Malaysia's position went up three notches in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2014, according to Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) today.

Malaysia, which was 53rd last year, now ranks 50th out of 175 countries.

Scoring 52 out of 100, Malaysia is perceived as the second least corrupted country in the ASEAN region, behind Singapore which ranks at 7th position with a score of 84 out of 100.

The scores range from 0 to 100 (0 being most corrupt and 100 as corruption free).

The annual survey, undertaken by Transparency International, scores and ranks 175 countries based on the perceived level of corruption in the public sector.

In announcing the index results today, TI-M lauded the government's effort in combating graft. A score of 52 is the highest recorded by Malaysia since 2004.

President of TI-M Datuk Akhbar Satar attributed improved ranking to the anti-graft body Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act (MACC), resulting in an increase in scoring since it was established in 2009.

TI-M, however, noted there are still concerns on issues such as graft in political parties.

According to the Malaysian Corruption Baromoter 2014 survey, political parties were perceived as the most corrupt.

“We are very concerned on political financing. We hope the government will listen to our recommendations and review their procedure,” said Akhbar, calling political parties to make full disclosure of all sources of financing and expenditure.

“We want political contributions channelled into parties account, not individuals,” he said.

Akhbar revealed that there were instances whereby political parties have spent more than RM 200,000 (parliamentary) or RM 100,000 (state) for campaigning as stipulated in the Elections Offences Act 1954. However, they were not reprimanded.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had announced in February 2012 that the government would regulate financing for all political parties, done through an initiative under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP).

“The political parties had spent more than it was allowed but no action has been taken against them,” said Akhtar.

TI-M also recommended for an establishment of a public registry of beneficial owner’s information for all Malaysian companies to uncover the real owners, in efforts to crack down corruption, money laundering and ‘cronyism’ in the public sector.

Malaysia’s CPI score and ranking improved was based on the feedback from surveys of eight independent global surveys, with Malaysia performing the worst in the Political Risk Services International Country Risk Guide 2014, scoring only 41out of 100.

The CPI index uses data compiled in the past 24 months. According to TI-M, the index does not only compare bribes reported, the number of prosecutions or corruption cases, it also gauge the effectiveness of investigators, prosecutors, the courts or the media in investigating and exposing corruption.

Globally, Denmark was ranked the least corrupted countries with a score of 92, followed by New Zealand, Finland, Sweden and Norway.

Meanwhile, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Sudan, North Korea and Somalia were the lowest ranked in the index.