CORRUPTION INDEX

Kingdom falls in world graft ranking

Slips to 63rd from 59th last year; ranks ninth of 21 in Asia

Thailand has slipped to 63rd this year from last year's 59th in a global survey on corruption, the local chapter of Germany-based Transparency International, which conducted the survey, said yesterday.

Thailand gets 3.6 out of 10 in the 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) and is in the same spot as Lebanon and the Seychelles, said Juree Vichit-Vadakan, the secretary-general of Transparency Thailand.

Last year, Thailand's CPI score was 3.8, ranking it 59th among 159 countries surveyed, she said.

This year, the survey was conducted on 163 countries around the world.

Transparency International is a global network that campaigns against corruption, with local chapters and allied groups in 120 countries, Juree said.

Among Asian countries, Singapore is at the top with a score of 9.4, while Thailand is in ninth out of the 21 nations in the region, Juree said.

Burma, with a score of 1.9, is at the bottom of the list among Asian countries and is the second-worst in the global ranking. Haiti is in bottom position in the global list with a score of 1.8.

The survey results were launched at the National Institute of Development Administration, which also houses the office of Transparency Thailand.

Sharing the top spot in the global rankings are Finland, Iceland and New Zealand, who each get a CPI score of 9.6. They fare better than countries with a more advanced economic system like the United States, which is ranked 20th with the score of 7.3.

The CPI score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts and ranges between 10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt).

The annual index, which was first released in 1995, ranks countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.

Juree said a local survey of Thai people pointed to a more serious corruption problem over the past five years. Those surveyed blamed the problem on politicians' lack of sincerity in tackling graft.

"Although Thai people dislike corruption, they lack the force and courage to do the scrutiny. The most important tool for scrutiny by the civic sector is the mass media," she said, adding that she expected the corruption index to help encourage local agencies to reduce irregularities.

Kesinee Taengkhieo

The Nation