SURVEY OF LEGAL SYSTEMS IN ASIA The Hong Kong based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) recently conducted a survey of legal systems in Asia and the report it issued was highly damaging for many countries in the region. China The judicial system in China was rated as unreliable, vulnerable to corruption and difficult to deal with: the ultimate authority in the country was perceived to be the communist party and the concept of the supremacy of the law has not taken root yet. The report said there was a misconception that China’s entry to the World Trade Organization would somehow make its legal system compatible with WTO rules in the short term. The question however is not simply a matter of framing or adopting new laws, but of training lawyers, judges and police and then making the systematic changes to remove the present system’s idiosyncrasies. This will take years, if not decades. Indonesia Indonesia came in for the most scathing criticism with “corruption and political interference” under-mining a legal system which has little integrity. The bottom lone is that Indonesia’s whole legal system is in desperate need of an overhaul, but it is doubtful that the present government has the will or the ability to conduct such an exercise by introducing massive reforms. Malaysia Of all the developing countries covered by the report, PERC said Malaysia arguably had the best legal system and had largely overcome questions about its independence raised during the trial of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. Throughout this relatively controversial period, a lot of the debate over the integrity and independence of the legal system was carried out by lawyers and judges. This is therefore an example of the checks and balances that still exist in Malaysia. Philippines In the Philippines, police were involved in kidnappings and murders, and people felt so insecure that some areas were said to have set up their own militias. The country must undertake large scale economic and social reforms to change the situation. Thailand The Thai legal system is second only to Indonesia in the level of corruption and political interference. The report said that the failure of successive governments to raise the performance and ethics of the police force has become a national scandal. The government is committed to wide-ranging reforms which, it is hoped, will gradually improve the situation. India India’s legal system was said to have been seriously hurt by corruption brought on by low levels of pay for the judiciary and police. It is to be hoped that the governments economic and social development programmes will eventually bring about improvements in law and order situation. Here is how these countries stood statistically on a scale of one to ten.
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