A survey released yesterday by the Taiwan chapter of Transparency International (TI) showed the public had little faith in the government's ability to fight corruption.
"While 68 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with the government's crackdown on corruption, 41 percent said they were apathetic about government improvement in terms of integrity," said Chen Chun-ming (
annual poll
The annual survey, conducted at the request of the Ministry of Justice,was held from July 1 to July 5 and received 1,616 valid responses.
The poll results showed that respondents felt vote-buying had become a more serious problem, Chen told a news conference.
vote-buying
Chen said based on the results, 64.7 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the government's crackdown on vote-buying.
The ranking in terms of integrity for high-level government officials improved slightly in the survey from 18th place last year to 16th place.
Legislators ranked 20th this year in terms of integrity -- up from 21st place.
Chen said government officials in charge of construction projects and government procurement ranked 19th, while officials in charge of management of sand excavation ranked last.
Chen added that the public also appeared dissatisfied with the performance of government agencies charged with combating corruption.
The survey showed that 65.3 percent of respondents were in favor of the formation of an independent agency to deal with corruption.
financial disclosure
A total of 64 percent of respondents also thought that the policy whereby government officials are only fined but bear no criminal responsibility when their financial disclosure fails to pass examination was ineffective.
The survey also showed that 54 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the government's efforts to crack down on corruption in business.
TI is a global network of more than 90 chapters dedicated to fighting corruption. Its international secretariat is in Berlin.
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