Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Malaysia slips in Corruption Rankings: Would be surprise if we don't slip much further...

At the unveiling of the 2008 Corruption Perception Index, which measures the level of corruption taking place in a country, Malaysia scored 5.1 last year.
The mediocre score is little different from the 4.9 to 5.1 range it has been straddling since 2001.
"This shows that there are a number of countries that have progressed much better than us," said Transparency International (Malaysia) president Ramon Navaratnam.
Navaratnam was referring to Singapore, which topped the list in South East Asia with a score of 9.1. Overall, the island state was placed fourth among 180 countries assessed.
By comparison, Malaysia came out 47th in the overall list, compared to 36th placing it secured in 2001 when the index had surveyed only 91 countries.
However, Malaysia still managed to stay above other regional neighbours such as Thailand (3.5), Vietnam (2.7), Indonesia (2.6), the Philippines (2.3), Cambodia (1.8) and Burma (1.3).
"The high degree of corruption that still exists in these economies could impair business efficiency, obstruct or slow down cross border trade and makes doing business more expensive and riskier," Navaratnam said.
Read in full here..
Still no improvement despite the call to reform. I would not be surprise if our ranking drop further mainly due to the refusal by our authorities to reform. Reforms means more drastic policy changes which have been generous and enriched them thus far. It has always been their type of policies that breeds rampant corruption. Perhaps, we need to be thankful as we are still rank here because of their inability to implement their projects mainly due to limited funds plus all those internal infighting as to who will get the better slice of the economic cake which is always laced with big commissions.
It is indeed a blessing to the people that all these so called mega projects are stalled at this moment. At least, it gives the new leadership the chance to review and revise the feasibility and the cost structure of these projects in question.

1 comment:

Hope said...

However, Malaysia still managed to stay above other regional neighbours such as Thailand (3.5), Vietnam (2.7), Indonesia (2.6), the Philippines (2.3), Cambodia (1.8) and Burma (1.3).

And I'm sure the government will see it that way as well, the same as they look at everything else - the price of oil, the country's economic crisis etc etc - continuously comparing us to those third world countries.
That's why we never progress..