MANY Malaysians get mixed up when we talk about the CPI – the more common one directly affecting the people being the consumer price index, and the lesser-known one being the Transparency International (TI) corruption perception index.

The former is used to calculate the percentage of inflation or deflation. The latter is produced by TI, a global movement with chapters in more than 100 countries leading the fight against corruption. The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people.

Malaysians are very concerned about both, but for this article we will be focusing on the TI CPI 2017.

Last week, TI released its latest annual CPI. Malaysia fell seven spots to 62nd – the worst-ever position. The score also dropped from 52 in 2014 to 47 last year. We are at the same spot as Cuba.

Three local personalities directly involved in the area on corruption gave their views.

TI-Malaysia president Akhbar Satar said the failure to resolve major corruption scandals was one of the main reasons. He said that if it were not for the aggressive arrests by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the past few years, Malaysia’s ranking could have slipped further. He also quoted unresolved cases involving 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), the absence of political financing laws, and corporate liability provisions in anti-graft laws.

MACC chief Dzulkifli Ahmad said he was shocked with the findings since enforcement action had been taken almost every week and high-profile arrests were made throughout last year. “It did not reflect all of our work,” he said, adding that the index touched on other issues as well. Saying that MACC would study it further, he said that the index included governance, politics, human rights and the efficiency of doing business in the country, which was not under MACC’s purview. He also proposed to set up a local index that reflected the reality and was not based on perception.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low said the government recognised the CPI results and took the report seriously. He appreciated MACC’s strong commitment to enforcement and said these actions must be followed by effective prosecution and convictions. He added that the publicity given to the arrests of the high profile individuals may have contributed to the drop in Malaysia’s score and ranking. For effective prevention, the government has expanded the roles of the integrity and management section of the National Department of Integrity and Management.

As usual, netizens had their say too. Many concurred with the TI-Malaysia president. However, some netizens weren’t too kind on his comments about the 1MDB, SRC International Sdn Bhd issues and the Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd scandal. I wonder what would the feedback would have been if we had a better score and a higher ranking!

It can be said that the CPI is only a perception index, but a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology shows that we might actually be right when we judge a book by its cover.

For me, this index is a first-impression look at a country. On a personal basis, first impressions are very important for a variety of different reasons – socially, academically, and politically. Changing perceptions will be difficult after the first impression is made.

My concern here is the trend we are showing the world. Our score in 2014 was 52, and it slid down since to 47 last year. Since the index used a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being highly corrupt and 100 being very clean, we started to fail (below 50) since 2016.

We established MACC in 2009, replacing the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) since the public perceived ACA as not being independent, especially in the area of enforcement.

The question being asked now is whether MACC is truly independent. Wasn’t MACC’s creation based on perceptions?

At the opening ceremony of the new MACC headquarters (the biggest anti-corruption complex in the world) in October last year, the prime minister said the government was committed to cooperating with MACC in combating corruption so that Malaysia’s ranking, including in terms of transparency and competitiveness, improved. He said the government would continue to fight the scourge of corruption under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP), through various programmes under the National Key Result Area (NKRA) of combating corruption.

The question here is: why did our score keep sliding down, despite all the necessary facilities in the biggest anti-corruption complex in the world, the commitment, and the government’s manifestation of the fight against corruption and abuse of power? The next question would be: how would we rate the success of the GTP when Pemandu reported in its NTP Annual Report 2016 under NKRA – Fighting Corruption that there was noteworthy achievement and underscored MACC’s effectiveness in investigating, scoring it 79% under Method One?

I think the setting up of a local index is not really necessary, since many suggestions have been put forward on how to combat corruption. Five external oversight bodies exist as a check-and-balance mechanism to monitor MACC’s roles and functions. Furthermore, there is the NKRA under the NTP. There were also suggestions or recommendations from TI in its publication.

Other initiatives have been implemented to fight corruption, including the enactment of the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010. TI-Malaysia proposed a relook into whistleblowing laws to ensure there was proper protection for those who exposed corrupt activities. It is very sad that whistleblowers get arrested and punished, when most other countries have enacted whistleblowing laws to protect them.

A cheaper and faster way to tackle this matter is to have intellectual discourse between the minister, MACC, TI-Malaysia and the various civil society groups that have been trying to help combat corruption. The minister and MACC do not have to guess at the reasons for the low scores, as TI-Malaysia can easily procure them from the TI international secretariat in Berlin. This would be in line with the spirit of inclusivity promoted by the prime minister as one of the core values of the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP). The discourse should also include ministries and agencies responsible for governance, human rights and the efficiency of doing business.

Unless fundamental reforms, accompanied by political will, take place, improving perception on corruption and our scores will forever be an uphill battle.

It may not be humiliating, but it is painful to see that Greece, Saudi Arabia, and Croatia have now overtaken Malaysia. Even Indonesia improved in the last five years, from a score of 32 to 37.

I do not think we want the three personalities to resign to take responsibility, but they must have firm resolve and, if need be, pray to God for help in combating corruption. Their smiles, with our netizens, will be broader if we can jump back, say, to 23 – our best ranking.

“Corruption is indeed one of the greatest evils of our time. Corruption rewards those who do not play by the rules and also creates a system of distortion and diversion, thereby destroying all efforts at constructive, just and fair governance.” – Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria.

What say you?

Happy Chap Goh Mei to all Malaysians.

* Saleh Mohammed reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.