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MP: MACC's graft index akin to student marking own exam paper
Published:  Feb 23, 2018 3:16 PM
Updated: 8:15 AM
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The MACC's intention to create its own corruption index following the country's drop in the world graft ranking was today likened to a student consistently performing poorly in examinations, dismissing the given results and marking his own papers to appear to be on top.

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng gave this illustration to describe the reaction by MACC chief commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad, who yesterday said he was "shocked" with Transparency International Malaysia's (TI-M) finding, which said Malaysia ranked on par with Cuba in the corruption ranking, and that the result did not at all reflect the "aggressive" efforts carried out by the commission in combating corruption.

Dzulkifli also said that the commission would create a more effective special corruption index to analyse the corruption level in the country and that it would be submitted to the cabinet in about three months.

In a statement, Lim asked whether Dzulkifli (photo) presumed the index given by the TI-M to be false.

"Maybe only Cuba will accept the index created by MACC. The minister responsible for corruption issues is Paul Low, who is a former TI-M president, who had said that the drop in ranking could have been due to MACC's aggressive enforcement against graft.

"Low's remark makes it seem that a student who studies hard will surely fail in the exams. If that's the case, then perhaps the MACC should refrain from making high profile arrests in the future, to get higher ranking next year," Lim said.

Lim then called for Low to resign as a minister and senator, for being on the watch as the worst ever CPI performance was recorded.

Malaysia ranked 62nd among 180 countries for 2017 - down seven places since 2016, on par with Cuba, which is the lowest rank ever attained by Malaysia since the CPI was established in 1994.

Meanwhile, executive director of anti-corruption NGO Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) Cynthia Gabriel (photo below) said that there was no need for MACC to establish its own corruption rankings, as what the country really needs is to “break the back of the inner workings of grand and entrenched corruption.”

She added that C4 believed that TI-M's index is a “good and fair take” as it is an aggregate of nine to 13 surveys which specialise in governance and business climate analysis.

“The CPI may have shocked the (MACC) chief commissioner, but not so for many Malaysians - it comes as a long overdue outcome following a severe crisis in governance these past few years,” she said in a statement. 

C4 also claimed that public institutions investigating the 1MDB scandal have been “the biggest victims of a regime bent on hiding the truth” and said that systems that have been put into place to ensure the integrity of leadership have all been compromised.

C4 recommended more robust laws on political financing and asset declaration, better governance practices and freedom of information to not only improve foreign perceptions of corruption, but also the actual practice of corruption.

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