KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said the government's political will and institutional reforms are needed to tackle the country's corruption perception issue.

MACC director of policy, planning and research Datuk Mohd Hafaz Nazar said based on Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) president Dr Muhammad Mohan, there are two major factors contributing to the country's weak score.

"First is the lack of political will to fight corruption based on slow implementation of the National Anti Corruption Plan (NACP) 2019-2023. This involves the repeated failure of the government despite the continuous exposures made by the Auditor General Report, lack of action against civil servants who abuse power, introduction of the Covid-19 stimulus package without debate or scrutiny in Parliament, the access of cost for mega acquisitions and the appointment of under-qualified heads of government-linked companies and government-linked investment companies.

"The second factor is the delay in institutional reforms which can be seen in the development of the Political Funding law, Government Acquisition law, amendment to the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2010, the Independent Police Complaint and Monitoring Commission Act and the lack of political will to strengthen the MACC as an independent and effective anti-corruption institution."

He said TI-M also touched on the lack of transparent information in matters of public interest, like the RM9 billion Littoral Combat Ship project by the Defence Ministry, and the perception that there are no legal actions taken against civil servants who abuse power.

"MACC accepts these opinions that touched on the aspect of public administration, strengthening of governance laws and the strengthening and independence of MACC (in matters of finance, recruitment, mandate) with an open mind.

"However, the MACC would like to stress that last year, action was taken in major cases of public interest like the LCS case.

"Because the investigation is still ongoing and involves foreign countries, information on it could not be revealed. This may have led to negative perceptions against the MACC's investigation and the government's commitment and painted a picture as if no action was being taken."

He said TI-M also failed to take into account high profile cases and those of public interest that have been successfully investigated and taken to court, including those involving public officials.

"Among them is the success of the SRC case which led to a former prime minister being sentenced to jail and the solar electric supply to schools in rural Sarawak case, which led to the conviction of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor last year."

He said the MACC believes the NACP needs to be reviewed so emphasis can be given on high impact initiatives that can lead to significant and quick changes to its level of governance, transparency, integrity and responsibility.

"This will support the government's commitment in addressing people's issues and its efforts to recover, stabilise and strengthen the country's economy."

He said in the 12th Malaysia Plan, the government has also accepted the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) as a basic good governance measurement for a country and has determined a target for an improvement in Malaysia's CPI for 2025.

"If the target is turned into a key performance index at all levels of ministries, departments and agencies and made into a shared responsibility, I believe Malaysia will be able to achieve a better CPI position."

For this purpose, the government is developing a national governance index like the Malaysian Governance Index which is evidence and outcome-based.

"In addition, MACC is carrying out a comprehensive Malaysian Corruption Survey based on the study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that stresses on measurement of corruption experience as compared to perception by utilising primary and administration data.

"Experience and evidence-based data study will be able to complement the CPI study that is based on perception in order to give a clearer, precise and comprehensive picture of the level and factor of corruption in Malaysia," said Hafaz.

Malaysia rose one position in TI CPI to 61st place from 180 countries last yearm compared with 62nd place in 2021, but dropped one point from 48 points in 2021 to 47 points last year.

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2023/02/875586/macc-political-will-institutional-reforms-needed-tackle-corruption