude information in the public knowledge, and transparency in the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Plan.

Muhammad said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner should be appointed by Parliament, the Election Offences Act should include sanctions against corruption, and politicians found guilty of corruption should be compelled to vacate their seats.

“The trajectory we are taking is worrying, and the only way to rebound and move forward is institutional reform,” he said, noting that it had slowed since the fall of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.

He added, however, that there were some positive factors to note, including Perikatan Nasional (PN) not abolishing the National Anti-Corruption Plan from PH’s tenure, and the enforcement of corporate liability (Section 17A) of the MACC Act.

“We also saw the new government not interfering with high-profile court cases, including those that involved politicians … it was hands-off.”

The CPI was developed by consolidating scores from a pool of up to 13 independent sources such as the Bertelsmann Transformation Index and the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey.

Muhammad said last year’s index did not take into account the public’s perception or private sector corruption, and only measured public sector corruption and its impact on the opinions of the business community and experts.

Singapore topped Southeast Asia and was third in the world with a score of 85. Malaysia was third in the region behind Brunei, which scored 60.