SINGAPORE -- Asia has been hit by three recent scandals involving a renown scientist, an upstart IT entrepreneur and a national charity in South Korea, Japan and Singapore, respectively -- Asia's three most developed economies. What lessons can one draw from them? What repercussions will they have on the social transitions shaking Asia today?
In South Korea, controversy broke out around controversial scientist Hwang Woo Suk with the finding that his groundbreaking stem-cell research was fraudulent. After confessing that his 2004 published paper in the prestigious journal Science journal (claiming a world first in cloning a stem cell from a human embryo) and his 2005 paper on speeding up the process (deriving 11 stem cell lines with fewer eggs) were based on falsified research, and then apologizing to the nation for causing it shame, Hwang went on to publicly blame fellow researchers, who he alleged had misled him.
This fall from grace of a national hero in a country known for its excellence was stunning. Some observers surmised that the scandal was a result of Seoul's traditional meritocratic pressure combined with its no-time-to-lose drive for success.