By M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 4: Modern Model States

The Celtic Tiger (Cont’d)

Liberalization went beyond the economic sphere. It was Lemass’s political genius to use old-style nationalism, an inherent part of the Irish character, to forge progressive changes. A considerable part of that change involved a marked curtailment in the role of the Church both in the affairs of the state and in the lives of individuals. Thus birth control and sale of oral contraceptives were legalized in1979, despite severe opposition from the Church.

With the widespread use of birth control and the increasing participation of women in the workforce, Ireland’s former dizzyingly high birthrate declined substantially. The large unruly brood of yore is now replaced by one considerably smaller, but much better clothed, housed, and educated.
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By M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 4: Modern Model States

The Celtic Tiger

Ireland is synonymous with emigration. Throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries Ireland’s biggest “export” was its people; they were desperate to escape the wretched conditions of their homeland. Only recently was this trend reversed, with Irish émigrés returning to work in the republic’s burgeoning hi-tech and other industries.

In absolute numbers, the Irish immigrants were not large; there were far more Chinese and Indians who emigrated. But as a percentage of their home population, the number of Irish who left was truly staggering. During the Great Famine of 1845-48, out of a population of eight million, two million left: one in four! Imagine what would have happened had a quarter of China’s population left!
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By M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 4: Modern Model States

The Asian Miracle – South Korea (Con’td)

The Koreans were diligent learners; they bested the Japanese. The hard-working Japanese looked lazy in comparison to the maniacal Koreans, so complete and successful the emulation.

The headlong rush towards industrialization carried a heavy social toll. With resources diverted towards heavy industries and the military, precious little was left for social development. Housing prices hit the roof and prices of common consumer goods spiraled up. These social problems were compounded by Parks’ increasingly authoritarian rule and the menacing activities of his Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that seemed to have learned only too well from the excesses of its American counterpart. Legitimate students’ and workers’ protests were brutally suppressed, turning their victims into martyrs.
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by Bakri Musa

Chapter 4: Modern Model States

The Asian Miracle – South Korea

In the 1950’s, the Filipino government was sending community development officers to the Republic of Korea (ROK) to help the Koreans recover from the devastations of war. Today, the two Asian nations could not be more different in the quality of life of their people.

The Economist noted that in 1964 Zambia had a per capita GDP twice that of South Korea, but by 1999 the Korean figures had rocketed to over 27 times that of Zambia’s. South Korea is now among the top twelve trading nations. Its upward trajectory was briefly interrupted by the Asian economic crisis of 1997, but it is now back on track.

No one would have predicted back in the 1950’s that this Asian nation would be a model of success that it is today. Indeed the first half of the last century had not been kind to South Korea. Yet it succeeded, and did so by flouting every conceivable rule of modern developmental economics. It unabashedly adopted central planning, complete with Soviet-style Five Year Plans and with the state assuming a dominant role in business and the economy generally. The state directed major investment decisions and allocated scant resources, including credit. It was not shy in strategically intervening in the economy when it deemed necessary. South Korea’s strategy had been labeled “guided capitalism.” Read the rest of this entry »

By M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 3: Lessons From The Past

The Reformers’ Charter Oath of Five Articles

Just three months after being restored, the reformers, through the emperor, made a historic proclamation called The Charter Oath of Five Articles. It promised:

1. Public discussion of all matters;

2. The participation of all classes, high and low, in the administration of the state;

3. Freedom of all persons to pursue their own calling;

4. Abandoning the evil customs of the past and to rely on the just laws of Nature;

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By M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 3: Lessons From The Past

The Meiji Restoration

Japan of the 18th Century was a feudal society ruled by a series of territorial warlords, the shoguns. The society was also rigidly stratified, with the samurai or warrior class on top, followed by peasants, artisans and, way at the bottom, the merchants. Surprisingly the peasants were regarded higher than the merchants because those peasants, being farmers, at least produced something useful and tangible.

The foreign missionaries that had come to Japan were preaching to an increasingly receptive mass, a development that threatened the established social order. The Japanese were only too aware that in nearby countries, in particular China, the foreigners were becoming very assertive. The shoguns rightly viewed the mounting activities of foreigners around and within Japan with increasing alacrity.
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By Bakri Musa

Chapter 3: Lessons From The Past

The European Reformation

The Reformation refers to the religious revolution that took place in Western Europe during the 16th century. The pivotal event occurred in October 31, 1517, when the German preacher, Martin Luther, publicly posted his Ninety-Five Theses challenging the authority and practices of the Catholic Church. Needless to say, the Pope was not amused. Luther’s aim was to reform the institution; instead his protest ended up splitting the church, hence the terms Reformation and Protestant.

Luther was not the first, nor the only one to protest against the excesses of the Church. To understand why there was such widespread discontent among Christians then, an account of the behaviors and practices of the church establishment at the time is warranted.

The Church during Luther’s time was more than a pan-European religious institution. It was also the unchallenged social, political, and even economic power. Having wielded unchallenged authority for so long, it was inevitable that corruption, nepotism (or to put it in modern political term, cronyism), and other unsavory practices would emerge among Church leaders.
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By M Bakri Musa

Chapter 2: Why Some Societies Progress, Others Regress

The Seminal Role of the Individual

The preceding discussion focused on society. It is the function of society and its culture to mould its members into a preexisting pattern through socialization and acculturation. The intention is to maintain the status quo; it is necessarily static to ensure that the values and nature of that society are propagated and maintained; it is a mechanism to ensure societal stability.

Individuals are by nature unique, each of has our own preferences and choices, our likes and dislikes. Left to our own devices, human society will not be possible. We would be like a bunch of wild cats, marauding on our own. Ever try to corral a bunch of them? But even with wild animals a certain pack behavior is identifiable – a primordial societal form.
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By M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 2: Why Some Societies Progress, Others Regress

Culture As Society’s Looking Glass

Culture also influences the way one views the world, both physical and social. Culture acts as a collective looking glass. In my earlier book The Malay Dilemma Revisited, I recounted how the British, in trying to encourage Malays to save, increased the interest rates on postal saving accounts (the only banking facility subscribed to by Malays then). To the surprise of the British, Malays did not respond. The greater the inducement (higher interest rates) the less responsive Malays were. It appeared to those British economists that Malays did not respond to the usual economic incentives.

It took the brilliance of an indigenous economist, Ungku Aziz, to appreciate that on the contrary, Malays are indeed diligent savers. Visit any Malay house in the kampong of the past, and there hanging in the roof of the serambi (verandah) was a cut bamboo, tabong, in which the homeowner had put his saved money. When the time of need arrived, the bamboo would be split open and out came the savings. Malays saved for the pilgrimage to Mecca (dear to all Muslims), weddings, and old age. They did not use the conventional institutions because Malays equated interest with usury, which is haram (forbidden) in Islam. Thus Malays viewed the colonials’ raising the interest rates as enticing us to a life of sin. Those white devils!
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By M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 2: Why Some Societies Progress, Others Regress

“Progressive” Versus “Static” Cultures

In 1999, Harvard’s Academy for International and Area Studies convened a symposium whose proceedings were published in the book, Culture Matters. As expected, the contributors are committed believers of the creed that cultural factors shape economic and political development. The natural corollary would be how can we ameliorate or negate factors in the culture that are obstacles to progress and encourage those that facilitate it.

Societies can be divided into those that have “progressive culture,” that is, a value system that promotes development within that society, and “static culture,” which of course favors the status quo, and thus lack of progress.

Time orientation, with the emphasis on the future rather than the present or the past, is one trait of a progressive society. This future must not be too far ahead as in the hereafter (the preoccupation of medieval Christians and present-day fundamentalist Muslims), rather for the immediate future of the present life. Read the rest of this entry »

By M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 2: Why Some Societies Progress, Others Regress

Culture As Society’s Genes

Culture is to society what genes are to an individual. Culture forms the framework for development for a society, both under normal circumstances but also more importantly, under differing and stressful conditions. Likewise, our genes predict our eye and skin colors, as well as our reactions to specific environmental conditions, as for example, our propensity to develop specific diseases under certain conditions. Culture does that for a society, as exemplified by the response of the Marioris to the invasion by the Maoris. Just like genes, culture is transmitted from one generation to the next, and it remains remarkably stable with each generation transmitting its values to the next through the process of acculturation. In traditional societies, such acculturations take place informally in the family and other social settings; in modern societies, at schools and similar institutions.

Changes in genes, or more accurately the distribution of the changed gene in a population, do occur through natural selection, but very slowly. Likewise with culture, changes do occur but very slowly as evidenced by the subsequent divergent cultural transformations of the Marioris and the Maoris conditioned by their particular environment.
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By M Bakri Musa

Chapter 2: Why Some Societies Progress, Others Regress

Culture Matters

Long before the Europeans were sending their sailors to explore the waters of the Orient, the Chinese were already regularly plying the same seas with their elaborate sailing junks. From 1405 and 1431 the Chinese had undertaken several maritime expeditions, venturing as far west as Madagascar, sailing in huge flotillas of about 300 vessels each.

Their ships were not mere junks; each measured in excess of 400 feet long and 160 feet wide, multi-decked, and capable of ferrying hundreds of personnel. They made Columbus’s 85-foot Santa Maria nothing but a lake dinghy by comparison. Those junks had grand staterooms, staggered masks, and tiered sails. They were the original luxury yachts, fit for the representatives of the Son of Heaven and their guests.
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By M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 2: Why Some Societies Progress, Others Regress

Next: The Economics of Geography

Modern economists can quantify the effects of geography on the economy. Jeffrey Sachs, now at Columbia University, introduced the concept of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) density, a function of per capita GDP and population density, and showed that coastal, temperate Northern-hemisphere economies have the highest economic densities. They form the core of the economic zones of the world. These areas include Western Europe, the coastal regions of China, Japan, Korea, and the Western and Eastern seaboards of North America.

Geography affects economic development in three major ways. First is through the ease of transporting goods, people, and ideas. Because water transportation is much cheaper and more efficient than overland, coastal areas have distinct advantages over the hinterland. Second, geography affects the prevalence of diseases, especially those involving vectors (malaria and mosquitoes; schistosomiasis and snails). These diseases are endemic in the tropics and hold back economic development by significantly reducing workers’ productivity. Malaysia’s remarkable economic progress is in part attributable to its success in eradicating or at least controlling vector-borne diseases, especially malaria. Read the rest of this entry »

By M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 2: Why Some Societies Progress, Others Regress

Culture and Geography: An Experiment of Nature

In Guns, Germs, and Steel Diamond describes an experiment of nature to illustrate the influence of geography on culture. The vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean contains myriads of islands that are populated by Polynesians. They all have a common ancestry and in the millennium surrounding the birth of Christ their descendents independently colonized and inhabited the various islands. These range from large land masses (New Zealand, Hawaii) to tiny atolls; their geology ranges from volcanic soil to limestone outcroppings; and their climate from lush tropical (Guam) to subtropical (Hawaii) and temperate (New Zealand and Chatham Islands). As these islands were separated by vast expanse of ocean, there were minimal subsequent interactions between the various settlers. They were thus left to chart their own future, conditioned by their unique physical environments. The original Polynesians shared the same culture, language, biology, and state of technological development. They were all familiar with domesticated plants and animals; indeed they brought these species along with them as they settled the various islands.
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By M Bakri Musa

Chapter 2: Why Some Societies Progress, Others Regress

Geography As Destiny

It is easy to understand and accept the premise that geography plays a major role in deciding the fate of a nation. Intuitively one can readily see that the Arabs are fabulously wealthy because of their vast oil deposits. Economists have long clung to the idea of comparative advantage afforded by the luck of geography. Portugal’s Mediterranean climate enables it to produce cheaper and better wines than Britain. The easy availability of coal in Britain on the other hand, made possible the steam revolution.

Access to navigable waterways and oceans confer immense advantages. For this reason Malacca was a center of vigorous Malay civilization for a long time. Through international commerce and the consequent intermixing of various cultures, Islam entered and became established in the Malay world through that port city.

Yet like many ideas that seem right, geography cannot be the full answer. There are too many exceptions of countries doing well despite seemingly no natural resources or favorable geographic factors. Hong Kong and Singapore are two oft-cited examples. But even here one cannot ignore geography entirely. Read the rest of this entry »

By M Bakri Musa

Chapter 2: Why Some Societies Progress, Others Regress
Biology in Human History

It is also easy to fall for the trap of biologic determinism. In surveying the globe today, the most advanced nations are in Western Europe: America, and Australia. These are, to use a familiar term, White man’s countries. Meanwhile the whole of tropical Africa is backward and primitive. The most obvious difference is the skin color of their inhabitants. Skin color thus becomes the most identifiable and ready surrogate indicator of ability. As skin color is biologically determined, it therefore follows that these other abilities must also be so determined.

The Japanese take comfort in their light skin color to give them the confidence to compete with Caucasians. In the days of apartheid South Africa, the Japanese were genuinely flattered when given the status of “Honorary Whites.” They had “made it,” at least in their own eyes as well as to the racist South Africans.
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By M. Bakri Musa

[Presented at the Third Annual Alif Ba Ta Forum, “1Malaysia Towards Vision 2020,” Rochester Institute of Technology, NY, December 5, 2009, organized by Kelab UMNO NY-NJ. The presentation can be viewed at www.youtube.com (search under “Bakri Musa RIT”) or through this link]

Part Six of Six: Q&A Con’td

Q 10: Can you give us examples of successful countries we can emulate? In one of your books you suggest South Korea, but it is so far ahead to make it a valid model for us.

MBM: Did you know that in the 1950s the Philippines was sending foreign aid workers to South Korea? How the world has changed! Today it is the Philippines that is an economic basket case. That is precisely my point; countries can change quickly, for better or worse. To re-emphasize, if you do not strive to reach Montreal, you would quickly slide back to Tijuana. Standing still is not an option.
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By M Baki Musa
Introduction and Overview
The Outline

This book has two parts. The first, “Perspectives on Development,” begins with the chapter exploring why some societies progress while others regress. The chapter following recaps the lessons of past societies that successfully overcame their stagnant conditions and then went on a trajectory of progress. The examples I choose are early Islam, the European Reformation, and the Meiji Restoration. The chapter after that covers three contemporary model states: two are positive examples—the “Asian tiger” (South Korea) and the “Celtic tiger” (Ireland) – while the third is a negative one, Argentina. I conclude this first part with a chapter on globalization, the prevailing and dominant force shaping the world today.

Globalization is now a reality. While there are many imperfections and inequities with the system, nonetheless for small nations like Malaysia it is best not to dwell on them. Suffice that Malaysia should concentrate on avoiding and minimizing the pitfalls, and on better preparing her citizens to face this new reality and its associated challenges. Once Malaysia is a full and active participant in globalization, then it will be in a better position to improve the system. Until then it would be presumptuous for Malaysians to presume to preach to the larger world. Besides, there are greater minds elsewhere now addressing the many inequities and translocations associated with globalization. Read the rest of this entry »

By M Bakri Musa

Introduction and Overview
A Discussion on Causation

The numerous theories to explain why some societies develop and prosper while others languish and stagnate revolve around three broad themes: biology, geography, and culture. The first two factors are immutable; there is nothing that can be done to change a nation’s biological heritage or its geographical attributes. Culture on the other hand can and does change.

The popularity of the various theories varies with time. The prevailing view often coincides with the beliefs held by members of the dominant societies of the day. During the heyday of imperialism, biology took center stage. The Europeans, being the most advanced nations, easily believed that they were favored by nature and endowed with the most desirable characteristics: God’s perfection personified. The “White Man’s burden” mentality (they considered themselves divinely chosen to lead others) was a reflection of this belief in their inherent superiority.

Later, with the discovery of the importance of natural resources and trade, geographical attributes and strategic locations became popular explanations. The current favorite revolves around culture. That is, there is something in the cultures of the various societies that either predispose (or cause) them to develop; or conversely, impede their progress. In effect, culture is destiny. Economists emphasize the crucial role of institutions (an aspect of culture) in development; the backwardness of many Third World countries is caused largely by to their lack of effective and honest institutions.
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