Study Exposes Constraints In WJP Methodology That Influence Malaysia's CPI Assessment

By Muhammad Adil Muzaffar Mohd Fisol

PUTRAJAYA, July 29 (Bernama) -- A study related to the Malaysian Rule of Law Index has found several methodological limitations in the measurement of the index by the World Justice Project (WJP) which have affected the assessment of the country's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), said the head of Research, Prof Dr R Ramalinggam.

He said among the main findings of the study was that the General Population Poll (GPP) data or public perception survey used by WJP for Malaysia was last collected in 2017.

"The reforms that have taken place in Malaysia, whether legal or institutional, have mostly taken place in the last decade. Whereas the data after that has not been collected."

"There we see why changes have not happened because the latest data has not even been collected," he said in an interview with Bernama recently.

Ramalinggam, who is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Multimedia University, said that apart from the GPP, the WJP also obtained data through the Qualified Respondents’ Questionnaire (QRQ) which involved legal practitioners, academics and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), as well as third-party sources such as reports from international organisations.

However, he said the WJP report did not reveal the actual number of experts involved for each country.

“Based on the WJP report, it is estimated that only 25 experts were involved as respondents in 2024, while for 2025, around 29 experts were involved for a country.

"However, the WJP does not reveal the actual number for each country and considers the information confidential," he said.

According to Ramalinggam, the study also found that many of the experts who answered the WJP questionnaire were the same individuals every year, thus causing the recorded perceptions to change slowly.

"Perception is something subjective. It can be formed based on one's own experience, the experience of others or information received. Therefore, perceptions are difficult to change in a short period of time,” he said.

Ramalinggam said researchers also found that although the WJP used three data sources to develop the Rule of Law Index, the CPI measurement for Malaysia only took into account the QRQ component of the WJP.

“Once we understand the methodology, we know where the areas for improvement can be addressed if the country wants to improve its position in the CPI,” he said.

The Rule of Law Index published by the WJP is one of the international benchmarks that measures the extent to which a country practises the principle of the rule of law effectively, transparently and fairly.

It assesses various aspects, including the level of justice, institutional integrity, effectiveness of the judicial system, government accountability, public safety and protection of human rights.

The Rule of Law Index is closely related to the CPI because strengthening the rule of law reflects more effective law enforcement, control over abuse of power and efforts to combat corruption.

Malaysia is in 54th place with a score of 52 in the CPI 2025 released by Transparency International (TI).

The CPI 2025 is based on 13 surveys and expert assessments that measure the level of perceived corruption in the public sector in 182 countries on a scale from zero (highest level of corruption) to 100 (very low level of corruption).

-- BERNAMA