Another index, another drubbing for Malaysia

The release of the Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International (TI-CPI) this week was not exactly news that Malaysian Premier Najib Abdul Razak (picture) needed.

For seven months in power, he had been fighting fires on many fronts. But the opposition parties are holding up better than expected despite Mr Najib's (mitigated) success in winning back Perak state.

His coalition has not been doing too well at by-elections, and some of his allies are showing signs of disintegration; the economy refuses to impress foreign investors; and most important of all, his efforts at reforms have failed to excite the general population.

His time in power has also been badly coloured by the dubious methods of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), and the tragic death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock while being held by the MACC. The commission's tendency to investigate opposition personalities despite the small sums usually involved instead of persons connected to the Barisan Nasional where the sums concerned are astronomical has been glaring.

This, among other things, has greatly affected how the world views Malaysia's standard of governance.

Where financial corruption is concerned, official foot-dragging around the case of the Port Klang Free Trade Zone - a project where costs had ballooned by six times - has exasperated Malaysians.

What is interesting about the TI-CPI is that it deals with perception. And so, the fact that Malaysia has received its lowest point in 15 years (4.5, down from 5.1 last year) shows us how little impact Mr Najib's efforts have had on public perception of his administration. This is despite the control the federal government has on the print media, and despite the opposition's inability to present a united front on important issues.

In this year's report, Transparency International states that Malaysia's sharp decline "may be attributed to the perception that there has been little progress combating corruption and a lack of political will to implement effective anti-corruption measures. The MACC appears to focus on "small fish" and opposition politicians".

The country dropped nine positions from 47th to 56th. The fact that TI used as many as nine different surveys to arrive at Malaysia's score makes the result that much more credible, and that much harder for the government to ignore. It was not all that long ago that Malaysia was ranked 33rd. After all, Indonesia, a new democracy, unlike Malaysia, jumped by an impressive 15 spots from 126th last year to 111th this year.

Countries that fell by nine or more positions this time around include Lebanon (which fell 28 spots), Nepal (22), Algeria (19), Mongolia, Bolivia and Ukraine (18), Mexico and El Salvador (17), Paraguay (16), and Senegal, Madagascar and Greece (14). Most of these are countries in political crisis, and fell from low positions to start