Walk the talk, carry out reforms to tackle graft, C4 tells PM
The anti-graft group says Malaysia’s ‘deplorable’ score is mainly due to the lack of political will among lawmakers.
PETALING JAYA: The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) has called on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to walk the talk in combating corruption by implementing long overdue reforms.
This comes after Malaysia scored 47 points in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2022, which meant a six-point drop over the past three years.
In 2019, Malaysia had a CPI score of 53, but this reduced to 51 in 2020, and 48 in 2021.
C4 claimed that Malaysia’s “deplorable” score was mainly due to the lack of political will among lawmakers to strategically and effectively address corruption, which it said had become institutionalised.
“The continual slide in perceptions will have a negative economic impact in terms of foreign investors’ confidence, at a time when Malaysia needs all the support it can get to revitalise a troubled economy.
“Just last week, Anwar declared that corruption was the main threat against the nation. It is now more important than ever for him to put his words into action by carrying out long overdue reforms,” C4 said in a statement.
The anti-graft group also urged the government to look into any outstanding and critical reform efforts, particularly those outlined under the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) 2019-2023.
These included amending the Whistleblower Protection Act, separating the roles of the attorney-general and public prosecutor, mandating asset declarations, and enacting a political financing law.
The NACP was introduced by the Pakatan Harapan government in 2019 as a comprehensive policy to end corruption, and outlined six priority areas vulnerable to corruption – political governance, public sector administration, public procurement, corporate governance, legal and judiciary sectors, and law enforcement.
C4 said corruption threatened to undermine the nation’s institutions in favour of the self-interests of certain individuals, and must be arrested before the country’s governance worsens to a “point of no return”.
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“The battle against corruption can no longer be taken for granted. The government is advised to approach reforms with greater conviction and engage more closely with civil society members to strengthen public confidence in the government’s commitment to this matter.”