Bandar Seri Begawan - 78% of Bruneians polled say govt is effective in action against corruption

Brunei's campaign against corruption has earned itself third place in the Asia-Pacific region, after Singapore and Hong Kong, in terms of the effectiveness of government action, according to a international survey based on the views of the people of 69 nations worldwide.

Dubbed as the "Global Corruption Barometer," and carried out by a German-based anti-corruption agency, the survey found that the business and private sector were thought to be the most corrupt in the Sultanate.

The Global Corruption Barometer indicated that government efforts to tackle corruption are seen as effective as findings show that a reported low in the survey conducted by the public.

Following a questionnaire, 44 per cent of 820 people interviewed in the country felt that the business sector was corrupt followed by public servants (32 per cent) conducted between October 2008 and March 2009 through face to face, telephone and online interviews.

Brunei was ranked third in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of effectiveness in current government action in the fight against corruption in the Sultanate.

Pg Kasmirhan Pg Hj Tahir, director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said corruption should be reported and necessary actions must be taken by the relevant authorities as a continuous measure to hinder society from corruption in the Sultanate at a press conference held yesterday at the headquarters of the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

"The global corruption barometer for Brunei's business and private sector under the category of institutions was reported to a average score of 2.7 out of five and the business and private sector was the most chosen institution by the public with a score of 44 per cent," he said.

The rating score is based on average score with one: not all corrupt and five: as extremely corrupt. The Global Corruption Barometer 2009 reported Brunei to a score of one per cent, the lowest amongst the Asia-Pacific region for corruption.

He said efforts to eradicate corruption is our collective responsibility, thus continuous public cooperation is welcomed to maximise the success of enforcement in Brunei through the different communication channels in which the public can file complaints against any corrupted activities to the bureau.

He added that the bureau's main objective is to eradicate corruption through prevention and investigating those who are involved in this illegal activity so that they can be brought to justice.

The Global Corruption Barometer includes a variety of corruption-related questions including domestic institutions which are seen as most corrupt and how respondents rate their government in the fight against corruption.

The survey also provides an insight on people's experiences with bribery, gathering information on how frequently citizens were asked to pay bribes when interacting with different public services he added.

The 2009 Barometer is the sixth edition that reflects the responses of corruption to 73,132 people in 69 countries. (It is not known how the political parties column was assessed for Brunei.) -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Write comment

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment