The annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report for 2020 had been released by Transparency International on 28 January 2021.
The CPI index gives a 0 – 100 score describing the state of corruption of the nation, with 100 being no corruption and 0 being the most corrupted one.
Before we get to the scores of Malaysia, we will need to understand the methodology used in the study. The study aggregates data from a number of different sources that provide perceptions by business people and country experts of the level of corruption in the public sector.
With Covid-19 being the global issue in 2020, healthcare is one of the important factor to assess the corruption index. It is stated that countries with higher ranking on index had spend more on healthcare and is less likely to violate democratic norms and institutions or the rule of law.
As for 2020, Malaysia had achieved a rank of 57 out of 180 countries, with a score of 51 out of 100. Giving it a comparison, Malaysia’s rank had dropped by 6 and the score had deteriorate by 2 points from 53.
Dr Muhammad Mohan, President of Transparency International had given his comment on Malaysia’s score as the following.
“Among the criteria that gave lower assessments for Malaysia in 2020 compared to 2019 were the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) 2020 and the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Asian Intelligence 2020.”
“The reason why the rank has dropped six steps is that other countries have either maintained or done better than us.”
He too stated that Malaysia to improve the score, greater transparency and disclosure of information is required.
Obviously, with our score deteriorated, Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) too had made its comment on Twitter. However, the comment made by SPRM weren’t solving the issues that Malaysia is facing, but rather showing the public how shameless they are.
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