Indonesia rated most corrupt country in Asia

Indonesia rated most corrupt country in Asia

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia remains one of the most corrupt
countries in the world, and certainly the most corrupt in Asia,
according to Transparency International (TI) organization.

The country ranked 85th alongside Angola out of 90 countries
surveyed by the Berlin-based nongovernmental organization for its
corruption perception index, Reuters reported on Wednesday
quoting the group's latest annual report.

The only other countries who performed worse are Azerbaijan,
Ukraine, Yugoslavia and Nigeria which won the accolade as being
the most corrupt country in the world.

Indonesia was 80th of 85 countries surveyed in 1999.

A change in method meant that the index, based on the views of
business people, risk analysts and the public, was not strictly
comparable to the last survey published in 1999.

But the overall conclusions remained similar.

The five Nordic countries, led by Finland, are among the eight
cleanest administrative environments in the world, along with
Singapore, New Zealand and Canada.

Transparency International Chairman Peter Eigen said in the
annual report that: "Corruption takes many forms and is a
universal cancer."

"The results of the index are sometimes unjust because they
show up countries which are fighting against corruption at this
moment," Eigen said as quoted by the Associated Press.

Executive director Jeremy Pope told a news conference in
London on Wednesday that "the cost of corruption is viewed as a
tax," he said, adding that it stifled foreign direct investment
and international commerce.