Corruption

What is corruption?

literally means to destroy (from the Latin corruptus);
is not a rare phenomenon;
takes many forms with different types of participants, settings, stakes, techniques and different degrees of cultural legitimacy;
is not only about stealing: it can also relate to the abuse of power in decision-making processes.
It is a form of behaviour that deviates from ethics, morality, tradition, law and civic virtue.

Corruption may be defined as any conduct which amounts to :
a) influencing the decision-making process of a public officer or authority,
or influence peddling;
b) dishonesty or breach of trust, by a public officer, in the exercise of his duty;
c) insider dealing/conflicts of interests; [and]
d) influence peddling by the use of fraudulent means such as bribery,
blackmail, which includes the use of election fraud.
e) Any person who directly or indirectly accepts, agrees or offers to accept any gratification from any other person to benefit him-/herself or any other person
is guilty of the crime of corruption. The person who makes the offer or inducement to another to commit a corrupt practice is also guilty of the crime of corruption.

Although there is an active and a passive side to the crime,
both parties are equally guilty of corruption.
(The information above is taken from : http://www.anticorruption.info/corr_def.htm)


2004 Asia corruption ratings
According to an enquiry conducted by Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd, a well-known Hong Kong consulting group, Indonesia, India and Vietnam are considered the three most corrupt countries in Asia. The survey covered 12 Asian countries, interviewing 1000 non-resident businessmen working with various Asian countries.
The survey asked them to rate a country’s level of corruption on a scale of 0 to 10. Bangladesh, which for three years in a row Transparency International has rated the most corrupt in the world, was left off the list.
According to the survey's results, corruption has gone down in 8 of the 12 countries with respect to last year. Compared to previous years significant improvements were said to be made in China and Thailand, countries which in year's past had received many negative votes while still ranking number 5 on this year's list. The three countries considered having the least amount of corruption were Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.

The 2004 corruption ratings in Asia are given below:
Indonesia: 9.25
India: 8.9
Vietnam: 8.67
Philippines: 8.33
Thailand, Malaysia, China: 7.33
South Korea: 6.67
Taiwan: 6.1
Hong Kong: 3.6
Japan: 3.5
Singapore: 0.5
This interesting article can be accessed at : http://www.odiousdebts.org/odiousdebts/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=9627
The ratings might not necessarily be the most accurate but it is an eye opener.

Latest news from BBC :
Tommy Suharto freed from prison.
The son of Indonesia's former President Suharto has been freed from jail on conditional release after serving only four years of a murder sentence.
Hutomo Mandala Putra, also known as Tommy, was given a 15-year sentence in 2002 following his conviction for ordering the killing of a judge.
His sentence was first cut to 10 years, and then reduced further.

It's not surprising Indonesia is on top of the rating. We are not too far from the leaders. This rating was done in 2004. Another 2 under and will be par with Indonesia.