This first edition of Government at a Glance Southeast Asia 2019 draws on data collected from ten Southeast Asian countries to better inform public sector reforms and evidence-based policy making in the region. The 34 indicators cover key aspects of public management, including public finance and economics, public employment, budgeting practices and procedures, strategic human resources management, digital and open government, and citizen-centric services.
This work was led by Zsuzsanna Lonti (OECD) and Hanif Rahemtulla (ADB). It was drafted by Juliana Chia (ADB), Claudia Chwalisz (OECD), Santiago González (OECD) and Alessandro Lupi (OECD). Major drafting contributions were received from Anne Keller (OECD, Chapter 4); Cristina Mendes (OECD, Chapter 5); Reginald Dadzie (OECD), Barbara Ubaldi (OECD) and João Vasconcelos (OECD, Chapter 6); and Craig Matasick (OECD, Chapter 6). The following people were instrumental in the conception and development of this publication; from OECD: Marcos Bonturi (Director of Public Governance Directorate) and Edwin Lau (Head of Budgeting and Public Expenditures Division); from ADB: Stephen Groff (former Vice-President of Operations in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific), Bambang Susantono (Vice-President of Knowledge Management), Woochong Um (Director General, Sustainable Development and Climate Change), Ramesh Subramaniam (Director General, Southeast Asia Department), Chiara Bronchi (Chief Thematic Officer, Sustainable Development and Climate Change), Sona Shrestha (Director, Southeast Asia Department), Gambhir Bhatta (Advisor, Sustainable Development and Climate Change and Chief of Knowledge Advisory Services Center) and Bruno Carrasco (Chief of the Governance Thematic Group, Sustainable Development and Climate Change).
We thank Stella Balgos (ADB), Salma Dahir, Guillaume Lafortune, Kate Lancaster, Raquel Paramo, Clare Rogers and Andrea Uhrhammer for their help in preparing and editing this publication. The cover is an original drawing by Jeffrey Fisher.
This joint publication between the OECD and the ADB is the result of contributions from a wide range of sources and expertise. This work was co-financed with resources and technical support from the ADB, and the World Bank for the budget practices and procedures survey. It also benefitted from the support of the International Budget Partnership, OECD-Korea Policy Centre, the Korea Development Institute, the Korea Institute of Public Finance, the Public Expenditure Managemenet Network in Asia (PENMA) and the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission of Thailand, as well as independent technical experts (Ha Thi Thu Huong, Willy McCourt, Mohammad Habibur Rahman, Soupha Rawady, Thy Try, Damian West and Ngu Wah Win) and local country co-ordinators (Le Duy Binh and Zaw Oo).
The authors express their gratitude to country officials from Southeast Asia who replied to the surveys and helped during the data validation process. Furthermore, we thank the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat for their assistance in disseminating the publication to the country officials for validation purposes, and our colleagues at the Singapore Prime Minister’s Office for their support and assistance in facilitating channels of communication with government authorities in other Southeast Asian countries.