While Muafakat sings gloom, Kit Siang points to triumphs

Although Muafakat Nasional has painted the Pakatan Harapan administration as a failure, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said credible organisations abroad are saying otherwise.

Referring to the World Bank's latest Ease of Doing Business Index, Lim pointed out that Malaysia has climbed three notches in 2019.

Lim also noted that Malaysia was among the most improved country in the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) for the year 2018.

This, said Lim, can be attributed to the institutional reforms that have taken place over the past 18 months.

The WGI is based on survey results across 214 countries, measuring six dimensions: accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and corruption.

For 2018, Malaysia scored better in all categories save for "regulatory quality", which remained at status quo.

Malaysia also chalked up its best scores ever under the "voice and accountability" and "rule of law" dimensions in 2018.

Lim also expects Malaysia to achieve its best score ever in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (TI CPI) when it is released early next year.

The TI CPI began in 1995. Malaysia has been sliding down the ranking, hitting 62 out of 180 ranked countries in 2017.

"These are not puny achievements as Malaysia undertakes institutional reforms, which will take years to see their final impact, whether in the restoration of the important principles of the rule of law and an independent judiciary or to transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy to a leading nation of integrity in the world.

"These institutional reforms, which will take years to fully implement, will be impossible if there had been no change of government in Putrajaya last year,"  Lim added in a statement today.