Corruption and Governance
in Asian Countries
Prof Quah conducted his first research project
on corruption in Singapore in 1977 when he examined
the administrative and legal measures for combating
bureaucratic corruption and the various forms
of police corruption. Since then, he has proceeded
to initiate research on the anti-corruption
strategies in Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong,
India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia,
Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
He taught a module on Corruption and Governance
in Asia focusing on the anti-corruption strategies
in ten Asian countries for six years at the
Department of Political Science at the National University of Singapore.
As the lead consultant for the United Nations
Development Programme Mission to Mongolia from
September to November 1998, he formulated a
National Anti-Corruption Plan for the Mongolian
Government. He prepared a background report
on “Bureaucratic Corruption in Indonesia:
Some Suggestions for Reform” for the World
Bank’s Jakarta Office in June 2002. He
is the author of Curbing Corruption in Asia:
A Comparative Study of Six Countries (Singapore:
Eastern Universities Press, 2003) and National
Integrity Systems Regional Overview Report East
and Southeast Asia 2006 (Berlin: Transparency
International, 2007).
Administrative Reforms
in Singapore
His interest in administrative reforms in Singapore
began in 1972 when he initiated fieldwork for
his doctoral dissertation on the former Singapore
Improvement Trust and the Housing and Development
Board. He completed his Ph.D. dissertation on
“Administrative Reform and Development
Administration in Singapore: A Comparative Study
of the Singapore Improvement Trust and the Housing
and Development Board” for the Florida
State University in June 1975. In addition to
Singapore, he has also done research on administrative
reforms in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines
and Thailand.
Public Personnel Management
in Asian Countries
Prof Quah’s interest in public personnel
management can be traced to his M.Soc.Sci. thesis
on “The Public Service Commission in Singapore”
which was submitted to the University of Singapore
in August 1970. He taught a course on Public
Personnel Management at NUS for many years which
focused on Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand. Apart from publishing
on public personnel management in these five
countries, he prepared a report for the Commonwealth
Secretariat in London in 1993 on Human Resource
Development in Japan, Singapore, South Korea
and Taiwan. He was invited by the Government
of Macau Special Administrative Region to evaluate
the Public Personnel System in Macau in July
2000.
Public Policy in Singapore
He taught an Honours Year module on Public Policy
in Singapore for 30 years at NUS and has published
extensively on various public policies in Singapore.
He was Honorary Consultant for the Neighbourhood
Police Post Project for the Singapore Police
Force from August 1982 to May 1986 and co-authored
with Stella R. Quah, Friends in Blue: The Police
and the Public in Singapore (Singapore: Oxford
University Press, 1987). As a consultant for
the Religion Project for the Ministry of Community
Development in Singapore from August 1987 to
October 1988, he co-authored the final report
on Religion and Religious Revivalism in Singapore
(Singapore: Ministry of Community Development,
October 1988). As Acting Director of the Institute
of Policy Studies (IPS), he chaired the Study
Group on National Values and edited In Search
of Singapore's National Values (Singapore: Times
Academic Press for the IPS, 1990).
