Thursday December 6, 2012
Malaysia now ranked 54th, up six places from 2011 in graft index
By RAHIMY RAHIM
rahimyr@thestar.com.my

Right path: Low answering questions from the press while the secretary-general of Transparency International Josie M. Fernandez looks on. PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has improved in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2012, moving up six places to 54, says Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M).
Malaysia is ranked third among Asean nations behind Singapore (3) and Brunei (46).
“Malaysia's position has improved slightly staying in the mid-range average, indicating that many steps undertaken by Prime Minister Da-tuk Seri Najib Tun Razak through the Government Transformation Programme to fight corruption have shown results,” said TI-M president Datuk Paul Low when announcing the CPI 2012 here yesterday.
This year's assessment for 176 countries was based on an upgraded methodology. Instead of scores ranging from 1 to 10, the new CPI scores range from 0 to 100. (0 being most corrupt and 100 corruption-free).
Singapore scored 87 and Brunei 55, while Malaysia received a score of 49. Denmark, Finland and New Zealand tied for first place with scores of 90 while Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia were at the bottom of the list scoring eight out of 100.
Low praised the Government for its commitment in fighting corruption as Malaysia is the only country that included the CPI as part of its Key Performance Index (KPI) in fighting corruption.
Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) NKRA anti-corruption director D. Ravindran said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Attorney-General's Chambers would conduct classes for lawmakers next year.
Meanwhile, Asli Centre for Pu- blic Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam hoped that there would be more government efforts to improve the perception on corruption.
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