MALAYSIA has stopped its slide down the ranks of nations perceived as corrupt but has yet to show a major improvement, an anti-graft watchdog said on Thursday.

In its 2007 Corruption Perception Index released Wednesday, Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) said Malaysia's standing crept up to 43 from 44 in 2006.

The least corrupt were Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, who tied for the number-one spot.

Malaysia, whose 43rd-place ranking tied it with South Africa and South Korea, had fallen over the years from 33rd place in 2002.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was elected in 2004 in a landslide vote after an anti-graft campaign, but the opposition and anti-corruption watchdogs say improvement has been slow.

TI's ranking is based on a Corruption Perception Index which relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption seen by business people and country analysts. It ranges from 10 (highly clean) to 0 (highly corrupt).

Malaysia scored 5.1, slightly better than the 5.0 last year.

'It's a slight improvement which is neither here nor there... But what is significant is that it stopped a declining trend,' said Ramon Navaratnam, president of TI's Malaysian chapter.

'I hope it's a turning point but that remains to be seen,' Mr Navaratnam said.

Abdul Aziz Ibrahim, founding president of TI Malaysia and a former United Nations adviser on ethics, said Malaysia has shown really no improvement.

'When you are below 5 or at 5.1 or 5.2, you are not really doing well,' said Mr Abdul Aziz.

'For us not to make significant improvement suggests there are many institutions that are fundamentally flawed,' he said.

Mr Abdul Aziz said concerns over a recent auditor-general's report on financial abuse in the public sector and corruption allegations against police and the judiciary should be addressed.

On TI's list, the worst levels of perceived corruption were in Haiti, Myanmar, Iraq and Guinea, which were ranked 179. - AFP