Do you think Taiwan’s corruption rating is accurate?
0 voters
[quote]SLOW SLIDE: Taiwan fell to No. 35 on the international Corruption Perception Index, a trend that will probably disappoint those who hope for change under the DPP
By Jimmy Chuang
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Oct 21, 2004,Page 2[/quote]
Taiwan is ranked 35 this year. Botswana tied with Taiwan last year and has moved up to 31. I should go to Botswana to open my business. Looks like a safer bet than Taiwan.
transparency.org/pressreleas … pi.en.html
Considering that EOD and Boomer are the same person, I find this thread somewhat interesting.
I have noticed on other threads that EOD often comes to the rescue of Boomer, or when a thread is seeing no interest EOD often adds something to try and spice things up. What’s up with this?
[quote=“brian”]Considering that EOD and Boomer are the same person, I find this thread somewhat interesting.
I have noticed on other threads that EOD often comes to the rescue of Boomer, or when a thread is seeing no interest EOD often adds something to try and spice things up. What’s up with this?[/quote]
Some form of neurosis probably. I’m sure it could be alleviated with some medication and perhaps therapy.
I think you missed the point.
[quote=“EOD”] I should go to Botswana to open my business. Looks like a safer bet than Taiwan.
[/quote]
Not likely, the cow manure industry in Botswana is already well developed
Must have ruffled some feathers with this one. Don’t get mad at me I didn’t write the report although I did send in a couple of cases to TI last year.
The way I understand their policy is that they will review individual cases but do not get involved. They are non confrontational.
A policy that has earned them respect and a policy that the Mods on this forum could learn from.
The middle of the road is where you find the ones too slow or too stupid to make it across…
Now, boomer…
I earned by bread by analyzing data until very recently, so I took a look at the historical series.
Let’s take a quick and dirty look:
Year CPI Rank No of countries in Survey
2004 5.6 35 145
2003 5.7 30 133
2002 5.6 29 102
2001 5.9 27 91
2000 5.5 28 90
1999 5.6 28 99
1998 5.3 29 85
1997 5.02 31 52
1996 4.98 29 54
1995 5.08 25 41
OK, first of all… Looking at this you can see that the number of countries have been consistently added, and Taiwan’s ranking has slipped but not much.
What does that mean? Nothing, actually. Most of the countries added in 1998 (Where they added 33 countries) were more corrupt than Taiwan. Therefore, the relative position of Taiwan on the list does not say much, and the only figure you need to worry about is the actual numbers on the index.
The lowest was in 1995, where Taiwan was 4.98. We then had an improvement until 1998, where we got to 5.6. (So much for claiming that Lee Denghui was more corrupt then the guys before him) Apart from a post - election (?) bounce in 2001, the figure has been flat since. In other words no significant changes in the corruption here the last 6 years.
A bit dissapointing, but well, I guess that they can do something about it with an improved corruption watchdog etc. will take time, though.
At least things are not getting worse.
Well, I read the article and I’ve got a question. How does one go about measuring corruption? And then how do they compare it to come up with ‘an index of corruption’?
Hans
The index uses ordinal numbers not percentages thus the new countries that rate a higher level of corruption than Taiwan do not effect Taiwan’s placement.
[quote=“Boomer”]
The index uses ordinal numbers not percentages thus the new countries that rate a higher level of corruption than Taiwan do not effect Taiwan’s placement. [/quote]
Which was why I stated that it was meaningless to look at Taiwan’s relative position. The only thing which matters is the score itself. The rankings are only valid as such for the year where they are published.
[quote]Which was why I stated that it was meaningless to look at Taiwan’s relative position. The only thing which matters is the score itself. The rankings are only valid as such for the year where they are published.
[/quote]
There is no disputing that the CPI average has not dropped significantly this year over the previous years.
The way I read this report is that the purpose of the rating is to compare it to other countries.
When compared to other countries Taiwan’s attempt at eradicating corruption has been marginal at best and far behind other nations. Many of the other nations in the report that have made signifigant improvements have less resources than Taiwan.
[quote=“Boomer”]There is no disputing that the CPI average has not dropped significantly this year over the previous years.
The way I read this report is that the purpose of the rating is to compare it to other countries.
When compared to other countries Taiwan’s attempt at eradicating corruption has been marginal at best and far behind other nations. Many of the other nations in the report that have made signifigant improvements have less resources than Taiwan.[/quote]
Well… first of all… corruption is a problem in Taiwan, but not a huge one on the scale of say Zaire or China.
Taiwan could do better, but we have to compare the country to other countries on the same level of the ladder seen from a cultural and economical standpoint:
Singapore 9.3
Hong Kong 8.0
Japan 6.9
Taiwan: 5.6
Malaysia 5.0
South Korea 4.5
Thailand 3.6
China 3.4
Philippines 2.6
Vietnam 2.6
Indonesia 2.0
All the countries here are more or less in SE or E Asia.
let’s see at the countries above them:
Singapore and Hong Kong are former British colonies with a very strong stnce against corruption and strong institutions in place as a safeguard against it. (OK they may be weakening in HK, but… some like ICAC remains in place largely unscathed).
Japan is more than twice as rich as Taiwan and has been a democracy for a great deal longer time.
The country I would compare closest to Taiwan is South Korea - 4.5, which is a few notches below Taiwan. Malaysia has a score closer to that of Taiwan - but has a very different “mindset” and has the additional advantage of having lived under British law for some time.
China, Philippines, etc. are basked cases compared to Taiwan.
Yes, the corruption level here as measured by TI is higher than in say Scandinavia, but lower than in several European countries. So dissapointing, as you suggest in the title of this thread? hardly by my book.
Also, there is room for improvement, and I would look hard at what the British did in Hong Kong in the 1970’s as a good example of what could be done. But it will come in due course as institutions here mature, and people start to see corruption as a problem.
[quote]2004 5.6 35 145
1995 5.08 25 41[/quote]
Another way to state Mr. He’s point is that you could say in 1995, Taiwan was less corrupt than only 16 countries in the world. Now it is less corrupt than 110 countries. So the rankings all depend on your point of reference.
From my perspective corruption is to a nation much like a decease is to people.
Comparing one sick person to another even more sick person is not a good way of determining peoples’ health.
The less sick person is healthier and can do more and better things than the terminally ill person.
“E”, we all know that you’re not very good with the numbers. Another way to put all this is that there is little reason to believe that corruption has changed markedly in Taiwan in the last decade or so.
I used to wonder if you were one of those guys who lives here in spite of hating the place. I figure it differently now. I’m beginning to put you in that camp of people who tell their friends back home what a wild west town you live in, when the reality is that you have no desire to live in a wild west-type place.
By chance, do you read Soldier of Fortune?