Sack ACA Director-General Zulkipli Mat Noor over Malaysia¡¯s continued slide in the past three years in Transparency International Corruption Perception Index  to show seriousness of Abdullah administration in war against corruption

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Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Thursday) :  The latest Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2006 released on Monday is the most potent and adverse independent report card on the three-year administration of Datuk Seri Adullah Ahmad Badawi as the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Under Abdullah¡¯s leadership as Prime Minister, Malaysia¡¯s  has continued its  slide in the past three years in the TI  CPI,  falling from 37^th position when Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad stepped down after 22 years as Prime Minister (overseeing a 14-point plunge in nine years from the first TI CPI in 1995 when Malaysia was ranked No. 23), to an unprecedented low of No. 44.

What is even more shocking is that there is no sense of shame and shock on the part of the Abdullah administration over the TI CPI 2006, which proved that the anti-corruption campaign of the Prime Minister in the past three years had been a big failure.

When  Abdullah first became Prime Minister, he launched the National Integrity Plan (PIN)  with a five-year plan from 2004-2008 to achieve the target of improving Malaysia¡¯s 37^th  placing in the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index  (CPI) 2003 to 30^th place, and a CPI score of 6.5 as compared to 5.2 in 2003.

Instead of making an average improvement of 1.4 places in this five-year period in order to achieve the very unambitious placing of No. 30 in 2008, Malaysia had been going backwards in the past three years, and further and further away from the objective.  In the past three years, Malaysia had fallen by seven places or an annual average of 2.3 places a year. 

In the two years left to achieve the PIN target of 30^th placing, Malaysia would have to achieve the impossible task of making a quantum leap of 14 places up the TI CPI or an improvement of at least seven places a year for 2007 and 2008. I am sure no one in the Cabinet would dare to say that this is achievable.

For the CPI score, instead of improving the 5.2 score in 2003 to 6.5 in 2008, Malaysia is now down to 5.0.  Can Malaysia improve the CPI score with another quantum leap from 5.0 in 2006 to 6.5 in 2008?  In the TI CPI 2006, a country with a CPI score of 6.5 would be ranked No. 27.  This is another ¡°Malaysia Tak Boleh¡±!

The Malaysian public must speak up that not a single Barisan Nasional MP or Minister had expressed shame or shock at the TI CPI 2006, although the Minister in the Prime Minister¡¯s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had to express his unhappiness at the result when compelled to reply to my speech specifically on the issue in Parliament.

But mere ¡°unhappiness¡± is too mild and tame a reaction to a shocking TI CPI 2006 which as good as dismissal of  the anti-corruption pledge and agenda of the Prime Minister as a total failure.

What is worse, there is a conspiracy by Barisan Nasional MPs in Parliament to prevent me and other DAP MPs from focusing on the TI CPI 2006 in the continuing debate on the 2006 Budget, as happened yesterday in the debate during the committee stage of the Finance Ministry ¨C when integrity and good governance are  increasingly recognized world-wide as important factors  in international competitiveness in attracting foreign investments.

There must be firm and decisive action by the Prime Minister to salvage his anti-corruption pledge, agenda and strategy following the shocking result of the TI CPI 2006.

As a first step, I call on Abdullah to sack the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) Director-General Zulkipli Mat Noor to assume full responsibility over Malaysia¡¯s continued slide in the past three years in the TI CPI   and  show his seriousness in the war against corruption.
 

(09/11/2006)