Bribery ‘rampant’ at lower levels
By The New Straits Times
June 13, 2008
KUALA LUMPUR: Bribery is rampant at the lower levels of government agencies like the police and offices dealing with permits, Transparency International Malaysia president Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said yesterday.
Bribes, he said, were being offered for tenders, import and export licences and a host of other transactions.
Navaratnam was speaking at a press conference during which he distributed the UN Development Programme’s “Asia-Pacific Human Development Report: Tackling Corruption, Transforming Lives”.
He said Malaysia’s rating on corruption in Asia had been deteriorating steadily over the last decade.
Malaysia ranked sixth in Asia on the World Bank’s Control of Corruption Index (CCI) and Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) but was placed ninth on the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG).
Navaratnam said the country’s corruption score on the ICRG, which measures the investment climate and corruption, fell from 4 points in 1996 to 2.38 in 2006.
This placed Malaysia behind Singapore (4.5), Hong Kong (4), Japan (3.5), Brunei, South Korea, India and Sri Lanka (all 2.5) and Vietnam (2.46).
On the CCI, Malaysia is ranked behind Singapore (2.3), Hong Kong (1.71), Japan (1.31), Bhutan (0.89) and Macao China (0.41).
“The lower index signals that bribery and rent-seeking behaviour is still rampant in lower levels of the government like the police, registry and permits, judiciary and tax offices. Even the media, education system and medical services are not spared.
“Bribes are offered for tenders, import and export licences, exchange control, tax assessment, police protection and loan transactions.”
He said such dishonesty extracted the highest price from the weakest in society as it diverted goods, services or benefits for the poor to the well-off and well-connected who could bribe officials.