Huge majority believes
corruption rules politics
WILLEMSTAD--A huge majority in Curaçao and Bonaire believes the political world is riddled with corruption and will be even more so in the coming years. This low estimate of politicians shows in a poll conducted by the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) on request of Kolaborativo, a social platform of employers, employees and the public sector.
The figures for Curaçao are the highest. No less than 92 per cent is of the opinion that corruption has a negative impact on politics. Almost the same percentage (91 per cent) sees a similar impact on norms and values.
Although less negative with regard to business, still a solid 83 per cent believes corruption rules the day in this sector.
The figures for Bonaire are slightly lower, but leave little doubt that also on that island corruption is seen as a major disruptive force.
Almost 64 per cent of the interviewees in Curaçao said personal and family life were the sectors least affected.
The poll was held in October 2004. In Curaçao 2,076 persons were interviewed. The number on Bonaire was 533.
Three questions were posed in what is called a perception poll: how serious do you rate the impact of corruption on your personal and family life, on politics and on morality in society; do you expect the onslaught of corruption to change in the coming three years; and if you could eliminate corruption by a magical act, in which sector would you act first?
Corruption was defined by CBS as a phenomenon that has three elements: conflict of interest, nepotism and cronyism. In each case, either another party, a family member or a friend is given a favour against the rules in exchange for something else.
It is interesting to notice that the age of interviewees played hardly any role. Young and old think corruption among politicians is high.
On the other hand people with high incomes say the impact on their personal and family life is small, while low-income people admit they suffer because of the predominance of corruption. This fits the international picture. Poor people are everywhere the victims of corruption.
No less that 95 of the young people interviewed are pessimistic in this respect and expect things to get worse on the islands.
About 50 per cent said corruption should first be eliminated among politicians.
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