RI most corrupt in Asia: Survey
RI most corrupt in Asia: Survey
William Foreman, Associated Press/Hong Kong
Indonesia is the most corrupt country in Asia, followed by
Vietnam and the Philippines, but graft in China poses the biggest
global threat because of the country's growing economic
influence, a consulting firm said Tuesday in a study.
The report by Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd said
that Indonesia was Asia's most corrupt nation, ranking 9.25 on a
scale from zero to 10.
"The issue of corruption could make or break Indonesia," the
report said.
Graft could break the country because it might make militant
Islamic groups more appealing to people who might see the groups
as the best way to reorder society, the group said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must deliver on his
promises to crackdown on corruption, and his mission has become
more pressing as billions of dollars in aid flows in to victims
of the Dec. 26 tsunami, the report said.
"All eyes are on Indonesia," the firm said.
In the Philippines, the report said one of the biggest
failings of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been her
government's inability to reduce corruption.
"There are so many examples of the system's failing to deal
with graft that it is hard to draw any conclusion other than the
powers-that-be really prefer the status quo to a serious house
cleaning," the report said.
The firm said that the Philippines - which ranked No. 2 on the
graft list with a score of 8.9 - needed to beef up its anti-
corruption forces. There's a backlog of 2,000 cases in the
country's anti-graft court, the report said.
Vietnam was No. 3 on the list because corruption is "rampant
in powerful state-controlled companies and government ministries,
the report said. The country is trying to fight the problem by
cracking down on some high-profile targets - like officials in
large state-owned companies, the report said.
"Still, as in China, the system is highly resistant to
reform," the report said.
India was fourth on the list, partly because the country's
"suffocating bureaucracy" created plenty of opportunities for
payoffs to cut through red tape, it said.
The report noted that corruption is so bad in China that
Communist leaders have been warning the problem could upset
social stability and derail the economy.
The Hong Kong-based firm said because China is playing a
bigger role in the world economy, a major crisis triggered by
Chinese corruption could cause severe global fallout.
Multinationals have become increasingly dependent on China, so
a crisis would wreak havoc with their bottom-lines, the study
said.
"Of all the countries covered in this report, therefore, China
is one where corruption - although not necessarily the worst -
has the potential to do the most damage," the report said.
Singapore was the least corrupt, followed by Japan and Hong
Kong, the firm said.