Corruption rife in Asian justice, regional study finds

Corruption rife in Asian justice, regional study finds

Chris Foley, Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Corruption and political interference are rife throughout police
and justice systems in Asia, according to a regional survey in
which only four countries headed by Singapore are viewed
favorably.

At the bottom of the heap is Indonesia where the "whole legal
system is in desperate need of an overhaul," according to the
survey of expatriates by the Political and Economic Risk
Consultancy (PERC).

In attempting to define a stereotype, PERC said in its latest
Asian Intelligence report that countries where the legal system
has been graded most harshly "are either relatively poor or under
communist control, or both".

Countries with roots in British Common Law ranked high with
the exceptions of the Philippines and India, relatively poor
countries "and this has provided fertile ground for bureaucracy
and corruption".

Apart from Singapore and Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea
which both borrow from British law were the only other countries
given a pass mark by expatriates marking the legal system in
countries where they work.

In a strong criticism of China, PERC said the reason many
people in the public and private sectors are willing to risk
quite draconian penalties for crime "is a good indication that
they do not feel particularly threatened about being caught or
prosecuted".

The judicial system in China was rated "unreliable, vulnerable
to corruption and difficult to deal with", and the ultimate
authority in the country was the Communist Party and not the law.
The report said there was a misconception that China's entry to
the World Trade Organization would somehow make its legal system
compatible with WTO rules in the short term.

"It is not simply a matter of changing laws, however, but of
training lawyers, judges and police and then making the
systematic changes to remove the present system's idiosyncrasies.
This will take years, if not decades."

India's legal system was said to have been seriously hurt by
corruption brought on by low levels of pay for the judiciary and
police.

Indonesia came in for the most scathing criticism with
"corruption and political interference" undermining a legal
system which has "little integrity".

"The bottom line is that Indonesia's whole legal system is in
desperate need of an overhaul, but it is doubtful that the
present government has the will or the ability to conduct such an
exercise."

Of all the developing countries covered by the report, PERC
said Malaysia arguably has the best legal system and had largely
overcome questions about its independence raised during the trial
of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

"Throughout this relatively controversial period, a lot of the
debate over the integrity and independence of the legal system
was carried out by lawyers and judges. This is therefore an
example of the checks and balances that still exist in Malaysia."

The same could not be said of Thailand where the legal system
had deteriorated to the point that only Indonesia was worse.
"The failure of successive governments to raise the performance
and ethics of the police force has become a national scandal,"
PERC said.

"The police are under-educated and underpaid. They are still a
major engine of corruption."

The report noted that Thai police have fleets of expensive
European cars for routine work but almost no forensic experts.

In the Philippines, police are involved in kidnappings and
murders, and people feel so insecure that some areas are said to
have set up their own militias.

With the survey rating countries on a scale of one to 10,
Singapore was seen to have the best legal and police system with
a rating of 1.7, followed by Hong Kong (2.9), Japan (3.67) and
South Korea (4.83).

Of the countries which failed to reach the pass mark, Malaysia
was rated at 6.29, then Taiwan (6.33), Vietnam (7.08), India
(7.33), China and the Philippines (7.78), Thailand (7.96) and
Indonesia (9.83).

The survey also took in the United States and Australia as a
Western barometer, with the United States topping the poll at
1.67 and Australia placed third with 1.82, just behind Singapore.