Malaysia 100 Times Worst Than Indonesia - Malaysiakini

Indonesians will tell you there are bribes to be paid for almost everything in life - getting your identity card in reasonable time, passing your driving test, avoiding a parking ticket, even getting into the police force.

The experts don’t disagree: the country has one of the worst corruption ratings in the world.

Transparency International ranks it in 143rd place - just a few places ahead of economically destitute Zimbabwe.

After a decade of democracy, a newly-vibrant Anti-Corruption Commission, and a president who has made tackling corruption one of his key pledges, graft still remains hard-wired into the system.

And so Indonesia is trying some new tactics, and opening up some new fronts in its battle on corruption - such as the second floor of Jakarta’s high school number three.

Corruption in court

Corruption is such a part of the system here, that even if you are convicted, insiders say you can still pay your way through the penal system.

Cultural problem

Corruption here is seen as so pervasive that it has undermined people’s trust, not only in the prison system, but also in the police and the courts.

One recent study found that almost half of all interactions with the police resulted in a bribe. Corruption is hard-wired into the culture here.

It’s like a social disease. The people in Indonesia (MALAYSIA) - even though a democracy still live according to an aristocratic system. So, the normal people look to the leaders as if to the king, or the queen.