Singapore does well in global corruption survey
but...
Singapore's CBD skyline
SINGAPORE: Singapore has done relatively well in the latest
annual bellwether survey on anti—corruption by global civil society
organisation Transparency International but some results of the
survey, which was conducted online here, raised eyebrows among
those whom MediaCorp contacted.
The 2010 Global Corruption Barometer — a public opinion survey
done in 86 countries — found that overall, Singapore was placed in
the second—best tier of countries when it came to prevalence of
petty bribery.
Just nine per cent of those polled here said they had
experienced such incidents.
But when asked to assess government action against
corruption, 31 per cent of the 1,000
respondents here said these actions were ineffective, 40 per
cent were undecided and 29 per cent said they were
effective.
Commenting on the survey, Institute of Policy Studies senior
research fellow Gillian Koh noted that citizens in some Western
developed countries had a higher belief in the effectiveness of
their governments’ actions.
"While we do read about cases being prosecuted, perhaps the
public might benefit from having more information on how the cases
were uncovered in the first place," she said.
When contacted, GPC deputy chairman (Home Affairs and Law) Hri
Kumar Nair reiterated that the majority of Singaporeans do think
that government actions against corruption are successful and that
the online survey may not paint an accurate picture.
Among 11 institutions picked for the poll, the media here were
perceived to be the most affected by corruption.
But Singapore Management University law lecturer Eugene Tan said
he felt that the difference in scores between institutions was too
small to be meaningful and that the poll did not explain why the
media was ranked lower.
GPC deputy chairman (Information, Communications and the Arts)
Baey Yam Keng added: "The online survey might have attracted
certain profiles, perhaps people who do not rely on the mainstream
media (for news) ... that could be something when digesting this
information."
—CNA/wk
Source:
http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4513022
