KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has risen a rank up on Transparency International's 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
It was ranked 43rd this year but the score of 5.1 was a minimal improvement from the 5.0 that Malaysia recorded last year.
However, the slight positive change in how people perceived corruption in the country's public sector stopped a five-year downward trend in the rankings, which was 33rd in 2002, 37th in 2003, 39th in 2004, 39th in 2005 and 44th in 2006.
The annual survey was carried out in 180 countries and is a composite index that draws on 14 expert opinion surveys. It was released Tuesday.
There were 16 new countries including Afghanistan, Maldives and Somalia.
The highest Asian country was Singapore which was ranked fourth and is the only non-Western economy to break the Top 10 list, led by Denmark. Somalia and Myanmar shared the last spot.
Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia scored lower than Malaysia.
Transparency International Malaysia president Tan Sri Dr Ramon Navaratnam hoped that the result would be the turning point in further improving the CPI.
"There needs to be more effort and greater political will," he said to reporters Wednesday after announcing the results.
The organisation's founding president Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim said the results showed that people still perceived Malaysia as being "very corrupt".
"It is very important to have enforcement and honest civil servants. Perception is very real and very important. You cannot just dismiss the results," he said.
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