Next - Indonesia Is The Most Corrupt Country In The World (Public Skepticism)

Some people might think of this as a bad news, but considering where Indonesia had been on corruption scale worldwide this is certainly a good news for Indonesia as well as the Government.

Transparency International which is a global network including more than 90 locally established national chapters and chapters-in-formation, has released its 2010 CPI (Corruption Perception Index) which is a “degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians”.

Since corruptions by nature are most of the time hidden, it is very hard to quantify the degree of corruption in a country. Transparency International overcome this by surveying businesses and individual in the targeted country. The 2010 CPI draws on different assessments and business opinion surveys carried out by independent and reputable institutions. It captures information about the administrative and political aspects of corruption.

Broadly speaking, the surveys and assessments used to compile the index include questions relating to bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds, and questions that probe the strength and effectiveness of public sector anti-corruption efforts.

Indonesia has been steadily increase it standing from 1.9 in 2002 to 2.9 in 2010. While these increase are very small considering the CPI scale is 1 to 10, Indonesia is no longer the most corrupt country in the world, not even the most corrupt country amongst the Asean members.

Indonesia now ranks at no 110 out of 182 countries in terms of most corrupt countries in the world, sharing the ranks with Benin, Gabon, Bolivia and Solomon Island.

Other Asian countries that ranks below Indonesia includes Vietnam, The Philippines, Myanmar, Pakistan and Timor Leste.

Amongst the star on this year CPI compare to last year are Bhutan, Chile, Ecuador, FYR Macedonia, Gambia, Haiti, Jamaica, Kuwait and Qatar. While the following countries the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Madagascar, Niger and the United States showed deterioration.

United States are again showing a decrease this year and now ranks at number 22. The so called “Beacon of Democracy” is now lagging behind countries such as Chile, Ireland, Qatar, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The top 10 cleanest country are
1. Denmark
2. New Zealand
3. Singapore
4. Finland
5. Sweden
6. Canada
7. Netherlands
8. Switzerland
9. Australia
10. Norway

While the tools employed by Transparency International to gauge corruption level in a country may not be perfect, at least for the time being Indonesian can feel good about themselves, especially with all the natural disasters that keeps coming as if we as a country are collectively being punished by the almighty.

Jakartauptodates.com