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CIAO DATE: 10/00
Foreign Policy
Global Newsstand: Malaysia Loves (Hates) Globalization
Chandran Jeshurun
*
PEMIKIR, October-December 1999, January-March 2000
Malaysian thinkers seem to feel threatened by continued Western dominance of the "new economy." Blame the feeble economic state of most of the countries in the Asia-Pacific region, still reeling from the financial crisis of mid-1997. (A World Bank representative in the region estimates that it will take five to six years for some countries to recover to their precrisis standards of living.) But despite their suspicion of new forms of colonialism, many Malaysian intellectuals also seem to acknowledge the urgent need for structural reform in the financial systems and fiscal policies of Malaysia and other countries of the developing world.
In a recent issue of Pemikir (Thinker), published quarterly by the Utusan Group of Malaysia (which also publishes the leading Malay newspaper, Utusan Melayu), one-time Foreign Minister Ghazali Shafie explains that globalization, properly managed, helps Malaysia and its regional partners better confront environmental problemssuch as Indonesiašs environmentally specious farming practices. Planters in Sumatra and Borneo burn and clear land for cultivation during the hot, dry season; but this technique chokes the atmosphere in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore for weeks and months on end with a thick, hazardous haze. It is difficult to imagine an effective "national" response.
It is not just the environment that complicates life for states that choose insular policies over collaboration with regional allies. When a hostage situation unfolded in east Malaysia in April 2000, the drama sorely tested the bilateral relations between two Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, the Philippines and Malaysia. The usually vocal President Mahathir of Malaysia remained noticeably silent on the crisis and on the demands of the Philippine-Muslim rebels — a new commission for Philippine refugees in Malaysia, for instance.
Admittedly, Ghazali is wary of fully embracing the G word. Although he defends the promise of transnational cooperation, he still seems uneasy about the idea of a borderless world. Nevertheless, he is adamant that regional organizations, such as ASEAN, overcome their troubling lethargy. Indeed, after having spent years thrashing out the implementation of an ASEAN free-trade area, the groupšs economic ministers recently agreed to slow down the timetable because some members, Malaysia among them, were reluctant to do away with their protective tariffs.
If such organizations succeed, of course, the West may not be happy. Many Malaysian pundits and thinkers believe the West, particularly the United States, practices a double standard when it comes to free trade. University of Malaysia at Sabah scholar Asmady Idris argues this point in a combative piece from the first issue of 2000. Why, he asks, should the North American Free Trade Agreement be legitimate but not an East Asian Economic Caucus such as the one proposed by Mahathir? Widespread opinion in the region, shared by Idris, holds that protectionism under the guise of free trade agreements is all right for the West as long as it maintains unlimited access to open markets elsewhere in the world.
Malaysian intellectuals might have continued to ignore globalization and international opinion were it not for the huge financial hit the country took when Mahathir ousted and jailed former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibraham in late 1998. The Malaysian establishment has taken note of the cost of global disapproval, developing a newfound, albeit reluctant, respect for world opinion. To be fair, Mahathir has always linked his domestic agenda to the global economy — but on this point, he has been something of a voice in the wilderness among his compatriots.
Still, from the tone and content of most Malaysian thinking on globalization, it seems that ideological or intellectual concerns on the international level still take a back seat to domestic politics. Ironically, on this point, Malaysians are probably in lock step with most of the world.
Endnotes:
*: Chandran Jeshurun is with the Malaysian International Affairs Forum. Back.