ICAC also provides broad reaching education.

Scott notes that the role of the ICAC – and

what it means to accept an advantage – is one of the first lessons learned after joining the govern-
ment. It is a message that is reinforced at various stages during the public servant’s career.14 As
regards Hong Kong, until very recently, the highest levels of government were occupied by civil
servants, rather than political appointees. This has recently changed, and people in Hong Kong are
concerned about a possible erosion of ethics. But political appointees are the norm elsewhere, and
are a source of ethical concern in countries such as Malaysia, where Beh notes that:

The common perception is that there may be little one can do about corruption
particularly when it is embedded in the work systems and coexisting, the indifferent,
powerful individuals who find the acts inevitable though offensive but profess inno-
cence. Ineffective anti-corruption strategy and controls of corrupt behavior among
civil servants and political leaders have not been able to remove the opportunities
for corruption due to lack of political commitment and the ineffectiveness of the
measures. The penalties for corrupt offences have not been prevalent as there seems
to be a low probability of detecting corrupt offences and consequently the rewards
for corruption are higher than the punishment for corrupt offenders… A criticism
frequently made is that many of the arrests of corruption cases only involved the
“small fish” (lower level of officials) and the “big fish” (syndicates, influential top
bureaucrats, businessmen, and politicians) appeared unscathed.

Malaysia has seen a broad range of laws and rules, but the presence of selective enforcement
and the absence of independent and effective law enforcement for all cases, has rendered progress
at higher levels problematic.15 Ethics laws are strongly enforced at lower levels of the bureaucracy,
but not at the higher reaches. Beh also notes that “there is lack of trained and skilled staff to inves-
tigate the numerous allegations of corruption.”
Macao’s efforts at anti-corruption are recent. While the fight against corruption began in
1975, the High Commission Against Corruption and Administrative Illegality (HCACAI) was
only formally established in March 1991. Kwong notes that, “it has its own innate defect that its
functions laid down by the Organization Law stipulated that it could not carry out criminal inves-
tigation on corruption matters but only on matters of administrative nature because the legislature
did not allow to vest related powers.” The Commission Against Corruption (CAC) of Macao
was established in 2003 and has only 109 people assigned to it. Additionally, the institutional or
systematic nature of some forms of corruption (e.g., in hiring or land sales), linkages with power-
ful business and political interests, questioning of the impartiality of the CAC in recent cases,

14 There are two principal booklets explaining what constitutes proper and ethical behavior, the Civil Servants
Guide to Good Practices and Ethical Leadership in Action: Handbook for Senior Managers in the Civil Service. In
both documents, the text goes into considerable detail about what it means to accept an ‘advantage’ – whether
a ‘red packet’ at Chinese New Year may be accepted, whether the loan of a car is an advantage, whether taking
part in a raffle may compromise official integrity and so on. Education and awareness raising occurs at all levels
of the civil service.
15 Additionally, a problem in Malaysia is the lack of transparency that forbids the release of information to the
public that could expose wrongdoing. Beh writes that “government officials are prohibited from disclosing
government information, including records of decisions and deliberations, as one could be charged under the
and civil service cultures that “tolerate and accept administrative ‘deviations’ as usual practices”
affect the ranking, too. Kwong shows detailed regulations such as financial disclosure, conflict of
interest, outside employment, punishments, as well as much effort to promote awareness of ethics.
Undoubtedly, the recent nature of these efforts also contributes to the lower ranking.
Thailand also has a broad range of laws and institutions, and enforcement is selective and
minimal. Yet, the need for enforcement is urgent because, as Bidhya writes, “The social impulse
towards hierarchy and the nai-phrai relationship constitutes the basis for patron-client relation-
ships or clientelism in modern Thai politics and administration.” Also, “national elections have
been characterized by vote-buying and money politics. Corruption charges against government
are rampant. Politicians try at all cost to be in government and consider being in the opposition
as a loss. Politicians take turns becoming cabinet members. They move from one political party
to another. New political parties are formed and joined by old faces. The new politician boss fos-
ters an atmosphere of corruption, nepotism, and inefficiency in the ministry…. A major topic of
discussion is the ethics and morality of Thai politicians. An honest, uncorrupted, and good politi-
cian is a rare commodity these days.” Juree also notes a lack of deep-rooted public values: “The
Thai public sector in the past has not devoted time and energy to help public officials learn about
public ethics so that ethical values and principles about public service would be well internalized
by them.” There is little training and awareness.
Yet, the development of strong, independent anti-corruption authorities is also viewed with
skepticism. “Those who have encountered adverse rulings meted out by accountability institutions
often accuse the judges and commissioners of being biased and politicized. They accuse the judges
of having been appointed by their political enemies.” Appointment to these positions provide
significant benefits of power, privileges, and lucrative income beyond the normal retirement age
in Thailand. Also, the enormous power of accountability institutions is seen to possibly obstruct
the work of an elected government on legal grounds, hence, raising the question of “who guards
the guardians?”
The situation is similar in the Philippines, where “rule of law itself is a concept that sits uneasily
within the Philippine patron-client culture.” Yet, the Philippines have an additional complicating
factor. Gonzalez writes:

conditions in the Philippines point to a systemic failure, where institutional safeguards

work in fits and turns and reforms may not be working. Worse—in the clearest indi-
cation that the problem is embedded in the country’s heritage of clientelism—insti-
tutions are vulnerable to political capture by predatory interests. An inconsistently
functioning legal system, weak accountability structures, and inadequate financial
transparency are just some of the flaws that negate the country’s attempts at institu-
tional effectiveness and credibility. As a result, scattered initiatives, including those in
fighting corruption, left to run their own course, often run aground.

But the additional complicating factor is that the government institutions are weak: “it may
as well also be acknowledged that the bureaucracy in the Philippines also suffers from severe
cases understaffing, with an estimated 1.5 million civil servants servicing a population of over
82 million people. As it is, the bureaucracy also suffers from lack of funds, resources and facili-
ties in the performance of their functions.” Beyond this, “compared to their Asian counterparts,
numerous examples where, despite these problems, progress is being made, including increased
auditing, stepping up anti-corruption activity in selected agencies (customs, internal revenue, and
justice), going after tax evasion, and money laundering. However, changes in elections and cam-
paign finance (and connections with powerful interests) have been hard to come by.
In conclusion, the chapters in this book provide a rich and compelling portrait of ethics in
public administration. While unethical conduct lies in the nature of human beings and is found
in all countries around the world, their manifestations and extent varies considerably, which, in
turn, is shown to be related to the extent that ethics management can be pursued.

1.6 Performance Management

The chapters in this book show considerable effort to improve the performance and competitive-
ness of public administration in the three countries and two administrative districts of this book.

1.6.1 Five-Year Plans and Comprehensive Plans

Thailand has a system of 5-year plans that lay out major initiatives and shape the direction of
public administration in successive periods. The current, tenth 5-year plan (the first was adopted
in 1963) emphasizes economic sufficiency and good governance, including improved administra-
tive processes and governance, as well as excellence, “rightsizing,” and fiscal reform. Thailand also
launched its third Government Administrative Reform plan, which further develops these aspects.
Malaysia also makes use of long-term plans and policies. At the launch of the Sixth Malaysia
Plan in 1991, then Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamed postulated his goal for Malaysia to
become a fully industrialized and developed nation by the year 2020. The Third Outline Perspective
Plan, also known as the National Vision Policy (NVP, 2001–2010), has been the latest 10-year
policy governing Malaysia with similar broad goals and objectives. Five-year development plans,
derived from these, are prepared by the Economic Planning Unit, which falls under the purview
of the Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia. Public consultations are increasingly conducted as part
of the formulation. Execution and monitoring is done by the Implementation Coordination Unit
(ICU), also falling under the Prime Minister’s Office.
In Macao, the government announced in 2007 a road map for administrative reform that
emphasizes balanced development, re-establishing civil service values, strengthening the interac-
tion between the government and the public, improving the organizational structure, and solidi-
fying the inter-related responsibilities among the government, civil servants, and the public. The
road map places a lot of emphasis on building up social capital as well as cultivating constructive
and productive civil service values and beliefs. Bolong assesses that “so far, the reform roadmap has
only achieved limited results in the areas of government restructuring, policy-making training,
and improvement in efficiency.”

1.6.2 Structural Changes

Hong Kong has adopted a wide array of institutions to deliver public services. The trend has
been toward moving away from traditional bureau-type agencies toward more hybrids that allow