Summary of the International Conference on Anti-Corruption Innovation in Bangkok
จากไชต์: Office of The National Anti - Corruption Commission (ONACC)
จำนวนผู้เข้าชม: 534
On Friday, June 16th, the Knowledge Hub for Regional Anti-Corruption and Good Governance Collaboration (KRAC) organized the first International Conference on Anti-Corruption Innovation at Chulalongkorn University. Experts and professionals working in the field of anti-corruption from various countries participated in the event to exchange knowledge, tools, and approaches to addressing corruption issues in three main areas of global anti-corruption efforts: data disclosure, budget management oversight, and legislative processes.
Topic 1: "Using Open Data to Improve Governance and Integrity" chaired by Cynthia Gabriel, Founding Director of the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism
The Deputy Governor of Bangkok, Mr. Sanon Wangsangboon, who is responsible for the Open Bangkok Initiative, emphasized that the city is currently working based on five principles: prioritizing major projects and key initiatives, focusing on citizen-centered approaches, utilizing technology and data to enhance operational efficiency, ensuring public service and integrity of officials, and promoting collaboration with the public. The Open Bangkok Initiative encompasses five dimensions:
- Open Data: Making government data in Bangkok computer-readable and accessible through platforms like data.bangkok.go.th.
- Open Service: Prioritizing citizen feedback and complaints through platforms like Traffy Fondue, which has resolved over 220,000 cases in one year.
- Open Contract: Collaborating with network organizations such as the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) and the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) to disclose contracts on the egp.bangkok.go.th website.
- Open Policy: Creating a website (openpolicy.bangkok.go.th) for citizens to track completed policies and provide feedback.
- Open Innovation: Establishing platforms that facilitate public convenience, such as a website for reserving public spaces and finding job opportunities.
Wana Alamsyah from Indonesia Corruption Watch and Opentender.net highlighted the importance of citizen participation alongside technology in combating corruption. Opentender.net, an Indonesian platform, collects and organizes data on procurement, contracts, and government tenders to increase citizen involvement in monitoring. An example of Opentender.net's success is the "Monitoring Marathon" project, which encourages citizens to form teams and compete in scrutinizing government projects.
Khairil Yusof from Sinar Project in Malaysia emphasized the challenge of obtaining data, noting that the average score for open data in Southeast Asian countries is only 25 out of 100. Therefore, collaboration and data sharing among sectors are crucial to obtain efficient data to combat corruption effectively. Opening data to address corruption issues must adhere to an Open Data Standard to ensure its usefulness. The CoST project was mentioned as an example of providing fundamental project data, such as budgets and objectives, to enhance transparency and accountability.
Topic 2: "Initiatives to Promote Transparent and Accountable Financial Management" chaired by Program Manager for the Department of Democratic Governance, Transparency International Indonesia.
The session began with Mr. Vichien Pongsathorn, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Organization (Thailand), providing an overview of the Integrity Pact (IP) project. He suggested that the IP project involves independent observers and various experts who participate in monitoring government procurement projects. The project has achieved some success, such as increasing transparency in procurement budgets, building public trust, promoting transparency values in society, and saving billions of baht in government expenditure.
Next, Ms. Thanisara Ruengdech, CEO & Co-founder of Punch Up and WeVis, discussed the role of Punch Up in visualizing complex government data to make it more accessible for citizens to scrutinize governmental operations. She shared three lessons learned from their four years of work:
- To increase transparency, there needs to be more space for dialogue between the public and the government.
- Tools don't have to be massive; they can start small and expand gradually.
- A sustainable system requires integrating it into government policies; otherwise, the system may change with the change in administration.
The final speaker in this session was Shreya Basu from the Open Government Partnership (OGP), who explained the work of the OGP in promoting transparent governance to enable citizen participation in allocating budgets and other areas. She highlighted successful examples, such as the use of open data for inclusive education development in Indonesia, which led to increased government revenue, taxpayer motivation, and reduced corruption. Additionally, Shreya summarized lessons learned from OGP's work in various countries worldwide, including the lack of public awareness regarding open data, the challenge of building public trust in governments, which often takes time, and the difficulty of transforming pilot projects into sustainable initiatives.
Topic 3: "Assessing and Addressing Corruption Risk Factors in Legislation" chaired by Matthew C. Stephenson, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University
Jungoh Son, representing the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) of South Korea, shared the success of South Korea in adopting a framework for assessing corruption risks in new legislation. He mentioned that many laws, regardless of their subject matter, have a high risk of corruption if they lack clarity, transparency, and mechanisms for clear accountability. To prevent corruption from the beginning, South Korea implemented a process to assess corruption risks in legislation.
In addition to the risk assessment process, South Korea's ACRC also implements other measures. These include implementing a Code of Conduct for public officials, comprehensive disclosure of assets of politicians, and establishing safe channels for whistleblowing.
Lidya Suryani Widayati, the Head of the Legislative Drafting Department of the Indonesian Parliament, recently implemented the corruption risk assessment process in legislation. She explained that poorly drafted laws create opportunities for corruption. Therefore, during the drafting process, it is crucial to specify the scope, types, and provisions of the law, set clear deadlines, define penalties for wrongdoing, and establish appropriate behavior.
Dr. Sirilaksana Khoman, Associate Professor and former advisor to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) of Thailand, presented real-life problems in some Thai laws that lacked corruption risk assessment, leading to various issues. She cited an example of the legislation governing credit unions, which had unclear provisions, lacked transparency, and assigned inappropriate individuals to oversee them, resulting in numerous corruption cases. Therefore, conducting corruption risk assessments for every piece of legislation is of utmost importance in preventing corruption from the outset.
For those interested in watching the "International Conference on Anti-Corruption Innovations in Southeast Asia," the recorded video of the event can be found at https://bit.ly/3CH2zzV.
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