Corruption scandals in six Asian countries: a comparative analysis

Jon S.T Quah

doi:10.1108/pap-01-2020-0002

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to compare and evaluate how the governments in six Asian countries have dealt with selected grand corruption scandals.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on the comparative analysis of 11 corruption scandals examined in the six articles on India, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore included in this special issue ofPublic Administration and Policy.FindingsThe responses of the governments in the six countries depend on the strength of their political will in combating corruption. The responses of the governments in Malaysia, Philippines, India and Japan reflect their weak political will in combating corruption and lack of accountability of the corrupt offenders. By contrast, the strong political will of the governments in Singapore and Macau is reflected in the investigation and punishment of the corrupt offenders without any cover-up of the scandals.Originality/valueThe findings would be of interest to scholars, policymakers and anti-corruption practitioners and activists.

Highlights

The purpose of this paper is to compare and evaluate how the governments in six Asian countries have dealt with selected grand corruption scandals
Research on corruption scandals in Asian countries King (1986, p. 174), in his pioneering study of political scandals, contends that “political scandals are worth studying for the light they can throw on a country’s political culture and political system.”
Research on corruption scandals in Japan has focussed on the Teijin scandal (Mitchell, 2002), Lockheed scandal (Dixon, 1977; Kan’ichi, 1976; Kitazawa, 1976; MacDougall, 1988), Recruit scandal (Kearns, 1990; Yayama, 1990) and policy failure scandals (Carlson, 2017; Carlson and Reed, 2018a)

Summary

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to compare and evaluate how the governments in six Asian countries have dealt with selected grand corruption scandals. The scandal was exposed by the publication of leaked internal Ministry of Education documents which revealed that following Abe’s intention to expedite approval for the project, the government favoured Kake Gakuen before its application was reviewed by the officials.

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