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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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Tough graft battle in Southeast Asia despite campaigns
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-16 20:28 SINGAPORE -- Fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is looking for an exile home to avoid a prison sentence for corruption. An ex-Indonesian central bank chief has been sent to jail for five years on corruption charges. Malaysia's ruling party is shaken to its foundations after voters lift the opposition to unprecedented gains on a groundswell of revulsion over patronage and corruption. Philippine President Gloria Arroyo dodges impeachment over suspected graft.
For years, corruption has greased the wheels of commerce and politics in Southeast Asia, a favoured destination for investors in emerging markets. Today, government leaders across the region are on the defensive over corruption issues. Anti-graft campaigns have acquired momentum. Empowered anti-corruption bodies are cracking down. Invigorated judiciaries are prosecuting the miscreants. Companies looking at tempting but unfamiliar markets are also waking up to corruption risks to avoid costly penalties and to protect their brand names. So have things really improved? Actually, not a whole awful lot, experts say. Indonesia Much Better Global corruption watchdog Transparency International has found little discernible change in the emerging markets of Southeast Asia in its 2008 table of perceived corruption. Indonesia has significantly improved. Malaysia and the Philippines have slipped a few rungs. Thailand is more or less the same, while others such as Cambodia and Myanmar are wallowing at the bottom of the league tables. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, perhaps with an eye on elections next year, has cranked up an anti-graft campaign in a country long viewed as among the most corrupt in the world. Not only was former Bank Indonesia governor Burhanuddin Abdullah jailed for bribing members of parliament, a relative of the president by marriage was questioned in the scandal. |
