Government does not protect anyone involved in corruption - Ismail Sabri

In fact, he said individuals involved in corruption either from the government or the opposition will be brought to justice.

"So, one cannot assume that today's government is protecting certain individuals and taking action only against certain others to satisfy certain parties.

"We don't know if there was a (practice of) selective prosecution or not, but today, there is no selective prosecution. That's our promise," he said during question time.

The Prime Minister said this in reply to Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's (PH-Port Dickson) supplementary question on the seriousness of the government leadership to state that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should act without hesitation against anyone.

Ismail Sabri said many ongoing court cases which involved elected representatives from both the government and the opposition proved that the government is serious in taking action against those involved in corruption.

Meanwhile, in reply to Anwar's original question on the government's stance on the downgrading of Malaysia's position in Transparency International 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) to number 62 out of 180 countries, Ismail Sabri said the fact that Malaysia's preparedness to be assessed and ranked in the CPI proved the country's transparency and commitment to improving its governance.

He said the government also remained committed to implementing the initiatives under the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) 2021.

"However, we must remember that improvement efforts are long-term efforts and the results will only be seen in the future," he said.

The Prime Minister said the CPI ranking was done based on perceptions through studies by international institutions and Malaysia's CPI for 2021 was calculated based on nine out of 13 studies conducted by various international agencies.

Ismail Sabri said the report showed that among the nine ASEAN member countries, Malaysia ranked second best after Singapore.

"Among the factors that influenced the scores and ranks of countries in the CPI are the different questions used for different countries, respondents or the target groups and the number of countries involved each year. For example, the CPI 2021 does not involve Brunei.

"The government, through the National Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC) has held several engagement sessions with the stakeholders to ensure that the CPI report is fairly prepared and provides the true picture," he said.