Public earnest to keep Hong Kong corruption-free, ICAC survey reveals
2013-3-28
A territory-wide poll found that the public was forthcoming in reporting graft and attached great importance to keeping Hong Kong corruption free.
According to the latest ICAC Annual Survey, 98.8% of respondents agreed that keeping Hong Kong corruption-free was important to the overall development of the territory.
Most believed that a clean society would help uphold fairness and justice, benefit economic and commercial development and attract foreign investments.
A majority of respondents or 79.2% said that they were ready to report any instances of corruption - a highest percentage ever recorded since 2009.
Through household interviews, the survey was conducted by an independent polling agency amongst 1,529 randomly selected respondents between October and November last year.
The poll also found the public generally shunned corruption. On a scale of 0-10, with 0 representing total rejection and 10 representing total tolerance of corruption, a mean score of 0.8 was registered.
On the perceived prevalence of corruption, 68.5% considered corruption was not common in Hong Kong while 25.4% held opposite views.
Amongst those who perceived corruption common, most attributed their views to the media reports on many corruption cases. Some believed that corruption was a common practice in doing business in some trades.
Meanwhile, 67.5% expected the corruption situation would remain stable while 14% anticipated that graft cases might increase.
However, when asked about their actual experience, the vast majority of respondents or 98.1% confirmed that they had not encountered corruption in the past 12 months.
“It is possible that public perception may have been influenced by a few isolated cases prominently reported in the media,” said an ICAC spokesman.
“Those prosecutions however do testify that Hong Kong has a robust anti-corruption regime in place and we are determined to fight graft without fear or favour.”
According to the survey, 88.3% rated ICAC’s anti-corruption work as effective or very effective while 98.7% expressed their support for the anti-corruption agency.
The spokesman also assured that according to ICAC analysis, corruption remained well under control, with no sign of deterioration. In 2012, the total number of corruption complaints slightly dropped by 2%.
Meanwhile, the public was found to be most concerned about corruption in three specific sectors: government officials, the real estate industry and the construction and engineering industry, mostly due to their likely impact on people’s livelihood and the public interest involved.
The survey also showed that 39.1% of respondents felt that the ICAC should strengthen its education and prevention efforts for students. Government officials and councilors (32.5%), the real estate industry (13.4%), youth (13.4%) and new arrivals (9.2%) were also considered target groups for preventive education.
“The Commission will give due consideration to the public views and concerns reflected in the survey in finetuning its anti-corruption strategies,” the spokesman added.
According to the latest ICAC Annual Survey, 98.8% of respondents agreed that keeping Hong Kong corruption-free was important to the overall development of the territory.
Most believed that a clean society would help uphold fairness and justice, benefit economic and commercial development and attract foreign investments.
A majority of respondents or 79.2% said that they were ready to report any instances of corruption - a highest percentage ever recorded since 2009.
Through household interviews, the survey was conducted by an independent polling agency amongst 1,529 randomly selected respondents between October and November last year.
The poll also found the public generally shunned corruption. On a scale of 0-10, with 0 representing total rejection and 10 representing total tolerance of corruption, a mean score of 0.8 was registered.
On the perceived prevalence of corruption, 68.5% considered corruption was not common in Hong Kong while 25.4% held opposite views.
Amongst those who perceived corruption common, most attributed their views to the media reports on many corruption cases. Some believed that corruption was a common practice in doing business in some trades.
Meanwhile, 67.5% expected the corruption situation would remain stable while 14% anticipated that graft cases might increase.
However, when asked about their actual experience, the vast majority of respondents or 98.1% confirmed that they had not encountered corruption in the past 12 months.
“It is possible that public perception may have been influenced by a few isolated cases prominently reported in the media,” said an ICAC spokesman.
“Those prosecutions however do testify that Hong Kong has a robust anti-corruption regime in place and we are determined to fight graft without fear or favour.”
According to the survey, 88.3% rated ICAC’s anti-corruption work as effective or very effective while 98.7% expressed their support for the anti-corruption agency.
The spokesman also assured that according to ICAC analysis, corruption remained well under control, with no sign of deterioration. In 2012, the total number of corruption complaints slightly dropped by 2%.
Meanwhile, the public was found to be most concerned about corruption in three specific sectors: government officials, the real estate industry and the construction and engineering industry, mostly due to their likely impact on people’s livelihood and the public interest involved.
The survey also showed that 39.1% of respondents felt that the ICAC should strengthen its education and prevention efforts for students. Government officials and councilors (32.5%), the real estate industry (13.4%), youth (13.4%) and new arrivals (9.2%) were also considered target groups for preventive education.
“The Commission will give due consideration to the public views and concerns reflected in the survey in finetuning its anti-corruption strategies,” the spokesman added.