Chapter 1
Public Administration in
Southeast Asia: An Overview
Evan Berman
Contents
1.1 |
Introduction....................................................................................................................... |
1 |
|
1.2 |
Culture............................................................................................................................... |
2 |
|
1.3 |
Colonial Legacies ............................................................................................................... |
4 |
|
|
1.3.1 |
British Colonial Legacy .......................................................................................... |
5 |
|
1.3.2 |
Latin Legacy ........................................................................................................... |
7 |
|
1.3.3 |
American Legacy .................................................................................................... |
8 |
1.4 |
Decentralization................................................................................................................. |
9 |
|
1.5 |
Ethics |
................................................................................................................................ |
11 |
|
1.5.1 .............................................................................................. |
Types of Corruption |
11 |
|
1.5.2 ............................................................................................... |
Ethics Management |
14 |
1.6 |
Performance ................................................................................................Management |
17 |
|
|
1.6.1 ..............................................................Five-Year Plans and Comprehensive Plans |
17 |
|
|
1.6.2 ................................................................................................ |
Structural Changes |
17 |
|
1.6.3 ....................................................................................... |
New Public Management |
18 |
1.7 |
Civil Service..................................................................................................................... |
20 |
|
|
1.7.1 ........................................................................................................................ |
Size |
21 |
|
1.7.2 ..................................................................................... |
Recruitment and Selection |
21 |
|
1.7.3 ............................................................................................ |
Pay and Performance |
22 |
|
1.7.4 ................................................................................................................ |
Training |
23 |
1.8 |
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... |
24 |
|
1.1 Introduction
People have long been interested in the diverse cultures of Southeast Asia, and in recent years, there has been an increasing need to know more about the workings of their governments, too.
1
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
2 Public Administration in Southeast Asia
Globalization, education, and the interconnectedness of regional issues have caused an increase in demand for factual information about their governments. The cultures and practices of Southeast Asia are varied, and this book brings together, in a single volume, an in-depth analysis of the core components of public administration systems in selected countries of Southeast Asia. The detailed descriptions in the chapters provide for rich, comparative analysis.
It is no exaggeration to state that nowhere else will readers find a comparative “one-stop” shopping for the topics discussed of the countries here. The chapters in this book are written by leading experts in their fields. They cover such topics as the history of public administration, performance management reforms, civil service reforms, public ethics and corruption, and central-local government relations. This chapter provides an overview of some of the main themes and conclusions that are drawn from the chapters in this book. The parallel structure of topics (similar topics for each of the different countries and administrative districts) enables a unique, comparative perspective on Southeast Asia. The methodological foundation and strategies of this book are discussed in the Introduction, which readers are encouraged to read.
This book is a second, parallel volume to Public Administration in East Asia: Mainland China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, which appeared earlier and discusses similar topics for those countries. By reading both volumes, readers gain even deeper factual and comparative knowledge of public administration in these parts of Asia. Obviously, this book does not cover all countries in Southeast Asia. As explained in the introduction, the selection reflects diversity of heritage, experience, and size.
In comparative works, reminders of cultural relativism and cultural provincialism are always appropriate. It is a fact that a good deal of our present-day knowledge and thinking about public administration has emanated from of the United States and the UK. Cultural relativism refers to the principle that other peoples’ activities and beliefs should be understood in terms of their own cultures, whereas cultural provincialism refers to the danger of one’s own cultural worldview blinding one from seeing others’ or different points of view. Try as we might to reach these ideal standards, at least they provide constant and powerful reminders to guard against closed mindedness and instant judgments, no matter how right they appear at the time. Cultural, historical and local concerns shape government, and affect how facts and circumstances are interpreted and judged by their people. The task of this book is to bring these to the fore. I hope readers will appreciate these sentiments and recognize these efforts in the following pages.
Finally, the need to learn about others speaks not only to those outside the region, but those inside the region as well. Despite growing internationalization, the sense of community among the peoples and scholars of Southeast Asia is growing, but is not strongly developed. Knowledge of public administration systems within Southeast Asia is not as strong as outsiders might expect, and even within countries, knowledge of public administration systems is sometimes not as well developed as one might want to see or hope. In some countries, only a handful of dedicated scholars are responsible for providing a good deal of knowledge about these systems. The challenge of cultural provincialism cuts both ways, and people sometimes use various sentiments to resist dealing with others and learning about them, too. Hopefully, this book can contribute to a growing, shared sense of knowledge and community of public administration among all countries in the world.
1.2 Culture
The chapters provide convincing and fascinating evidence of the powerful influence of culture and colonial legacy on modern-day public administration. Danilo Reyes writes that “public
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
Public Administration in Southeast Asia: An Overview 3
administration in the Philippines today is a product of the colonial era and adapted to the idiosyncrasies of indigenous cultural traditions, values, mores and norms.” The Philippines is not alone. If history is prologue, then the starting point for understanding the present is to understand these forces of the past that continue to influence public administration today. This section discusses the role of culture on public administration, while the following section examines the pertinence of colonial legacy.
In all countries and districts, the role of personal ties affecting public administration is strong. Indeed, Southeast Asia is well known for its attention to human relations; foreigners usually experience great personal attention and friendship bestowed on them. Familial traditions of close-knit relationships and kinship are strong and characteristic of the local population. Juree describes that in Thailand “a person’s primary duty and allegiance were to his family and then to his kinship network, then to his village or community.” Key relationships are often first personal, then professional. People get by and along through their personal relations that often have long and deep roots.
Authors describe how family and kinship relationships give way to strong client-patron ties in public administration. Danilo Reyes writes that in the Philippines “appointments of relatives to executive and bureaucratic positions by powerful family members remain a common practice in spite of laws to the contrary. Political dynasties in various provinces and cities are often built on the strength of these relationships.” Bidhya Bowornwathana sees in Thailand a strong, enduring legacy of patron-client relations that continues through today; “To advance in the bureaucracy, a young aspiring bureaucrat needs to have a powerful politician as patron…. Some successful bureaucrats were fortunate to be born into a powerful family with networks extending to the palace, military, political parties, and the business world. Those that are less fortunate will have to build their own political network connections.” However, because politicians have high turnover, “career advancement (increasingly) depends less on your immediate superior and more on your connections outside the department.”
In Malaysia, Beh notes policy making through “favored network relations” and collusion among “the elites of the society comprising politicians, businessmen, and certain segments of the civil service” such that the Malaysian bureaucracy “enjoys a position of power perhaps unequaled by any other civil service in a democratic country.” Strong family ties and guanxi relations are also well-known powerful means of career advancement in the Chinese community. Discussing corruption, Kwong notes patron-client politics in the civil service of Macao whereby some “subordinates condescendingly followed or even conjectured the patron superiors’ wishes, with disregard whether these actions that might step of the brink of illegality.”1 Of course, not all such client-patron relations lead to unethical conduct.
The situation in Hong Kong is different. While people relations are generally strong in Asia, client-patron and kinship relations affecting public administration are largely absent in Hong Kong. Lee notes that from the early days, Hong Kong was a frontier outpost with little preexisting power structure and “the absence of an indigenous ruling class.” Colonization brought about the transplantation of a western Weberian-type bureaucracy, “a modern bureaucracy… with principles of meritocracy, legalism, and generalist administrative class.” Perhaps for these reasons,
1Likewise, Reyes also notes in the Philippines that, “such values as respect for senior officials or persons, or in many cases, of favoritism, paternalism, and nepotism can serve to compromise the exercise of official functions and duties.” This is further supported by cultural norms of avoiding confrontation or outright confl ict that further compromise policies and procedures to avoid disharmony. See Reyes’ excellent description of administrative values in the Philippines.
©2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC