When Collor was booted out of office, the comparisons stated being made: If a third world country rotten to the core can do, why should we stand by and watch the corruption business as usual?
I not say it stamped out corruption, but it made clear that if there was corruption, there would be consequences.
The Japanese Have the System They've Allowed
By Robert M. Orr Jr.Published: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1992
TOKYO: - Nothing could provide a more striking contrast in how voters react to official corruption than events in Brazil and Japan.
In Brazil, as evidence of graft mounted against President Fernando Collor de Mello, voters poured into the streets by the hundreds of thousands to demand his impeachment or resignation. Late last month, the Chamber of Deputies voted for impeachment, forcing Mr. Collor from office pending his trial. "People power"had triumphed in the first peaceful removal of a president in Latin American history.
Compare this to Japan, which is experiencing its third major money-politics scandal in three years, the Sagawa Kyubin affair. The relatively passive reaction of government and voters shows that corruption in Japanese public life has simply become accepted in the postwar period.
A few dozen lonely voices demanded the ouster of Shin Kanemaru, kingmaker of the governing Liberal Democratic Party. But the meagerness of the protest illustrated another postwar Japanese tradition: voter apathy to what some Japanese refer to as a third-rate political system.
Why is it that despite a seemingly endless stream of political scandals, the Liberal Democratic perpetrators have consistently been returned to office since 1955?
Another effect was the "Operation Clean hands"
Quite a few people started thinking, a corrupt to the core system can do we can do too.
...effect until 1992, when investigating magistrates in Milan began uncovering a series of bribery scandals. The city soon became known as “Bribesville” (Tangentopoli), and under “Operation Clean Hands” many leading politicians, civil servants, and prominent businessmen were arrested and imprisoned. Nearly all of Italy's political parties were involved, but the Christian...trial. "People power"had triumphed in the first peaceful removal of a president in Latin American history. |
