IPOH, Nov 5 — Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, today expressed concerns over Malaysia’s integrity landscape, warning that two decades after the National Integrity Plan was launched, the gap between its ideals and the nation’s reality has widened significantly.
Speaking at the 2024 National Integrity Celebration, the Deputy Yang diPertuan Agong lamented that the country remains plagued by corruption, abuse of power, and a declining moral compass.
Sultan Nazrin painted a grim picture of the nation’s integrity, citing daily media reports of corruption, cronyism, and leakages of public resources.
He pointed to troubling reports of cartels dominating essential industries, large-scale illegal land clearing, and the country being “shamed on the world map” by its largest financial scandal.
He also highlighted the Auditor-General’s annual findings of serious weaknesses in public fund management and a rising crime index. This decline, he noted, is reflected in Malaysia’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranking, which fell 20 places from 37th in 2003 to 57th in 2024.
In an analogy, Sultan Nazrin likened the nation’s vulnerability to the Great Wall of China, an iconic defence that ultimately failed not due to external force, but internal weakness.
“The wall was never broken. It was never scaled. Instead, the gates were opened from within,” he said.
“The enemy did not conquer the wall; they conquered the will of the men who guarded it. What failed was not the stone, but the spirit.”
He urged the current generation to learn from history, warning that “without integrity, power becomes fragile.”
The Sultan also highlighted the immense challenge faced by the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM), the body established in 2004 to implement the National Integrity Plan. Despite a broad mandate, he said the institute has operated with limited resources, receiving nearly RM212 million over 20 years.
He cautioned that the IIM is expected to deliver “near-miraculous outcomes” but “does not possess Aladdin’s lamp to simply rub and achieve wishes.”
“With limited financial and human resources, like having only a yard-long cloth to cover the most vital parts, IIM requires the wisdom to prioritise effectively,” he concluded.
