PARALLEL SESSION i: THEME D - "ETHICS"

Chaired by Dr. Masao Kikuchi, an associate professor of public policy and management at Meiji University, Japan, this Parallel Session tackled ethics in public administration. The presenters for this session are Dr. Naoki Fujiwara, Mr. Arun Sharma and Mr. Yanuar Falak Abiyunus. 

In the paper entitled Public Private Partnerships for Overseas Expansion: A Survey of Municipal Water Services in Japan, Dr. Fujiwara focused on Japanese local governments' efforts to expand their water services abroad for economic regional development. The four cases of urban municipal water services expanding abroad that were examined in the paper were Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka and Kitakyushu - all of which developed their own public-private platforms. Dr. Fujiwara concluded that the efforts of Japanese localities' overseas expansion efforts of such municipal water services have influenced public organizations to adopt reforms in order to help create demand overseas for local water and sewerage industries and to support regional water service-related companies going abroad. 

On the other hand, another paper entitled Soliciting Antecedents of Tax Ethics: An Indian Perspective tackled the matter of government taxation by using statistical analysis. The study done by Mr. Sharma identified the determinants of Indian taxpayers’ morale and examined the taxpayers’ satisfaction with the government’s efforts to stimulate compliance. 

Lastly, Mr. Abiyunus presented Assessment of a Tax Allowance Policy: The Case of Footwear Industry in Indonesia. Indonesia's footwear industry receives incentives (i.e. tax allowance) to support its competitiveness. Despite this being the case, very limited investments in the industry are being applied and utilized for the tax allowance amid new substantial investors. Mr. Abiyunus' article assessed Indonesia's tax allowance policy in terms of five criteria of good tax policy, namely Certainty, Simplicity, Transparency and Visibility, Accountability to taxpayers, and Responsiveness.