Survey finds public continues to support the ICAC
2001-8-31
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) continues to enjoy a high level of public support with more people considering the Commission impartial and effective in discharging its anti-corruption duties, the latest ICAC annual survey reveals.
According to the 2001 ICAC Annual Survey, 99.2 per cent of the respondents feel the Commission deserves their support. And 74.6 per cent of respondents consider the Commission impartial in conducting its work –'96 the highest since the question was first raised in 1993.
Public approval of the ICAC’s performance is reflected by the rise in those who consider the Commission effective, from last year’s 60.2 per cent to this year’s 68.6 per cent. The proportion of respondents who think the Commission provides sufficient deterrence to the corrupt also leaps by eight percentage points to 49.5 per cent.
Among those who rated the Commission’s work effective, about 60 per cent attribute their views to the fact that “the ICAC had solved many cases” and 54 per cent cite “sufficient anti-corruption publicity or education work” as the reason.
Conducted by an independent agency on behalf of the ICAC, the survey polled 1,523 people randomly in March and April to gauge public views towards corruption and the Commission’s work.
Effectiveness aside, a high majority of respondents (61.5 per cent) also think the ICAC has not abused its investigative powers –'96 the highest since the question was first asked in 1993 when only 42.5 per cent expressed the same view.
About 43 per cent of respondents say the ICAC has done enough to make its work known to the public, compared with 46.3 per cent last year. Those who have not expressed any views on this question have doubled to 16.7 per cent.
Similar to previous surveys, this year’s findings show the public’s readiness to support the ICAC’s anti-corruption endeavours. Public tolerance of corruption is low. A 10-point scale was introduced in the 2001 Survey to assess the degree of public tolerance with 0 representing total rejection and 10 total tolerance of corruption. The findings show that government departments and the business sector register a mean score of 1.3 and 2.1 respectively.
A steady number of respondents or 65.5 per cent indicate that they are willing to report corruption while 71.2 per cent say they will identify themselves when lodging corruption complaints.
According to the survey, only 4.4 per cent of the respondents say they, their relatives or friends had come across corruption situations in the past 12 months –'96 the lowest since the question was added to the questionnaire in 1998.
The respondents’ perception of the general corruption scene stays similar to last year. About 42 per cent consider corruption common in Hong Kong with more respondents maintaining that corruption is more common in the business sector (46.5 per cent) than in the governme nt sector (21 per cent).
An ICAC spokesman said: “The survey has provided useful insights into various areas of public concern. We will strive to address these concerns and continue to enlist the community’s support in the fight against corruption.”
The ICAC has been adopting an integrated approach in preventive education over the past few years with sharper focus on more corruption prone areas including building management, construction and finance sectors.
The spokesman added that the ICAC had also embarked on a series of efforts to further raise the transparency of the Commission through the revamped ICAC website and enhanced face-to-face contacts with all strata of the community.
According to the 2001 ICAC Annual Survey, 99.2 per cent of the respondents feel the Commission deserves their support. And 74.6 per cent of respondents consider the Commission impartial in conducting its work –'96 the highest since the question was first raised in 1993.
Public approval of the ICAC’s performance is reflected by the rise in those who consider the Commission effective, from last year’s 60.2 per cent to this year’s 68.6 per cent. The proportion of respondents who think the Commission provides sufficient deterrence to the corrupt also leaps by eight percentage points to 49.5 per cent.
Among those who rated the Commission’s work effective, about 60 per cent attribute their views to the fact that “the ICAC had solved many cases” and 54 per cent cite “sufficient anti-corruption publicity or education work” as the reason.
Conducted by an independent agency on behalf of the ICAC, the survey polled 1,523 people randomly in March and April to gauge public views towards corruption and the Commission’s work.
Effectiveness aside, a high majority of respondents (61.5 per cent) also think the ICAC has not abused its investigative powers –'96 the highest since the question was first asked in 1993 when only 42.5 per cent expressed the same view.
About 43 per cent of respondents say the ICAC has done enough to make its work known to the public, compared with 46.3 per cent last year. Those who have not expressed any views on this question have doubled to 16.7 per cent.
Similar to previous surveys, this year’s findings show the public’s readiness to support the ICAC’s anti-corruption endeavours. Public tolerance of corruption is low. A 10-point scale was introduced in the 2001 Survey to assess the degree of public tolerance with 0 representing total rejection and 10 total tolerance of corruption. The findings show that government departments and the business sector register a mean score of 1.3 and 2.1 respectively.
A steady number of respondents or 65.5 per cent indicate that they are willing to report corruption while 71.2 per cent say they will identify themselves when lodging corruption complaints.
According to the survey, only 4.4 per cent of the respondents say they, their relatives or friends had come across corruption situations in the past 12 months –'96 the lowest since the question was added to the questionnaire in 1998.
The respondents’ perception of the general corruption scene stays similar to last year. About 42 per cent consider corruption common in Hong Kong with more respondents maintaining that corruption is more common in the business sector (46.5 per cent) than in the governme nt sector (21 per cent).
An ICAC spokesman said: “The survey has provided useful insights into various areas of public concern. We will strive to address these concerns and continue to enlist the community’s support in the fight against corruption.”
The ICAC has been adopting an integrated approach in preventive education over the past few years with sharper focus on more corruption prone areas including building management, construction and finance sectors.
The spokesman added that the ICAC had also embarked on a series of efforts to further raise the transparency of the Commission through the revamped ICAC website and enhanced face-to-face contacts with all strata of the community.