KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — Lim Kit Siang asked Putrajaya today if it has a strategy to avert the “disaster” of being overtaken by Indonesia in the fight against corruption, claiming the republic has been taking more proactive measures in recent times than its Southeast Asian neighbour.

The DAP veteran labelled the contrast in anti-corruption efforts by Malaysia and Indonesia as different as “day and night”, citing recent media headlines on corruption issues in both nations.

“For instance, one of the most electrifying news on the anti-corruption front in Malaysia was the headline last month: ‘8 officers face 28 fresh charges in Customs bribery case’,” Lim recalled in a statement here.

“But,” he continued, “... this paled into insignificance when compared with the following headline on the fight against corruption in Indonesia a week earlier: ‘Ex-leader of Indonesia’s ruling party gets 8 years in jail for corruption, money laundering’.”

More significantly, Lim said, is reports that Indonesia’s newly-installed president Joko Widodo has pledged to replace eight prospective ministerial candidates following recommendations from the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

The KPK had made the recommendation after finding the eight to be at “high risk” of being named as graft suspects.

In Malaysia, however, news reports have continued to show that the country’s battle against corruption has been inching along slowly, if at all it is moving, Lim observed.

For example, he cited the September 27 report last year that revealed the results of an Ernst & Young survey showing Malaysia being ranked as one of the most corrupt nations.

He also highlighted another news report on October 8 this year that quoted Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Razali Ibrahim as saying that Putrajaya has no plans to expand the powers of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate civil servants living beyond their means.

“Can the Prime Minister or even the MACC explain why Malaysia is losing out so badly to Indonesia in anti-corruption efforts and results, with not a single ‘big fish’ landed in Malaysia so far... when the catching, prosecution and jailing of ‘big fishes’ have become quite commonplace in Indonesia?” Lim asked.

He noted that Malaysia’s corruption ranking on the annual Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has also shown a “deplorable trend” over the past two decades.

In 1995, Lim said, Malaysia was ranked 23rd out of the 41 countries, while Indonesia lagged behind at last place.

Last year, he said, Malaysia’s score fell, putting it at rank 53 out of the 177 countries studied, while by comparison, Indonesia saw marked improvements to its 1995 score, putting it at rank 114.

“At the annual average rate of Indonesia’s improvement on TI CPI ranking and score in the past five years, Malaysia will be left behind by Indonesia in less than a decade, even well before 2020,” Lim said.

“Is there a strategy by (Prime Minister Datuk Seri) Najib (Razak) and MACC to avert this disaster?”