The Hindu Business Line : Unsuccessful societies have corrupt elite who suck value out of system

SOME straight and simple questions can be frightening, such as what wives and auditors ask. Kishore Mahbubani titles his book with one such: Can Asians Think? The new edition of the book, from Penguin (www.penguinbooksindia.com) is about understanding "the divide between East and West". The author is the Singapore's ambassador to the UN, and also concurrently the country's High Commissioner to Canada. He is worried that we are sailing in 21st century with "19th century mental maps", and though we are all in the same boat, courtesy globalisation, "our prevailing governance structures lead us to take care only of our own cabins on the boat."

The provocative question of Mahbubani is not directed at individual Asians, so we do not have to hide our school grades from him. "Clearly, Asians can master alphabets, add two plus two to make four, and play chess," he accepts, but points out that there are "societies that have produced brilliant individuals yet experienced a lot of grief collectively".

For centuries, Asian societies "lay prostrate and allowed themselves to be surpassed and colonised by far smaller societies." The author observes that mental colonisation was the more painful consequence; this manifested as a widespread belief that Asians were inferior to Europeans.

Yet, there is evidence that they can think, because "today many of the top students produced by American universities are of Asian origin" leading them "to the new realization that their minds are not inferior."

The success of Silicon Valley has been the IC factor - not `integrated circuits' but Indians and Chinese. "Huge numbers of Indians and Chinese have provided the brainpower needed for new software and hardware developments."

Another "mental switch" shows as the stopping of copying the West and believing they can work out their own solutions. It feels good to believe in what the author believes, though there are many continuing examples of imitation thinking in political policies where the meek public plays the role of guinea pigs for newer idea transplants. For sane Asians, however, western societies are no longer role models; "they are beginning to believe that they can attempt something different."

You would be thrilled to know that there is "a newfound confidence as well as an interest in traditional language and culture", where the increasing disposable income is spent by the Asians on reviving dance and theatre. "What we are witnessing today are only the bare beginnings of a major cultural rediscovery." That, perhaps, merits some celebration.

The 1997 financial crisis that swept through East Asia is no indication that Asian values had failed, says Mahbubani. Good governance is the antidote to economic travails. "It is associated with the willingness and ability of the government to develop economic, social and administrative systems that are resilient enough." China is `a good living example', if you look around. How? "Its leaders are not looking for the perfect political system in theory. They are searching daily for pragmatic solutions to keep their society moving forward." In contrast, we seem to be waking up daily to only contradictory statements from leaders who are busy searching for their own moorings.

The book talks of three key principles that make up "the software of success": MPH, that is, meritocracy, peace and honesty. Capitalism and democracy help in recognising merit. The author is optimistic that Asia can well take off if it allowed its best minds to emerge, flourish and provide leadership; he rues that a great deal of Asian talent it wasted because of resistance from `moribund societies' and political forces.

Peace has a high opportunity gain, in the loss that it can avert. "Just one major war in Asia — between any two major Asian powers — could propel Asia back into the 19th century" because war has the power to drive out investment and kill talent.

Honesty, we know is the best policy, but what is the author's take on that? "A polite way of drawing attention to one of Asia's most shameful aspects: corruption." Successful societies have functional elites, he writes. "They add more value to their societies than they take from it."

So, what's the opposite? "Unsuccessful societies have corrupt elites." Aaarhh... we see so many of them around, the entrenched "parasites"! A more dreadful thing that Mahbubani places before you is `the real reason' for Asian societies to have fallen behind European societies in the past five hundred years: "Asians have held Asia back."

A chapter titled "The Pacific impulse" talks of "the tidal wave of common sense and confidence" that is hitting East Asia. "Increasing numbers realise that they have wasted centuries trying to make it into the modern world. They can no longer afford to do so. After centuries, their moment has come. Why waste it over relatively petty disputes or historical squabbles?"

The author devotes a chapter for his country where he credits government policies that encourage extended families and multiracial harmony. "Every Singaporean child has to be bilingual, and there is no ethnic discrimination in school or in the civil service."

It is not a perfect society, he concedes, nor is it a paradise. "Affluence has created bad social habits: excessive consumption and waste generation."

But here is something interesting: "If the rest of the world could agree to accept the living conditions of Singaporeans, then the 5.25 billion people of our planet may need only an area the size of South Africa to live in." Earth is not crowded, after all!

Right at the end of the book are ten commandments for developing countries. One, don't blame others for failure in development. Two, acknowledge that corruption is the single most important block. Three, don't subsidise any product, nor punish the farmer to favour the city dweller. Four, encourage free market because "an alive and productive population naturally causes development". Five, borrow no more; "build only the infrastructure that is needed and create no white elephants." Six, thou shalt not reinvent the wheel; "be not prisoners of dead ideologies". Seven, "scrub the ideas of Karl Marx out of thine minds and replace them with the ideas of Adam Smith". Eight, be humble when developing and don't lecture the developed world on their sins. Nine, abandon North-South forums, "which only encourage hypocritical speeches and token gestures"; remember, countries that received the greatest aid per capita have failed most spectacularly in development. And ten, "thou shalt not abandon hope" because "people are the same the world over." If they could do it, we can, too!

A book for Asians who wish to think actively.

Economics@TheHindu.co.in

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