This marks a departure from the regular enchancment that the 50 largest listed corporations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have made in company integrity scores since 2020, in line with the biennial examine performed by researchers from the Nationwide College of Singapore (NUS) Enterprise Faculty.
Total, common disclosure scores, which have been assessed alongside three dimensions – inner dedication to anti-corrpution, exterior dedication to anti-corruption, and reporting and monitoring – dropped from 69 per cent in 2022 to 64 per cent in 2024. Thailand retained its lead with a median rating of 80 per cent, adopted by Malaysia at 75 per cent and Singapore at 63 per cent. In the meantime, the Philippines noticed the biggest decline, the place scores fell by 11 share factors to 55 per cent final yr.
The general decline was pushed by a big drop within the reporting and monitoring dimension, which covers whistleblowing-related mechanisms. Whereas corporations in most nations carried out the strongest of their inner anti-corruption commitments, they didn’t essentially translate into insurance policies round engagements with exterior stakeholders, like suppliers or politicians.
Just like the 2022 findings, the examine identified that efficiency remained poor in these 4 points: management help of anti-corruption, utility of anti-corruption insurance policies to firm representatives partaking with exterior events, disclosures round common monitoring programmes of anti-corruption, and utility of anti-corruption insurance policies to suppliers.
“Corruption erodes belief, stifles financial progress, and deepens inequality. The decline in anti-corruption disclosures we’re seeing throughout Asean is a crimson flag,” mentioned Lawrence Loh, director at Centre for Governance and Sustainability of NUS Enterprise Faculty. “As traders are more and more prioritising environmental, social and governance (ESG) elements, corporations should strengthen their governance disclosures to boost transparency and accountability, not simply as a matter of compliance, however as a core enterprise technique.”
Whereas all Asean nations have ratified the United Nations Conference in opposition to Corruption (UNCAC), which requires events to handle implement anti-corruption insurance policies, solely Singapore and Malaysia have authorized frameworks criminalising overseas public officers and personal sector bribery.
Final week, the Malaysian authorities challenged a latest authorized marketing campaign to permit the previous prime minister Najib Razak to serve the rest of his corruption-related jail sentence underneath home arrest.
In Singapore, the place corruption circumstances involving public officers are uncommon, former transport minister S Iswaran was convicted for acquiring items value over S$403,000 (US$297,000) whereas in workplace final yr, in dealings associated to Malaysian property tycoon Ong Beng Seng and native development businessman Lum Kok Seng. He grew to become the primary political office-holder within the city-state to be tried in court docket prior to now 50 years.
