THE Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) does not necessarily portray the “real corruption situation” in a country, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Azam Baki said today.

“Even TI themselves say it is (based on) perception,” the MACC chief said at a media event in Putrajaya today.

“If I want to go into details, the areas or sectors covered by TI (to determine the level of corruption) …not everything is related to corruption.

“It (the survey) involves human rights issues, business ethics, and so on. What has that to do with the corruption perception index?” he added.

TI’s CPI, which is released annually, is on perceptions about public sector corruption, which Azam said was neither factual nor based on evidence.

He was responding to a question on how Malaysia plans to improve its position on the CPI scorecard.

For the 2021 CPI, Malaysia dropped five spots to rank 62 out of 180 countries, marking the second consecutive year that the country has declined in its ranking.

In terms of scores, Malaysia scored 48 in 2021, down from 51 in 2020, which was also a drop from 53 in 2019.

The CPI uses a scale of zero to 100, with lower scores indicating higher corruption.

Azam said MACC would “accept” the rankings if it was done solely on corruption, without involving other indicators, and if it was “based on evidence”, which he did not specify.

“If the evidence is clear, not only me but the government, and even the people, must accept (the ranking or score) that because that is the proof.”

The TI website explains how the global anti-graft watchdog obtains data for its perceptions ranking, whereby at least three data sources drawn from 13 different corruption surveys and assessments are used to derive a score for each country.

The data sources are collected by institutions that include the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.

TI has also explained that the CPI is based on perception because the nature of corruption, which usually entails illegal and deliberately hidden activities, is difficult to measure, and only comes to light through scandals or prosecutions.

As such, the surveys and assessments used are based on carefully designed and calibrated questionnaires and answered by experts and businesspeople.

Azam, however, acknowledged that the CPI has given the government and policy-makers “momentum” to fight corruption.

Even so, he said MACC would prefer more evidence-based studies such as those used by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), compared to perception-based surveys.

MACC is also exploring how it can use similar methods as UNODC for Malaysia.

“MACC hopes to collaborate with UNODC on this matter not only by focusing on civil servants, but also on the private sector and general public.

“A holistic and comprehensive corruption survey can help in formulating and developing more accurate and robust measures to fight corruption. This is the direction we want to prioritise,” he said. - July 21, 2022.