Transparency International (TI) has released its Global Corruption Barometer 2009. You can download the full report at http://www.transparency.org . This is the first time that Brunei is included in the survey. I did mention in my previous posting entitled Why is Brunei not on the CPI survey? in explaining to you why Brunei was never included in any of the surveys made by Transparency International. To be honest with you, I was very nervous and anxious on what the outcome of the Report would say about Brunei and our efforts in fighting corruption in this country. There was no word from TI when they told us that they were conducting the survey as they wanted to make sure we did not interfere. They even told us that we might not like the outcome of the survey. I knew I would be shooting myself on the foot should the result turn out to be very negative.
But, when the Report came out today, I am very pleased to know that Brunei is given a very positive ranking. On the overall score, Brunei is in the number 2 spot just behind Singapore out of all the 69 countries and territory surveyed seen as least corrupt (Table 1). Brunei is given an average score of 2.3 and 5 being the most corrupt. Singapore is given a 2.2 average score and Hong Kong 3.2. Traditionally we benchmark our efforts in fighting corruption with these country and territory as both Singapore and Hong Kong are traditionally seen as success stories in fighting corruption. One interesting finding on the percentage of respondents who reported paying a bribe in the past 12 months, Brunei only reported 1% as opposed to Singapore 6%, Hong Kong 7% (Table 3). This means that for every 100 people only 1 person paid a bribe in the last 12 months compared to 6 in Singapore or 7 in Hong Kong. I will not mention here which countries are seen as very corrupt as you can actually see the tables in the Report.
One area of concern which perhaps confirm my fear is the public perception on the sectors perceived to be most affected by corruption (Table 2). The table indicates that 44% respondents surveyed perceived the Business/private sector as most affected by corruption whilst 33% saw the public sector or civil service perceived to be most affected by corruption. This Table actually puts Brunei in the same category as those countries traditionally seen as having an effective anti corruption mechanisms and program in the public sector.
There is no denying that when the Bureau was set up, its mission was to fight corruption in the public sector. But as time goes by, the growing importance of the private sector as an engine of growth has now been fully recognised. That is why in our new strategic framework for the next 5 years (that I hope I could release soon), we will be shifting our focus on private sector corruption. Our laws will be revamped. I have forwarded our proposals to the Attorney General. The cases of Enron and Madoff in the USA where billions of dollars of peoples' monies and investments were simply either squandered or stolen had as much more dire impact to thousands of people than the $10 bribe that was paid to get a licence approved.
I am committed to empowering the members of the public in joining us in our fight. You are our important stakeholder 1) report to us and 2) say NO to corruption. As a start, I have expanded our formal complaints mechanism. You no longer need to come to the Bureau if you do not want to. You can call us via our available fixed and mobile lines or sms us. You can now file your report online on our website http://www.bmr.gov.bn or email us or simply log on our Facebook Anti Corruption Bureau Brunei Darussalam and become a fan. These are all the many channels that we now provide you to report to us or file your complaint. By making the channels to file your complaint easier, I know that the public will be more confident in coming forward with information or complaints of corrupt practices. I know that corrupt officials will become more conscious that their corrupt behavior will be exposed by you as you are now equipped with better tools to file your complaint. Someone once told me that "ethics and integrity can be ensured if there is a continuous public scrutiny". Already there are encouraging results. For instance since the start of our existence in Facebook, we have reached 1000 fans. We have now received valuable information and complaints of corrupt practices via this new channel.
In my next posting I will highlight to you on some of the important statistics especially on the number of investigation papers opened and the number of cases that have been brought to court. I will keep you updated.
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