KUALA LUMPUR: DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to walk the talk on his commitments in combating corruption and turnover results within a year through Transparency International's annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
He said turning over Malaysia's 2022 CPI would be useless as it would be released later this month.
He, however, said Anwar should have no excuse in turning around the 2023 ranking.
"There will be no excuse for Anwar not being able to improve Malaysia's rank and score in the 2023 TI CPI in the start of a long march for the country to be among the top 30 countries in the world public integrity, unless Anwar is toppled as the 10th Prime Minister before the year is out."
Lim also said in a statement that Malaysia has been declining in its CPI ranking while its neighbours like Indonesia, China and India have improved theirs.
"Is Malaysia going to lose out to China, Indonesia, and India in the TI CPI by 2030? Indonesia is not the only country in Asia which Malaysia is losing out. We are also losing to China and India. In 2014, China was ranked 100th with a score of 36 marks and has improved to 66th rank with a score of 45 marks, just three points behind Malaysia.
"Malaysia is also in danger of losing out to Vietnam and Cambodia. Vietnam has improved from its 119th rank and score of 31 marks in 2014 to 88th ranking with a score of 39 marks, while Cambodia fell from its 156 rank in 2014 to 158th in 2022 although it improved its score from 21 marks in 2014 to 23 marks in 2021."
The DAP veteran however welcomed the assurance by Anwar when he spoke to Malaysians in Jakarta that he would not compromise in the anti-corruption battle even though it might jeopardise his position.
"The Ministerial retreat next week and the Parliamentary meeting next month should have more news about how Anwar proposes to end the nation's decline on the anti-corruption front and place Malaysia as one the 30 top countries in the world in public integrity," he said.
Malaysia's global position in Transparency International's CPI has dropped five spots in 2021, reversing the gain achieved during the 14th general election.
Malaysia was placed 62 out of 100 in the most recent report, the lowest since the ranking system was overhauled in 2012. It was rated 57 in 2020, a minor decline from 51 in 2019.