Sunday, December 12, 2010

Tranparency International's survey on corruption

There are some negative findings in this survey that is worrying for Singapore:
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/12/press-muse-grafting-numbers/

I don't thnk that our media is corrupt but they are likely to be influenced by their advertising revenue and may not be willing to speak openly against business interest or government stands. Their role becomes less effective due to these constraints.

My view is that the ethics and honesty has deteriorated in recent years due to the focus on maximising profits. The government leaders failed to uphold a high standard, preferring to leave matters "to the market" and this has led to more dishonesty, cheating and over-charging.

Tan Kin Lian

Sidenote:
When I was in Kuala Lumpur, there was a report in the Straits Times quoting the president of a local NGO stating that Malaysia had made a signficant improvement in its transparency score over the past year, since the new Prime Minister took over, The effort against corruption is quite effective, as perceived by the general public.