Kingdom drops in graft index
A GLOBAL corruption perceptions index has ranked Cambodia 161st out of 180 countries, with the report specifically pointing to weak press freedoms and NGO protections as facilitators of graft – issues that commentators have repeatedly raised as concerns in the Kingdom.
The Corruption Perception Index was released by Transparency International yesterday and ranks countries based on perceived levels of public sector corrupt i o n , wi t h Ca mbodi a dropping five places from last year to rank near the bottom of the Asia-Pacific region. It was ranked below all Asean member states for the third year in a row.
Singapore was the topranked Asean state for least perceived corruption, at sixth place worldwide. Just above Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos rounded out Asean’s bottom three, at 130th and 135th place, respectively, in the 10-member regional bloc.
An analysis of the report by the authors reveals that countries’ failure to protect journalists and the obstruction of NGOs meant they were more prone to corruption. “Further analysis of the results indicates that countries with the least protection for press and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also tend to have the worst rates of corruption,” the report reads.
The Kingdom embarked on a government crackdown in the past six months that has seen not only the dissolution