Malaysia needs to battle corruption in struggle towards 25th spot in CPI

He said this is because to reach the 25th position in the CPI as targeted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim by the target year requires the efforts and commitment of all parties.

"In these nine years, until 2033 there needs to be a holistic change and this requires the cooperation of all including the public and private sectors, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and political leaders," he told Bernama in conjunction with this year's National Day and Malaysia Day (HKHM) celebrations .

Muhammad said that although there has been progress in the government's efforts to fight corruption, global assessments show that Malaysia's achievement in the CPI is still unsatisfactory.

According to Muhammad, since 2012, Malaysia's performance in the CPI has been inconsistent, with scores ranging from 47 to 53.

The CPI score refers to 0 being considered very corrupt and 100 being considered very clean.

In 2019, Malaysia achieved the highest score with 53 points, but the achievement decreased in the following years, especially after the political instability from 2020 to 2022.

Muhammad said that due to the score not increasing significantly, Malaysia's position in the CPI was between 57 and 62 in the period from 2020 to 2022 out of 180 countries assessed.

In 2023, Malaysia was ranked 57, compared to 61 the previous year.

Thus, Muhammad said, he is optimistic that Anwar's determination to place Malaysia at the 25th position in the CPI can be achieved if some of the amendments proposed by the government in that direction can be implemented as soon as possible.

He said, this includes amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2009, the drafting of the Political Financing Act and the Government Procurement Act.

According to Muhammad, the separation of powers between the attorney general and the public prosecutor, parliamentary reform, and the full implementation of the 2024-2028 National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) can also help Malaysia achieve the 25th target in the CPI.

"There should not only changes in institutional reform, but also good governance, efficiency in administration, transparency and most importantly accountability.

"If all of these happen simultaneously, I believe we still have hope to reach the prime minister's target, which is to rank 25th in the CPI by 2033," he said.

He hopes that the MADANI Government can speed up the implementation of reforms, while the people need to play an active role in fighting corruption.

"The awareness and courage to report corruption and implement institutional reforms are important steps in ensuring justice and integrity in the national administration," he said.

Muhammad in the meantime hopes that the spirit of independence this year can be fueled by the spirit of courage from the people to together fight corruption and misconduct.

He said the issue of corruption cannot be solved by MACC or the Prime Minister alone, but each has a responsibility.

"It means that if we know something is wrong, corruption is happening, we have to speak up, we have to report to the MACC and so on, we have to be brave.

"People have to unite, even though we have different religions and races, but we have to understand that we have one enemy and our enemy is corruption," he said.

Muhammad said, if in the past the people were able to fight the colonialists together, now the people need to unite against the enemy of the country, which is corruption.

-- BERNAMA