Public Management and Policy Transfer in South-East Asia

Abstract

This chapter challenges the notion that New Public Management (NPM) is being globalized. The impact of NPM was analysed in relation to three governments in South-East Asia - Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. The multi-level approach to the study of policy transfer emphasizes the importance of investigating the administrative and cultural context within which a particular policy is being transplanted. A model of administrative change was developed for analyzing the crucial attributes of social and economic systems that may make them amenable to transplantation. In Malaysia, there is a reluctance to acknowledge policy transfer, from both the West and neighbouring countries, particularly in Singapore. Given Singapore's policy learning imperative, it is not surprising that many of the reforms, as well as others introduced before the advent of NPM, are examples of policy transfer. Public sector reform appears to be more important to elites than simply changing or banishing bureaucracy.

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