E-government to combat corruption in the Asia Pacific Region

The introduction of ICT can reduce corruption by improving the enforcement of rules, lessening the discretion of officials, and increasing transparency. Yet, while ICT eliminates many opportunities for corruption for those who do not understand the new technology fully, it opens up new corruption vistas for those who understand the new systems well enough to manipulate them. Proper safeguards are needed. In addition, ICT specialists and public managers need to work together to ensure that e-government systems are coordinated with other reform processes, including business process re-engineering. The paper will examine the experience of Asia-Pacific countries in this area.