Nivell Rayda – Indonesia's efforts to eradicate corruption have started to bear fruit, after the country moved to 111th spot in a worldwide study conducted by Transparency International, which was released on Tuesday.

Indonesia scored 2.8 on the grading scale, with 10 being the cleanest, compared to the 2.6 scored last year. The improvement aligned Indonesia with nations such as Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt and Mali in the rankings.

Transparency International Indonesia secretary general Teten Masduki highlighted that the study was conducted before the arrest of three leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission for various criminal charges, which many see as an attempt to undermine the body.

"It is possible that Indonesia would rank lower than in earlier years if the scandal had occurred before we conducted the survey," he said.

Regarded as a benchmark to gauge the efforts of countries in eradicating graft, the Corruption Perception Index this year was conducted in 180 countries.

New Zealand was ranked as the cleanest country in the world, scoring 9.4 in the study, while Indonesia's neighbor Singapore earned the number three spot with 9.2. Somalia was named the most corrupt country in the world, scoring only 1.1 in the study.