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Saturday, January 29, 2022

Stop misleading us on corruption perception score, says Santiago



Stop misleading us on corruption perception score, says Santiago


Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (left) should be more nuanced when addressing corruption, said Klang MP Charles Santiago.


PETALING JAYA: Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar should not mislead the public on why Malaysia’s corruption perceptions index (CPI) has dropped, says an opposition MP.

Klang MP Charles Santiago said Wan Junaidi had “got it wrong” and that he needed to be more nuanced when addressing the increasing corruption in the country.

“In actual fact, if the government is investigating more corruption cases, the score will go up. Only when you’re trying to close those cases will (the index) begin to drop,” he told FMT.

Yesterday, Wan Junaidi said the decline in Malaysia’s CPI was due to wide publicity in the fight against corruption and the number of cases in court.

He said the recent crackdown on cases by enforcement agencies such as the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had led to an increase in the perception that corruption was rampant in the country.

In response, Santiago said the government should make more effort to investigate graft as this would instil a sense of confidence among the public and the business community that it was keen to reduce corruption.

“A classic case in point is the Azam Baki (MACC chief) issue. There is plenty of evidence and elements of abuse of power and corruption, but there have been no updates so far.

“At the same time, we know for a fact that a former prime minister (Najib Razak) has been guilty of abuse of power, while a leader of a political party (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi), in this case, Umno, has been asked to defend himself in court for allegations of the same nature.

“So clearly when a top-notch institution and political leaders are involved in corruption, this gives the impression that something is wrong. That is why our CPI ranking has dropped,” he said.


Cynthia Gabriel.


Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) executive director Cynthia Gabriel said Wan Junaidi should not be “foolish” about the real cause of the slide in CPI, adding that it was “silly reasoning”.

“We urge him to take an honest look at his administration, the frogging politicians and the poor integrity of our institutions such as the MACC, Attorney-General’s Chambers and the police.

“Issues such as large leaks in procurement systems, conflict of interests, the lack of laws to check on illicit enrichment, as well as political financing in the country should also be looked into,” she said.

She urged Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to implement the National Anti-Corruption Plan immediately in order to rebuild public trust in the government and its institutions.

“The government needs to also redeem the credibility of the MACC by appointing a new chief commissioner to lead. This should be done through an accountable and transparent process,” she said.

Yesterday, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said instead of acknowledging the core problem of increasing corruption in the country, Wan Junaidi continued to “bury his head in the sand” even though he was the minister tasked with upholding the law.

Earlier this week, Transparency International (TI) released its annual CPI 2021 report in which Malaysia dropped five places to 62. It was the second year in a row in which the country dropped in the ranking having fallen six spots to 57 in the CPI 2020 report.


1 comment:

  1. Sometimes the opposition fails to maintain their questioning of issues.

    Take for example the MR6 bil that was paid to Boustead but not a single littoral combat ship was delivered. Why did not the opposition continue to harrass the government for updates? Only now are 2 persons being investigated.

    I find our opposition politicians don't have the stamina to pursue an issue to its satisfactory conclusion. More likely, they move on to what is in the spotlight of late.

    Cases such as the littoral combat ships has a bright red beacon that may contribute to our skidding down the corruption ranking.

    ReplyDelete