Reuters
Hong Kong, March 19
CORRUPTION REMAINS a serious problem in most countries in Asia and few have paid heed to the lessons from Asia's 1997/1998 financial crisis, a recent study by the Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd (PERC) showed.
Corruption in some parts of the region was even growing worse, said the
Hong Kong-based consultancy, which polled views from expatriates working in Asia in the first quarter of 2001.
Of the 12 countries surveyed in Asia, Singapore was deemed least corrupt with a score of 0.83, Japan was second at 2.50 and Hong Kong third at 3.77. Zero was the best grade possible and 10 the worst.
The rest of Asia scored over five, which showed that little cleaning up
had been done despite the role that corruption played in the Asian financial crisis, PERC said.
Vietnam, with a score of 9.75, was the most corrupt country in the region, according to those polled, followed by Indonesia.
But PERC said it disagreed with that view, adding that Indonesia's situation was possibly the worst in Asia.
"Vietnam's political system and structure as a country is not imminently threatened by corruption. Indonesia's is," it said.
Indonesia, with a score of 9.5, fell into a category where "foreign investors and local companies often encounter corruption but governments are unwilling to admit that graft is a big problem," PERC said.
India, whose coalition government is facing a raging arms bribery scandal, was listed as the third most corrupt nation in the region, followed by the Philippines, Thailand, China and South Korea. Taiwan and Malaysia tied for the eighth most corrupt places, the survey said.
The Philippines and Thailand were listed among countries where corruption was serious and "no one seems to be in a big hurry to change the system and people, especially political leaders (who) seem to shrug off the problem as being just the way things are," it said.
The PERC said corruption in both countries was getting worse.
Though graft was still rampant in China, conditions seemed to be slowly improving, the survey showed.
But it added that despite government recognition of the issue, "corruption runs so deep and is so intertwined with life at virtually all levels of the country that it is very difficult for any leader to make a lasting dent in the problem."
Despite Hong Kong's healthy score, PERC said its biggest threat could come from external corruption, such as from Chinese companies.
The consultancy recalled the collapse of the state-backed Guangdong Enterprises two years ago which delivered a huge blow to banks in the former British territory which returned to Chinese rule in mid-1997.
It said: "Think what would happen if one or more of the major Chinese state-owned companies that are now raising tens of billions of dollars in the international capital market (often through a Hong Kong initial public offering) were to collapse through mismanagement and corruption."