Malaysia Climbs Four Ranks In Rule Of Law Index

Malaysians feel that the country’s rule of law is becoming increasingly robust. 

World Justice Project’s (WJP) reported that our rank in the Rule of Law Index has climbed four spots for 2020.

The index measures how the rule of law is experienced and perceived in 128 countries and jurisdictions across the globe by running national surveys of more than 130,000 households and 4,000 legal practitioners and experts.

The survey measures the rule of law performance across eight key factors. Including things like constraints of government powers, absence of corruption, fundamental rights, civil justice, criminal justice, etc.

According to the index, Malaysia is perceived to have improved our constraints on government powers, fundamental rights, regulatory enforcement, and civil justice, increasing our score by 5.1%.

Malaysia’s climb in ranks also means we are now in seventh place among 15 countries in East Asia and the Pacific region. 

The top three countries in the region are New Zealand, Australia and Singapore. While the bottom three countries in the region are the Philippines, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

Globally, Denmark, Norway, and Finland bagged the top spots, while Venezuela, Cambodia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo had the lowest overall scores.

Although Malaysia and several other countries managed to improve their rule of law scores, the index found that most countries around the world either remained unchanged or showed a deteriorating rule of law. 

These countries have also been showing a decline in scores for the third year in a row, demonstrating a persistent downward trend towards a weakening and stagnating rule of law globally.

The largest declines for 2020 include Cameroon, down by 4.4%, and Iran by 4.2%

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