(The Edge) - Malaysia dropped nine places to 56th position out of 180 countries surveyed in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2009, the anti-corruption watchdog announced yesterday.

Malaysia’s decline from 47th spot in 2008 is the steepest among the Asean countries in the ranking this year, although it fares better than all member countries except Singapore (3rd) and Brunei (39th), which is participating for the first time.

In the latest survey, Malaysia scored 4.5 points out of 10, where 0 means highly corrupt, and 10 is the best possible score.

“A fall of 0.6 from 5.1 in 2008 to 4.5 in 2009 is alarming not only to the people of Malaysia but also the government of the day,” said Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) president Datuk Paul Low at a press conference here to announce the survey results.

He attributed Malaysia’s poorer showing to the perception that there had been little progress in combating corruption and that political will was lacking in implementing effective anti-corruption measures.

“There are several examples in the survey period giving rise to grave concern,” said Low.

“They include no action being taken against parties implicated in tampering in the appointment of judges, the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) fiasco, where the cost rose from an estimated RM1.1 billion to RM4.7 billion and a possible RM12.5 billion, and political crossovers particularly in Perak.”

However, Low noted that there are positive signs.

“The PKFZ fiasco is being actively and vigorously investigated; police reports have been made and suits have been taken against certain parties, and corrective measures have been taken,” Low said.

He further noted that Malaysia ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in September 2008.

Integrity is a Key Result Area for the government, referring to the performance criteria introduced by Datuk Seri Najib Razak when he took over as prime minister in April 2009.

Also, the prime minister had formed a high-level task force to study and make recommendations for action to be taken on the Auditor-General’s 2008 Report, said Low.

The CPI ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. It is a composite index drawing on corruption-related data from expert and business surveys carried out by a variety of independent and reputable institutions, TI said.

New Zealand ranked No 1 in the CPI 2009 with a score of 9.4, followed by Denmark (9.3), and Singapore and Sweden in joint 3rd and 4th place with 9.2. In fifth spot was Switzerland (9.0).

“Fragile, unstable states that are scarred by war and ongoing conflict linger at the bottom of the index,” said the global anti-corruption coalition in a press statement released from its headquarters in Berlin. The worst performers are Somalia, with a score of 1.1, Afghanistan (1.3), Myanmar (1.4) and Sudan tied with Iraq (1.5).

Comments (29)

...
written by Alice, November 19, 2009 12:36:04

Super corrupted Prime Monster ,so 56th position is still considered very ok.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by adan, November 19, 2009 10:23:13

The source for the continuing slide in CPI can be largely attributed to 22 years of the corruped regime- THE GOLDEN AGE OF MAHA CORRUPTION . What was begun then has continued to spread to ALL levels of society right to the core by way of LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE .All indications are that. this maligned growth.is likely to continue .. unabated and uncheccked .. and the Slide in the future seems inevitable..

• 
• +3
• 
• 

...
written by Sutha, November 18, 2009 23:25:39

The country was ok until the Senile Doc Dog Mahathief introduced Islamic Values in the administration. After raising two palms in prayers to Allah, the same two palms are raised wanting money from the public, contractors, law breakers etc. Money-Hu-Akhbar!

• 
• +3
• 
• 

...
written by Sutha, November 18, 2009 23:17:46

Surely la 56th place.......

Murderers ......... Crime Minister Najis Rosak and First Slut Rosmahnsur,

Thief....................IGP Musang Assan

Fabricator.............AG Pigtail

Pushover.............MACC AhmadShit

KillermaniaBoxers....... Kugan's Killer Police

DisneyThief......... TukangGigi Jawa Toyol

KorekKorekKorek..... VoKallavolli Lingam

AdunBuyer.......... Zombie Perak

$$$ Counter....... Silverhair of Silverstate

Sell Community..... Sam PubicHairman

$ Reserves Cleaner.... Senile Dog Mahathief

Sell Food for Oil........ Incestor Bodohwi

Cash for Votes........ Pygmy Isa SamAd

PalaceBuilder....... Gatekeeper Zakar Ria

AP for Family........ Iron Queen Rub-free-ada

• 
• +8
• 
• 

...
written by Sutha, November 18, 2009 22:58:57

Will slide further to 150th position in two years. Only Pakatan Rakyat government can reverse the situation but for a further two years.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by budakindia, November 18, 2009 21:27:03

Congratulations Najib! You must be proud! How about breaking the record of achieving the lowest instead?

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by Vertigo Cure, November 18, 2009 17:34:28

batsman,

In Malaysia, corruption is known as money politics and money politics is halal as it is widely practiced by the very islamic Umno. If you don't believe me, just ask Nazri and he will tell you there's no law to prosecute money politics and therefore nobody has broken any law.

• 
• +4
• 
• 

...
written by tom73my, November 18, 2009 12:57:34

Tonight Ahmad Said will comment that MACC is still very new, and they still need more time to prove themselves, as fighting graft is a long term effort, and we cannot expect results immediately. The Rakyat should thank god that MACC is working hard to catch some fishes, yes they are small fries, but its better than nothing you see. If cannot catch RM 12 billion, RM 2 thousand also sapu lah. As it is we are still much better compared to Somalia, Afgan and Myanmar. So the Rakyat must be patient. No issue. Relaks lah brader.

• 
• +1
• 
• 

...
written by advocatusdiaboli, November 18, 2009 12:48:00

Datuk Paul Low. What cock you talking? You look at mediocre steps taken by this government as positive signs? You blind or senile? Our country is heading down the dangerous slope fast. Corruption is rampant in many government agencies. The only way to improve is firstly we have to get rid of BN. Then clean up the police force inside out, then clean up the judiciary. We cannot change overnight. But change we must. So, Datuk Paul Low, stop carrying balls and commending crap.

• 
• +7
• 
• 

...
written by arazak, November 18, 2009 11:57:31

Toon Kutty said it is the "degree of democracy" that hinders progress of a nation. No idiot Kutty! It is the "degree of corruption" the hinders the progress of a nation. And you Toon Kutty. . ., are the "Father of Corruption" for this country for enriching yourself, your children and your cronies. . .!

• 
• +8
• 
• 

...
written by miwaki, November 18, 2009 11:34:39

Malaysia under UMNO/BN is not very concerned about being placed at 56,if we can control the position,we prefer to be placed at 69 because our leaders' brains are full of sex and wealth !

Malaysia,a land full of corruption is too lucky to be placed at 56 and not the last,our leaders are celebrating as they always aim for the worst,anythng better than the worst is a bonus.This is our culture,tradition and our mission.

• 
• +3
• 
• 

...
written by cantona7, November 18, 2009 11:29:53

Pegangan 'Islam' all Umnoputras(read Umnoprinces) tak lain dan tak bukan ‘Matlamat Menghalalkan Cara’ Cetusan Machiavelli di dalam karyanya
mengenai pentadbiran negara, ‘The Prince’, bahawa
kesesuaian sepatutnya menjadi asas suatu tindakan. Ini
dapat dilihat dari ungkapannya, “In the actions of all
men, we must look to the end. Let a prince (read putra), therefore,
win victories and uphold his state; his methods will
always be considered worthy, hence the dictum, ‘the end
justifies the means.’” So, rasuah dan segala kemugngkaran lain adalah halal di mata putras-putras ini.

• 
• +2
• 
• 

...
written by malgal, November 18, 2009 11:28:00

if the greasing does not stop, the slope will be slippery all the way down down down....
no 1mal cosmetics can cover the rot.

• 
• +1
• 
• 

...
written by ATSaari, November 18, 2009 10:28:28

That is what we get when we have a 'Mother of All Corruptor' as Crime Minister!

• 
• +5
• 
• 

...
written by ATSaari, November 18, 2009 10:27:18

What do we expect when we have Mother of All Corruptor as Crime Minister.

• 
• +6
• 
• 

...
written by justice, November 18, 2009 10:10:47

____________________

• 
• +14
• 
• 

...
written by fireduck, November 18, 2009 10:05:32

Welcome to Malaysia. Where money CAN talk. And BIG money can talk BIG!

.... And where the spelling of know-how is spelled with the 'w' first, as in know-Who. Maybe it is Bahasa Malaysia, haha!

..... Where graduates with all those fancy Harvard or Cambridge degrees and technical know-how can get a job for sure .... working for those 'gra-guates' from the local University of Know-Who, or abbreviated as UMNO.

• 
• +11
• 
• 

...
written by NSTPravda, November 18, 2009 09:51:44

Low noted that there are positive signs. Such as, UMNO have not got 100% of your hard earned money YET. Polis still pretend to "fight crime" and MACC still pretend to "prove their innocense." So $emua-nya OK!

• 
• +9
• 
• 

...
written by batsman, November 18, 2009 09:40:58

When the nation is becoming more and more corrupt, isn't it shameful to claim it is becoming more and more Islamic? UMNO Hadhari is responsible.

• 
• +4
• 
• 

...
written by Fat Zorro, November 18, 2009 09:20:29

I watched the 7pm NTV News last night and I got the impression from the news that we have improved our previous ranking from 56th to 47th. Anyone else saw the same news?

• 
• +1
• 
• 

...
written by Jilo, November 18, 2009 08:56:03

Let change the slogan for tourism from Truly Asia to Truly Corrupt.Then we can attract money launderers, criminals worldwide to spend lavishly with their ill-gotten money here.But for Malaysians, it is time to find ways to earn and save for migration.

• 
• +9
• 
• 

...
written by Bosan, November 18, 2009 08:37:50

I thought Badawi's Islam Hadhari was bad and I never knew that Najib's 1 Malaysia had the worst cpi between the two.

• 
• +5
• 
• 

...
written by gas, November 18, 2009 08:08:17

No way, Corruption Index will never improve for Malaysia unless the Leading Crime Minister is removed.

• 
• +17
• 
• 

...
written by JUST, November 18, 2009 07:51:07

1 beautiful nation surrounded by millions of snakes and crocodiles ............

• 
• +13
• 
• 

...
written by talk2stop, November 18, 2009 06:38:46

It could be worse. It could be my adopted country. So Malaysians be grateful there are still food on the table and a roof over your head. What else do you want in life? You can't live forever with all the goodies.

• 
• -16
• 
• 

...
written by educationist, November 18, 2009 05:31:51

Let's see what the UMNOputras spin doctors will come up with!
One scenario - Ai yah!! Those chaps don't understand our Malaysian culture!
Greasing the palm helps the project along and contributes to the national economy!!

• 
• +3
• 
• 

...
written by minds, November 18, 2009 04:12:23

56 is good result then I though....Before that I was thinking 86 in position with india and bosnia.

• 
• -2
• 
• 

...
written by eagle22, November 18, 2009 01:50:33

1. pls form a commission headed by ex- minister and about 10 committee members to investigate this ASAP.

2. form another commission to look after the first commission.

3. catch someone taking RM200 bribe and publish in main stream media.

4. prepare thick report and submit to the commission.

• 
• +4
• 
• 

...
written by betasigma, November 18, 2009 01:35:24

ONE screwed malaysia !!how can u expect the this one corrupted to core crime minister ,najis umno fcukor to walk straight??

• 
• +7
• 
•