A report by a Hong Kong consulting firm shows that public perception of the government has improved, the Ministry of Justice said yesterday.
However, while Taiwan’s overall score improved, it lagged behind its Asian peers Singapore and Hong Kong, the report showed.
The 2010 Asian Corruption Survey by Political & Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) ranked corruption perception levels in 16 Asian countries on a scale of zero to 10, with 10 as the worst.
Taiwan scored 6.28 — up from last year’s 6.47 — and ranked eighth — up one notch, in terms of political cleanliness.
Civil servants performed better than politicians in the survey, the justice ministry said in a statement. Civil servants working for the central government scored 5.4, while local government workers scored 4.49. City officials tallied 7.53, while national leaders received 8.07.
The ministry, quoting the report, said that corruption remained a problem in Taiwan. However, it said the government has made fighting corruption a priority.
The report said the corruption scandal involving former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his family, as well as vote buying in local elections, were the main reasons why politicians had negative corruption perception ratings.
Singapore remained the least corrupt with a score of 1.42, while Australia was second with 2.28 and Hong Kong third with 2.67. The US — included for comparison purposes — placed fourth with a score of 3.42, while China had 6.52.
“Measuring the level of corruption [in China] is nothing more than guesswork,” PERC said.
“What is fairly clear is that the problem of corruption is more severe at the local level of government and business, particularly state-owned enterprises, than at the national level, although there are plenty examples of graft at the national level too,” it said.
It said Hong Kong’s drop could be caused by to questionable tactics by property developers.
“There are still criticisms of some practices, particularly in the real-estate sector, concerning tactics used by developers that, to be generous, play on a lack of transparency that would not be allowed in many other markets,” PERC said.
Indonesia remained the most corrupt country in the region and graft was getting even worse, PERC said, adding that lawmakers’ call for a criminal probe into the government’s bailout of Bank Century in 2008 reflected attempts by a corrupt establishment to maintain the status quo.
“Corruption has become a charge being used by corrupt people to protect themselves and to stifle reform,” PERC said. “The whole fight against corruption is in danger of being corrupted.”
The report surveyed 2,174 foreign business executives in 16 countries. Rankings are based on a survey in which respondents are asked to rate the level of corruption based on their impressions. The report emphasized that it measured perceptions of corruption rather than the actual level of corruption.
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