The preceding year saw public corruption further cement itself in the fabric of Burmese society, according to the latest annual survey by Transparency International.
Released yesterday, the 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranks Burma in a tie with Iraq as the second most corrupt of the 180 countries covered in the study, one spot ahead of bottom feeder Somalia.
However, the most revealing statistic in the findings is not the country's overall rank but rather its median score, for which Transparency International uses a scale of zero to ten, with zero symbolizing the highest level of corruption.
From a score of 1.9 in 2006, Burma's corruption score dipped to 1.3 in the latest index, the lowest score registered by the country since Transparency International included Burma in its tracking.
Ironically, Burma actually improved one place in its country ranking over 2007, when it finished in a tie for dead last with Somalia.
According to Transparency International, the index "focuses on corruption in the public sector and defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain," drawing on several expert and business surveys in compiling a country's final score.
Consistent with findings in previous years, the international watchdog organization states that the findings of the CPI "highlight the fatal link between poverty, failed institutions and graft."
"Whether in high or low-income countries, the challenge of reigning in corruption requires functioning societal and governmental institutions. Poorer countries are often plagued by corrupt judiciaries and ineffective parliamentary oversight," continues Transparency International in its analysis of global corruption patterns.
In order to address the fundamental problems at the heart of institutionalized corruption in the public sphere, the reports authors – in a message intended for the United Nations General Assembly – insist on a "more focused and coordinated approach by the global donor community to ensure development assistance is designed to strengthen institutions of governance and oversight in recipient countries, and that aid flows themselves are fortified against abuse and graft."
However, and in reference to Burma's current political crisis, international standing and the lengthy list of sanctions directed against it, it is unclear how Transparency International perceives such a remedy could be effectively enacted in the case of Burma.
On a regional basis, the Asia-Pacific sector scored quite poorly on a whole, with Transparency International concluding that the reported level of corruption in 22 of the 32 countries in the region is indicative of "a serious corruption problem in the public sector."
Burma's median score of 1.3 positioned the impoverished Southeast Asian country just behind the crisis prone countries of Sudan, Afghanistan and Haiti.
Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand tied for honors as the least corrupt countries for 2008, each receiving an overall score of 9.3.
Transparency International first produced the annual study in 1995.
