HK, Singapore best judicial systems, RI the worst

HK, Singapore best judicial systems, RI the worst

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Hong Kong and Singapore have the best judicial systems in Asia,
while those of Indonesia and Vietnam suffer the worst, according
to a survey of expatriate business executives working in the
region released Thursday.

Hong Kong pipped Singapore for the top spot in this year's
survey by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC),
toppling the rival city-state from its pole position in 2004.

Foreign business leaders's perception of Indonesia's judicial
system worsened this year from a year ago, despite efforts by
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to fight corruption, putting
the country in the bottom of the rankings.

PERC noted a "huge gap" between what countries say is the
level of independence of their judicial systems and what foreign
investors think.

In ranking the countries or cities, the business executives
gave weight to how legal systems are used to enforce contracts,
resolve disputes, fight intellectual piracy and enforce
securities and exchange regulations.

Places such as Hong Kong and Singapore whose judicial systems
have been consistently ranked highly have emerged as major Asian
business hubs, PERC noted.

"It is no coincidence that in our own surveys of expatriates
working in Asia, those countries that are graded the worst for
variables like corruption and intellectual property rights risks
are the same ones graded very poorly for the quality of their
police and judiciary," PERC said.

In the PERC rankings, countries and cities were graded on a
scale from zero to 10, with zero being the best grade possible
and 10 the worst.

Respondents were asked to rate quality of the court system and
the police force, and the scores were averaged to get the overall
scores.

Hong Kong emerged on top with a grade of 1.73, improving from
its 2.55 rating last year.

Singapore, which had an overall grade of 1.25 in 2004, fell to
a close second place with a score of 1.75.

PERC said that despite criticisms by opposition politicians of
Singapore's judicial system, local politics hardly made a dent on
foreign investors' views.

"Rather, they care about the way commercial law is practiced
and how normal crime is dealt with," it said.

Japan was in third place, scoring 2.73, which is better than
its 3.93 performance a year ago. It was followed by South Korea,
whose score of 3.96 improved from 5.67.

Taiwan placed fifth in the rankings with a score of 5.07,
improving from 5.55, while Malaysia came in sixth with a grade of
6.06, better than last year's 7.50.

India was in seventh place with a score of 7.20, an
improvement from 8.0 last year. Thailand placed eight with a
grade of 7.65, better than 7.83 in 2004, followed by the
Philippines in ninth place after its ratings fell sharply to 8.10
from 7.71.

PERC said "few foreign investors feel very confident working
with the legal system" in the Philippines where "laws are not
built so much on precedents as on quicksand."

China's ratings posted the most dramatic reversal, falling
four notches to 10th place with a score of 8.15, as expatriates
became "increasingly critical" of the country's police and court
system, PERC said.

China was in sixth place in last year's survey.

"China has done a lot to improve the quality of its laws,
especially those relating to commercial law... but the record of
enforcement is, at best, patchy. Arbitrary is probably a better
description," the Hong Kong-based PERC said.

Vietnam was in 11th place, its score deteriorating to 8.40
from 8.04, while Indonesia was graded 8.85, worse than the 8.0 it
got in 2004.

Indonesian President Yudhoyono is fighting an uphill battle in
efforts to clean up the judicial system, PERC said.

"The problem of corruption is too pervasive, and so many
people and groups would be threatened by a thorough crackdown
that it would probably be more destabilizing than helpful for the
country," it said.

However, PERC said Yudhoyono's efforts have caused it and
other observers "to believe that the status quo might be
changing."