Malaysia's government Thursday unveiled a three-year action plan to combat worsening corruption amid worries of declining investor interest in the Southeast Asian country. From an online public database of convicted offenders to disclosing privatisation contracts, various steps were announced to lift Malaysia's dwindling rankings in global corruption watchdog Transparency International's (TI) corruption perception index. The index, which polls 180 countries, placed Malaysia at its all-time low of 56th place this year amid declining investment. “The downward trend needs to be addressed as corruption is affecting Malaysia's attractiveness to conduct business. We have to do something,” said Hisham Noordin, a government official during a public presentation on the measures. Malaysia's ranking is still better than its emerging Asian neighbours, such as 84th-placed Thailand and 111th-placed Indonesia. But Malaysia has fallen from 29th place in 2004 while Indonesia has risen from 133rd place over the same time period. Hisham said that among the targets for next year was to lift Malaysia's score in the TI index from 4.5 in 2009 - countries are scored 0 to 10 with 10 being the least corrupt - to 4.9 in 2010. The measures to fight corruption are part of the government's overall targets covering six core subjects called “National Key Results Areas” (NKRA) and come hard on the heels of a graft case relating to a $3.5 billion port project that has made investors worry that bonds will not be repaid. They range from fighting crime to improving urban public transportation that were released to the public as part of Prime Minister Najib Razak's reform pledges. Malaysia's voters, fed up by broken promises to curb graft among other issues, last year handed the ruling coalition its worst defeat in national and state polls. “KPI (Key Performance Index) exercises usually take three to five years, but we are really rushing because these are pressing issues,” said Koh Tsu Koon, the minister in charge of the program.
