One UP, many DOWNER!

The New Straits Times(to its credit!) today frontpaged
with a summary of
HOW MALAYSIA IS DOING
(WORLDWIDE GOVERNANCE INDICATORS)

The headline states~~

SERVICES THE ONE BRIGHT SPOT IN SURVEY

MALAYSIA is doing better in terms of the
quality of its public and civil services
compared to 10 years ago. However, the
country's performance in other areas of
governance such as accountability, control of
corruption and rule of law is still lower
than in 1996.



>Page 4:

10 years on, we're only
better in public services


KUALA LUMPUR: The good news: Malaysia is doing better in terms of the quality of its public and civil services compared to 10 years ago.

The bad news? The country’s performance in other areas of governance such as accountability, control of corruption and rule of law is still lower than it had fared in 1996.

In the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) report released yesterday for 213 countries from 1996 to 2005, Malaysia slid in its performance on many of the six good governance indicators for countries worldwide.

Its performance in the six dimensions of governance — voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption — showed that beyond "government effectiveness", no other area bettered its scores of 10 years ago.

However, if one were to take Malaysia’s performance based on the last three years, there are some encouraging signs with a slow rise after nose-dives for some areas around 2000.

In its mammoth compilation of dozens of surveys and polls conducted by a wide range of think tanks, survey institutes, non-governmental organisations and international organisations throughout the 10 years, the World Bank reported that among the six areas Malaysia fared the worst in terms of "voice and accountability".

This indicator, measuring the extent to which a country’s citizens were able to participate in selecting their government, freedom of expression and association, as well as a free media, showed that 79.5 per cent of all countries had done better than Malaysia in 1996.

Ten years later, Malaysia was beaten by 80.4 per cent. In a category topped by countries like Denmark, Finland and Norway, Malaysia was wedged in between Sierra Leone and Malawi at position 137.

Of the Southeast Asian countries, Brunei, Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar scored lower than Malaysia, while Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia scored higher.

On the issue of corruption, the indicators measured how far public power was exercised for private gain, including petty and grand forms of corruption, as well as the "capture of state by elites and private interests".

On this front, Malaysia had not improved on its 75.6 per cent score in 1996 with a 64.5 per cent score last year. It was at a low in 2000, climbed up to 68.1 per cent in 2003, but went back on a decline the following year.

The compilation took in many different sources such as the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Service Poll, Freedom House, Gallup International, Reporters Without Borders and the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report.

In terms of political stability, Malaysia dropped from 73 per cent in 1996 to 62.3 per cent last year, taking into account perceptions such as the likelihood of the government being destabilised or overthrown by unconstitutional or violent means, which include domestic violence and terrorism.

This, however, was offset by the fact that it had slipped to a low score of 50 per cent in 2000 and climbed up in recent years.

And there were other positive points.

Malaysia did better in the quality of public services and the civil service in the "Government Effectiveness" indicator.

The indicator, said the World Bank, also measured the degree of independence from political pressures, the quality of policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of the government’s commitment to such policies.

Malaysia upped its performance in this category from 79.5 per cent in 1996 to 80.4 per cent last year.

However, in a different indicator, Malaysia dropped in the government’s ability to "formulate and implement sound policies and regulations that permit and promote private sector development".

Under this "Regulatory Quality" indicator, 10 years ago Malaysia beat 80.4 per cent of all countries surveyed.

The country slid to a low of 59.1 per cent in 2000 and though it started improving the following years, it dropped again last year.

And Malaysians are not wrong if they think there is more crime and violence in the country today compared to the past.

In the "Rule of Law" indicator, which takes into account the likelihood of crime, violence and the performance of the police, enforcement and courts, Malaysia fell from a 78.5 per cent rank in 1996 to 66.2 per cent last year.

But if they were to take the last three years as an indication, things had actually improved slightly as there was a gradual rise from 2002’s low of 64.4 per cent.

DESIDERATA:

That phrase within brackets, (to its credit!), expresses surprise of this Blogger-scribe that the NST, well acknowledged as the Government's official mouthpiece in UMNO, hence Government stands, on important Establishment policies and viewpoints, is so upfront on this GOVERNANCE issue. I applaud the MSM's coverage, compared with its main rival, THE STAR, which is eloquent by its complete abesnce of coverage. Was "The People's Paper" scooped?(I stand corrected if my EsteemedReaders spied the item buried in the jungle of wordage and verbiage, editorial and advertising and advertorial, the latter raking in the big bucks. Passing the buck, anyone?)

My only observation worth commenting is that the NST report is consistently emphasising the various indicators' status from three years ago as compared with the present. Of course, you don't need to be an ex-newshoud to know that point marked the "changing of the guards at te Prime Minister's Office".

All these emphases, inclduing in the news report, are Desiderata's, mine and mine alone (Kudos! to the NST! for the coverage, NOT to Desi! for the stress, OK!)

Once a country, or even any individual, has come down substantially, in any race,
THE ONLY PROBABLE WAY TO GO IS UP!

Unless, of course, the pilot wants to take the 'hole ship to the ABYSS:(!

Pray very hard, my dear ER awe, that's NOT the awful direction we are headed. Umar Mukhtar ("But change we must.")would not, like Desi, be too pleased.
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