S'pore voted least corrupt in
Asia
Straits Times
April 4, 1998
BY Narendra Aggarwal
SINGAPORE is still the least corrupt country in Asia, an
annual survey has once again found, but this time it chalked up its worst
assessment since the poll was started a decade ago.
Businessmen in 11 countries are canvassed for the poll, conducted by Hongkong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (Perc).
Their unusually critical stance towards Singapore, Perc said, could be more a reaction to an increased awareness of the cross-border risks of corruption than to an increase in corruption in the country.
It said Singapore's institutions were quite effective in dealing with corruption in the country.
But, Perc added, "there is little such institutions can do to protect companies whose increasingly regional interests expose them to corrupt practices in countries, such as Indonesia and Thailand".
Singapore, along with Hongkong, also received especially high marks from the businessmen for its legal system and the professionalism of those charged with policing and enforcing laws.
The survey, conducted in January and February, was based on responses from 427 expatriate businessmen.
Perc stressed that its surveys were aimed at gauging expatriates' perception of the problem of corruption and not their actual experience.
The responses presented a mixed picture for the region.
Perc said the latest perception was that corruption had decreased in five of the 11 countries surveyed, including significant improvements in South Korea and China.
Malaysia was still regarded as being in the middle of Asia's pack in terms of incidents of corruption, but foreign businessmen nonetheless reported an improvement in the situation over the past year.
The bad news was that corruption had deteriorated further in countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Japan.
Systemic deficiencies were complicating the job of fighting corruption in Japan, it added.
Perc noted that "Singapore remains tough on corruption, with both determined enforcement and heavy penalties".
One of the country's more encouraging features is that the "rule of law" rather than "rule by law" prevails, the study said.
And that was probably the main reason the country was likely to continue receiving the best rating of all the countries covered in the survey, Perc said.
The deepening economic problems affecting many Asian countries had greatly raised people's awareness of and concern over corruption, Perc said.
While in good times it was easy for the public to turn a blind eye to corruption, such tolerance disappeared when economic conditions worsened.