MANY managers of large corporations in Asia-Pacific region are fed up with the impoverishment of their families and nations because of corruption, says the president of a US research and consulting group on business ethics.
Gary Edwards, president of the Ethics Resource Centre, said: ''They are furious not only with their governments but also with their own companies, whom they blame for perpetuating corruption.'' Many of them, he said, blamed Western corporations for initiating corruption years ago.
''They realise the cost of bribery and corruption is the development of their countries,'' said Mr Edwards, who is in Hong Kong to attend a conference tomorrow.
The conference, which is aiming to establish a code of business ethics in Hong Kong, is jointly organised by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and six major chambers of commerce. It will also see the participation of the mainland-funddued group, the Hong Kong Chinese Enterprises Association.
Mr Edwards said educated people, in the managerial and professional class, did not want their children to grow up in poverty while a handful of families became incredibly wealthy.
These Asian managers were caught between the knowledge that corruption was destroying their economy and the fact that their own livelihood was dependent on multi-national corporations which perpetuated the problem, he added.
Mr Edwards has spoken to employees, managers and executives of top corporations throughout Asia-Pacific region on the issues of business and ethics.