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Curbing Corruption and Enhancing Trust in Government: Some Lessons from Singapore and Hong Kong

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Handbook of Asian Criminology

Abstract

Corruption is a serious problem in many Asian countries according to Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). However, unlike other Asian countries, Singapore and Hong Kong SAR have succeeded in minimizing corruption as reflected in their top two ranking among Asian countries on the 2010 CPI. This chapter has two aims. First, it analyzes the causes of the high level of corruption and low level of public trust of politicians in Asian countries. Second, it contends that Singapore and Hong Kong SAR have a low level of corruption and a high level of public trust of politicians because of their highly effective governments, which are the combined result of their favorable policy contexts, their reliance on meritocracy in selecting and promoting talented civil servants, their reliance on competitive salaries to attract and retain them, and their effective control of corruption. The chapter concludes that other Asian countries can enhance their citizens’ trust in their governments by improving their levels of government effectiveness by learning these four lessons from the experiences of Singapore and Hong Kong SAR: adopting meritocracy, paying competitive salaries to attract and retain the “best and brightest” citizens in the civil service, and curbing corruption effectively.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anti-Corruption Consultant, Singapore, Singapore

    Jon S. T. Quah Ph.D.

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  1. Jon S. T. Quah Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Jon S. T. Quah Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Macau, Taipa, Macao, Macao

    Jianhong Liu

  2. Centre for Criminology and Criminal Just, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Bill Hebenton

  3. School of Criminology, National Taipei University, Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C.

    Susyan Jou

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Quah, J.S.T. (2013). Curbing Corruption and Enhancing Trust in Government: Some Lessons from Singapore and Hong Kong. In: Liu, J., Hebenton, B., Jou, S. (eds) Handbook of Asian Criminology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5218-8_3

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