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Mahathir's
medicine J. R. Jayewardene got down Lee Kwan Yew, the astute Singaporean leader and statesman. Later, Singapore's then Deputy PM. Goh. Chok Thong flew to Colombo, spent a week studying the situation and submitted a report which probably is now gathering dust in the President's archives. Not ages ago, Singapore and Malaysia looked to Sri Lanka as a model emerging nation. That was about 40 years back. Today we need to get down their leaders to tell us how they succeeded while we lagged behind. In many ways, Malaysia is a better example for Sri Lanka than Singapore because that country is not a mere jot of a city-state thriving as a trading outpost. Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country, with a rural economy and an insurgency that was put down by military force. There are indeed many areas in which Sri Lanka is still ahead of Malaysia and these are in the spheres of civil liberties (however sparsely available) and in political activism. Multiparty democracy thrives here whereas in Malaysia what obtains is one-party rule, almost. The press is relatively free here in Sri Lanka whereas in Malaysia a government issued licence is a prerequisite for publishing. Trade union and worker rights are better entrenched here than in Malaysia. But Sri Lankans will ask pertinently -- what are our priorities right now -- economic development or democracy? Dr. Mahathir is no admirer of western democracy, and is fervently of the view that this form of government does not suit Asian nations. He is also no admirer of the international lending institutions, and told his enchanted audience at the BMICH that Malaysia's privatization programme had a different raison d'etre than ours. He said state-run ventures were not having the desired motivation, and therefore privatization was warranted, but this was not to give in to foreign companies for a few dollars, but to trigger local investment and push the local entrepreneurs towards success. Mahathir can afford to talk of success because he succeeded. There is no more proof of the pudding than in the eating. He has brought Malaysia from being a backward, economically struggling nation, towards prosperity. He was mindful to say that Malaysia is not a star performer on the world stage, but that within a relatively short period, the country kept gaining, eventually joining the club of the economically, developed nations. There are many points to ponder. In Sri Lanka, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is a follower of the Malaysian model. He tried this experiment when he was PM in 2002-2004, but he forgot to ensure he did not neglect the grassroots in the process of pushing the reforms he wanted. He tried to energize the agriculture sector the same way Mahathir did -- turning paddy fields into agro-business industrial ventures, but he didn't have the time to see things to a conclusion. Arguably the most important lesson Mahathir imparted was the need to focus on policy. He was a stickler for hard work -- almost to the point of perfection. He knew how to plan, implement those plans and achieve the targets. But the advantage he would have had is that he was not being dragged down by the weight of the kind of democratic freedoms we enjoy. Those who dared to oppose him, like his own erstwhile deputy PM Anwar Ibrahim were all slapped in jail -- no questions asked. On the other hand he took Malaysia's per capita income from US $ 450 to US $ 9000 in 20 years, and Malaysia to the status of 17th largest trading partner in the world. All this with his 'guided democracy' flavoured with 'a little bit of totalitarianism ". At a separate meeting hosted by the BOI, Dr. M talked of bogus democracy and referred to the world's three biggest liars -- Bush, Blair and Howard having being re-elected by their people at elections. But the fact of the matter is that all three of them were re-elected because their respective economies were doing well. So the moral of the story is that no matter that you are a democrat or a dictator -- if the economy is doing well, you get to be Head of Government. In Sri Lanka, the JVP leadership troika is currently witnessing the wonders of capitalist Japan. There is definitely a strong democratic tradition in Japan in contrast to Malaysia. Incidentally, Malaysia took its guidance from Japan -- where again, political stability has been the key to economic development. The Mahathir doctrine of looking East for a model - it became his manthra really -- may be appropriate for Sri Lanka as well. It's time that the political leadership which has been largely responsible for the economic retardation of this country -- and this includes the LTTE in the Wanni -- thought of the larger picture. The LTTE top guns too have travelled the world, and must surely be seeing that this country is the sick man of Asia, as the Finance Minister correctly pointed out recently. |
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