Weekly Update: Asia

Indonesia – Indonesia Business Links (IBL), CIPE’s long-time anti-corruption partner in Indonesia, conducted a business ethics workshop for employees and outside vendors of PT Pam Lyonnaise Jaya (commonly known as Palyja), a water utility company and subsidiary of the Suez Environment Corporation. This workshop was modeled after similar programs that IBL has run for other large Indonesian corporations, as it outlined the country’s relevant anti-corruption laws and explained how many “traditional” informal business practices are, in fact, illegal. IBL also stressed the long-term business value of ethical business practices. Earlier this month, IBL completed its Code of Conduct Handbook for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which provides real-world case studies of small Indonesian businesses that reduced corruption in their operations by installing strong employee codes of conduct.

Philippines – The Hills Center for Corporate Governance at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) secured the formal endorsement of and support from the Davao Chamber of Commerce for its anti-corruption work with small Philippine businesses. The Davao Chamber would like to learn from AIM how to conduct anti-corruption training workshops for its member companies. AIM’s series of anti-corruption workshops for SMEs is the centerpiece of its project with CIPE, and the Davao Chamber wants to implement AIM’s training methodology as a service to its members.