NOV 20 — According to a recent poll, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s approval rating remains at 60 per cent. It is indeed good news. However, there are also two pieces of bad news: 74 per cent of the people are dissatisfied with the government's performance in fighting corruption and abuse of power, and Malaysia's corruption ranking has fallen to 56, from 47 last year.
Malaysia was ranked 23 in 1995 and today, it has fallen to its lowest ranking over the past 15 years. It had sounded an alarm for the country's anti-corruption and foreign investment attraction. It also brought two unusual messages: why is Malaysia one of the two Asean countries going backward? How could the ranking fall even as the government has been fighting corruption, upgraded the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and listed anti-corruption as one of the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) areas?
Among all Asean countries, only Malaysia's and Thailand's rankings have dipped. But Thailand has fallen only four places while Malaysia has fallen nine places. Meanwhile, Indonesia achieved the greatest improvement among Asean countries as it rose to 111 from 126 last year. Competition among countries is just like sailing against the current, you will soon be surpassed if you fall behind while others are going forward.
It is not limited only to anti-graft, but other areas like the economy, national competitiveness, education, people's quality of life, as well as human and social development are facing the same predicament. South Korea was not doing as good as Malaysia before but now, it is doing much better than us. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are working hard to rise but Malaysia is going backward. Sooner or later, it will be surpassed by laggard countries and become a non-mainstream country.
Besides, how could the ranking fall even after they have “done so many” and put in so much of manpower and resources? The most crucial factor is they lack political commitment. More and more cases are left unsettled while those cases brought to court have ended up in a loss. As time passes, foreigners will have a negative view; they will see anti-corruption slogans as political tricks meant only to win votes.
Yes, the MACC is doing its work, including carrying out the investigation into the V.K. Lingam video clip case and the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal. But what is the progress after it has opened the files?
The police always announce the crime rate but MACC dares not announce its detection and successful prosecution rates. Its investigations seem too mysterious and this has greatly reduced its credibility.
The government has no political commitment to MACC, causing the commission to act so evasively and with the mentality of turning big issues into small problems. For example, the commission's deputy commissioner Datuk Abu Kassim Mohammed revealed in a media briefing that the commission had provided advice for the poisoning incident in 2007 and it had also provided suggestions for the wasteful spending issue involving a national youth skills development institute (IKBN). MACC is meant to fight corruption, not provide advice. How is it going to fight corruption if it is not even able to understand the point?
Another absurdity is MACC has arrested 605 people alleged to have been involved in graft but only 46 per cent are civil servants. It reflects that the awareness levels of civil servants have increased. Everyone knows that the public sector is facing a serious corruption problem but MACC actually came out with such an idiotic conclusion.
Perhaps there is an advantage in having such a low corruption ranking as it will be easier to rise next year. The problem is, can Malaysia do it? — mysinchew.com
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