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Legislature seen as corrupt

A majority of people responding to a recent opinion poll have singled out the legislature as the most corrupt agency in the country, according to the results of a survey released by the Transparency International's Taiwan chapter.

The poll was part of a global survey released by the Berlin-based anti-graft group Transparency International (TI) on the UN's Anti-Corruption Day on Friday.

Up to 78 percent of those responding to the survey said they feel that the Legislative Yuan is most corrupt, and 69 percent said political parties are corrupt. The least corrupt institutions cited by local respondents are religious groups, non government organizations and household registration agencies. Thirty-five percent of those surveyed said they believe that corruption will increase over the next three years.

According to TI's 2005 Global Barometer survey, corruption is on the increase in most countries and poor people are often the hardest hit.

Nearly 55,000 people in 69 countries were surveyed for the Corruption Barometer as part of a Gallup poll conducted between May and October.

The poll found that a majority of people in 48 out of 69 countries surveyed thought the problem had worsened over the past three years.

"Today's survey shows that people believe corruption is deeply embedded in their countries, " TI Chairwoman Huguette Labelle said. "When a poor young mother believes that her government places its own interests above her child's, or that securing services like that child's basic health requires a hand under the table, her hope for the future is dampened," she said.
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