Changing a culture of corruption: How Hong Kong’s independent commission against corruption succeeded in furthering a culture of lawfulness

Abstract

The former British Crown Colony of Hong Kong is generally regarded as one of the finest examples of a laissez-faire, free market economy in the world. With its large natural harbor, close proximity to China, Taiwan, Japan, and other commercial powerhouses, and highly industrious population of about six million, 98 percent of whom are Chinese, Hong Kong was destined to play the role of commercial and financial center of Asia. After the Japanese occupation of the Second World War and the British resumption of control, Hong Kong began to achieve economic success. Although the population swelled during the 1950s and 1960s from a prewar level of less than one million to five million by the 1970s, Hong Kong was able to maintain social stability and economic progress, while providing housing and social services for the rapid influx of Chinese refugees from the People's Republic of China (PRC). Political turmoil in China, especially during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), and continued economic desperation caused thousands to risk arrest, imprisonment, and even death, to cross the border into Hong Kong in search of a better life. For a brief period in 1967, some of the Mainland China-based disturbances did spill over into Hong Kong resulting in attacks on police stations and violent demonstrations inspired by Communist agitators. It is a well-known fact that millions of Mainland Chinese perished during the Cultural Revolution, one of the darkest periods in modem Chinese history. While postwar conditions in Hong Kong were not ideal, they at least provided the opportunity for refugees to obtain food, housing, employment, and education for children, albeit under fiercely competitive conditions. By the 1970s and 1980s, Hong Kong's economy was booming and workers at all levels were enjoying an unprecedented rise in living standards. In fact, Hong Kong was rapidly developing a middle class and many residents began to look upon Hong Kong as more than simply a stopover on the way to a better life elsewhere. Although there were still others who, having been through the turmoil of the last half-century of Chinese history, sent their children abroad for schooling and opted for the "safety net" of a foreign passport in the event that the situation in Hong Kong changed. With the rise in living standards and the transition from modest colonial trading port to a major international commercial and financial center, Hong Kong developed a "culture of corruption," which was shared by local Chinese and their British colonial administrators. It is arguable as to whether the culture of corruption was a carryover from China, which has been notoriously corrupt throughout its history, or a phenomenon unique to Hong Kong developed during the colonial period. Although the colonial government had anticorruption laws on the books, the famous BlairANTICORRUPTION PROGRAMS IN ACTION