Kuala Lumpur, 9 December 2020 – In line with the theme of this year’s International Anti-Corruption Day (IACD) “Recover with Integrity”, IDEAS urges the government to take bold steps to eradicate corruption by prioritising the curbing of money politics and strengthening good governance practices. By doing so, Malaysia can begin to regain its regional economic competitiveness and achieve post-pandemic recovery on the grounds of robust institutional governance.

Curbing money politics is of utmost importance. What is crucially needed in Malaysia are structural reforms through the enactment and enforcement of laws, particularly the Political Funding Act and the Government Procurement Act.

Manager of the Democracy and Governance Unit, Aira Azhari, commented, “Through our work with youth wings from political parties this year, we are convinced that the lack of transparency in political funding remains to be one of the fundamental causes of corruption in Malaysia. There have been too many stories about politicians receiving bribes and owning large amounts of cash, which ties into the role our politicians play in servicing their constituents. Apart from this, government procurement practices are also in urgent need of transparency and opening up to public scrutiny, to ensure efficient delivery and best value of taxpayers’ money. The government has shown commitment to reform in both these areas in the National Anti-Corruption Plan, which we hope will be implemented without delay. Malaysia has also ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and is therefore bound to its provisions as well.”

Furthermore, as highlighted by the recent downgrade in Fitch ratings, weak governance practices have greatly affected Malaysia’s economy and hampered our competitive advantage.

“The Fitch downgrade shows clearly that good governance practices are not just crucial in curbing corruption but are fundamental for Malaysia’s economic recovery and attractiveness to foreign investors. I truly hope that this IACD can be a reminder to our government that weak institutions and opaque governance practices harm the economy and in turn the livelihood of many Malaysians,” ends Aira.

#UnitedAgainstCorruption #IACD2020 #RecoverBetter

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For media enquries, please contact Aira Azhari, aira@ideas.org.my