According to the results of the group's 2008 survey on clean governance, released by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) Monday, more than 58 percent of respondents had faith the government would be less corrupt in the coming years.

The results marked the first time that more than half of the respondents to the annual survey voiced confidence in the ability of Taiwan's government to deal with corruption in the public sector.

MOJ officials speculated that the result may have been caused by the people's wish for the new government to be different from the previous administration led by former President Chen Shui-bian, who has been indicted on embezzlement and money laundering charges.

The survey was conducted by Transparency International-Taiwan July 4-8, with randomly chosen adults aged above 20 being interviewed by telephone.

A total of 1,626 valid samples were collected, and the survey had a margin of error of plus/minus 2.4 percentage points.

Under a 1-10 rating system for the degree of incorruptibility of public servants, with 10 representing the best score, civil servants and elected officials scored an average of 5 this year, slightly higher than the 4.88 recorded at the same time last year.

The public servants responsible for river gravel management were seen as the least trustworthy, receiving the lowest score of 3.7 points, trailing just behind officials in charge of government procurement and public construction projects, who received an average score of 3.98.

Legislators finished third from the bottom with a score of 4.04,the survey found.

Local elected officials all received low scores, with county and city councilors averaging 4.15, and elected township representatives averaging 4.36.

According to the survey, medical personnel at public hospitals received the highest score of 6.08, followed by common public servants at 5.8, and government employees in charge of land

administration at 5.75.

With no category of government personnel scoring a 7 or better, TI-Taiwan suggested that the government expand anti-corruption efforts to further gain the people's trust.

The organization also urged that public officials be made subject to a proposed law that would make it illegal for officials to have assets from sources they cannot identify.

The survey results will be presented to the central government's anti-corruption commission, the MOJ said.