With Southeast Asia poised to enter a new era of regional cooperation in the shape of the Asean Economic Community, taking effective action against corruption is more important than ever.
Increasing business links and lowering borders bring exciting opportunities for increased trade that could ultimately improve the daily lives of millions of people. But it also means new, larger and more complex corruption challenges.
In order to counter these, Transparency International believes that Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) governments need to establish a regional anti-corruption body called the Asean Integrity Community where business and civil society work together hand in hand to make fighting corruption a real and shared priority.
Increased opportunities for corruption are a potential unwelcome side effect of growth and greater economic openness. More deals taking place equals more potential palms to grease and more cash for the corrupt to steal. An increase in lawful cross-border trade could fuel a parallel increase in illicit trade, already a problem in the region in the form of drug smuggling, illegal logging and human trafficking. It will be easier for the corrupt to conceal their ill-gotten gains amid the free flow of capital.
A new kind of "foreign bribery" could also emerge. To date, foreign bribery in Southeast Asia has typically involved companies from countries from outside the region bribing public officials. With the creation of a common market, we are likely to see more bribery between countries in the region. There is a real lack of experience with foreign bribery in Asean countries. Very specialised skills are required to investigate and prosecute these offences.
Corruption plagues most countries in the Asean as seen in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index, where the nine Asean countries covered scored an average of 38 out of 100 (where 100 is very clean and 0 is highly corrupt). Almost 50% of people in Asean countries surveyed believe corruption has increased, while only a third say their government’s efforts to fight corruption have been effective, according to the 2013 Global Corruption Barometer, a public opinion survey by Transparency International.
Take for example the host of the upcoming Asean meeting, Malaysia. It scored 52 out of 100 in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index, indicating that corruption is pervasive and needs to be tackled aggressively.
When you take into account a survey of 2,000 Malaysians last year by Transparency International-Malaysia that found 46% did not report corrupt practices because they were afraid of the risks, one quickly realises corruption is a systemic issue.
This is why TI-Malaysia recently announced that people who come forward with confidential corruption complaints no longer have to worry about the risks as their identities and information would be kept confidential.
Across the region efforts to stop corruption have been hampered by political interference, corrupt officials and a lack of laws aimed at preventing the abuse of power, bribery and secret deals.
Earlier this year Indonesian police effectively stopped an investigation into a top police official by that nation's much respected anti-corruption commission the KPK, diminishing the KPK’s power and undermining their authority.
How can clean growth be a part of the future for the region if people are afraid to report corruption and anti-corruption officials are stopped by the police? When a corrupt elite is allowed to siphon off money generated by fast-growing economies entire countries are held back as the majority of their people are prevented from enjoying the fruits of new-found wealth. Inequality becomes entrenched.
Now more than ever, there is a need for Asean to work together to fight this scourge.
The most pressing need is the establishment of a regional body that can set shared priorities and drive the anti-corruption agenda forward. To succeed, this body, consisting of ministerial-level government officials and anti-corruption agencies from all 10 countries, must include both civil society and the private sector.
This body should develop international-standard laws on asset declaration, whistleblower protection, freedom of information and public procurement. The independence of anti-corruption authorities should be enshrined in law, they must be well-resourced and supported to work cross-regionally.
Transparency International’s report on this topic, published yesterday, lays out our initial recommendations in much greater detail.
But this is only a first step. We hope to see Asean governments take the lead by not only supporting our call for the creation of a regional anti-corruption body, but raising their voices to outline their visions of how graft can be fought in the region.
Regional cooperation will flounder if citizens see the wealth it brings skimmed off by a crooked minority. The noble aim of shared prosperity and upward mobility for all in Asean cannot be achieved if corruption is allowed to flourish.
Unless these risks are taken seriously by governments, the Asean Vision 2020 of peace, prosperity and progress that benefits the people cannot be achieved.
Srirak Plipat is regional director for Asia Pacific, Transparency International.