The Jakarta Globe
March 9, 2010

Indonesia is Seen as Most Corrupt Nation in Asia-Pacific Region

Once again, Indonesian has made it onto a list of superlatives.
Unfortunately, not for something the nation should be proud of.

The Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy put
Indonesia at the bottom of its latest Asia-Pacific corruption
perception ranking, issued on Monday.

While Singapore topped the list of countries perceived to be
clean of corruption, with a score of 1.42, Indonesia fared worst
out of the 16 countries surveyed with 9.27. Cambodia was second
from bottom with 9.10, Vietnam and the Philippines scored 8.07
and 8.06, respectively while Malaysia was ninth, just ahead of
China, with a score of 6.47.

The PERC study was based on perceptions, not reality, but
perceptions do matter.

The absolute level of corruption in Indonesia, it said, might
not be any worse than in any other Asian country, but the
perception that corruption is especially bad here will make it
more difficult for the country to attract foreign direct
investment and toughen the terms of those investments.

That negative perception, it said, will also influence future
elections. Indonesians gave President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
a large mandate partly because of his anticorruption platform.

It certainly does not help that there is so much finger-pointing
by those who themselves are seen to be corrupt. It only shows
how corruption here is being politicized.