Asia corruption index compares well to West
Updated
Corruption is a burning issue throughout much of Asia, and notoriously difficult to change.
A recent survey shows - as expected - Singapore coming out cleanest, while Indonesia was ranked most corrupt.
Yet the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy PERC, which produced the survey, says the global financial crisis has demonstrated that corruption in developed countries can make Asian indexes look flattering.
Presenter: Matthew Abud
Speaker: Bob Broadfoot, Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Kong; Danang Widoyoko, Indonesia Corruption Watch; Mark Che, Transparency International in Malaysia
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MATTHEW ABUD: Corruption and the damage it causes has been an ever-present story across Asia, but Bob Broadfoot, managing director of PERC in Hong Kong, says the financial crisis shows corruption on Wall Street can dwarf even the biggest names in Asia.
BOB BROADFOOT, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RISK CONSULTANCY, HONG KONG: If you took the corruption value of the Suharto regime of Indonesia, the Marcos regime of the Philippines and Thaksin's administration in Thailand and added them together it doesn't equal the dollar amount Bernie Madoff in the United States and the fallout of the global financial system of - to the extent that corruption is part of the problem is much more serious than anything that's come out of the Third World.
MATTHEW ABUD: The survey ranked countries according to levels of perceived corruption as seen by expat businessmen. For the first time this year PERC included Australia and the United States in its annual survey. Australia reached third with a 2.4 score with the US at fourth on 2.89. Zero is a perfect score while 10 is the highest possible level of perceived corruption. But PERC also surveyed Chicago and the windy city got well over 5, putting it the equivalent of seventh place and edging towards China. A simple national score isn't always the key, however. The way corruption is spread across a country is complex and the bigger the country the more complicated the scenario.
BOB BROADFOOT: What we see in China, for example, is that the national level leaders are perceived to be cleaner than the local leaders. A lot of the perceived corruption is at the local level and that the population looks at the national level leaders to help them address abuses that are perpetrated by local officials.
MATTHEW ABUD: The survey gathered responses from over 1,700 expatriate businessmen in 16 countries and cities across Asia. However, even in countries where corruption is high, the political impact can vary dramatically. Although Indonesia comes out bottom, the efforts of incumbent President Yudhoyono to tackle the problem has brought him political support in this year's election. Danang Widoyoko, from Indonesia Corruption Watch said little has been done to reform corrupt practices in the civil services but President Yudhoyono has boosted enforcement to catch key offenders.
DANANG WIDOYOKO, INDONESIA CORRUPTION WATCH: The most successful introduction is the Corruption Eradication Commission. The corruption commission is actually an independent commission, not the commission of the President. The people here see that, you know, the Corruption Eradication Commission can prosecute corruption efficiently or successfully because Yudhoyono is not - was not interfered.
MATTHEW ABUD: Malaysia scores 6.7 and is ranked 10 on the list. New Prime Minister Najib has taken office under a cloud of personal allegations but, like his predecessor, he has promised action against corruption as a priority. Some believe this will be a big test for his tenure. Mark Che works at Transparency International in Malaysia. He says corruption has infused all areas of public life and that only committed leadership can change it.
MARK CHE, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL, MALAYSIA: If you have anti corruption agencies in place, we have various laws in place but if the whole system is not being driven down from the top and there's no independence of the judiciary and there's no independence of the anti-corruption agency then I think the - whatever effort is put in will be futile to arrest corruption in this country.
MATTHEW ABUD: PERC says when a country scores above 7 corruption is perceived as a serious problem but it adds that the global financial crisis shows corruption can bite anywhere and with Wall Street falling, no-one should be pointing fingers at anyone else right now. Bob Broadfoot again.
BOB BROADFOOT: The only time you can really tell who's swimming naked is when the tide goes out and right now the tide is out and the developed world we're starting to see a realisation that they've got a home-grown problem that they have to address too because it's the developed world that really has global repercussion.
