An Afghan Wedding: Tradition Melds with Bling

Last week I was a guest at a modern Afghan wedding – the wedding of the younger brother of one of my colleagues.

Summer is the season for weddings in Afghanistan. The ceremony was held in one of the very large “wedding palaces” that line a highway just outside Kabul’s central district. The building was glitzy, adorned with pulsing multi-colored lights, and reminiscent of Las Vegas. In recent years, extravagant weddings have come into vogue in the capital city, resulting in well-known stories about families of the groom bankrupted by wedding expenses or the new, young couples being indebted for life. Officials have even proposed regulation, but last night the palaces were ablaze in lights and in full swing.

Afghan Wedding Hall

In recent years, extravagant weddings have come into vogue in Afghanistan's capital city, Kabul. Often, they take place in large wedding palaces such as this one. Photo by Flickr user Lauras Eye.

Just after 6 p.m. when we arrived at the palace, the women in our group were immediately whisked away to a separate entrance just for women, and I, along with other men, were ushered into the males only area. My Afghan colleagues explained that since the days of the Taliban all weddings have been gender-segregated. Unusual for Kabul these days, there was no security cordon, no guards, no weapons in sight. Guests were not frisked, nor asked for identification.

We entered a large ballroom the size of two basketball courts. The room had been divided by a partition about 12 feet high into a women’s area and a men’s area. A band set up atop the partition enthusiastically and very loudly played modern Afghan music, providing entertainment to both halves of the hall.

On the men’s side, we were ushered to our seats – amid a veritable sea of seats and tables, the music too loud for any real conversation. Under dim fluorescent lighting, hundreds of men sat, most facing the obscured women’s side where over the partition, we could observe pulsing bright lights, a twirling dance hall orb, a sky video camera rising and falling, and many camera flashes. And we could even hear, above the blaring music, women’s happy voices and laughter.   (more…)

Withoo Phrueksanan Named Chang-Lin Tien Visiting Fellow

A month-long examination of forensic medicine enabled Dr. Withoo Phrueksanan, Assistant Dean and Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, to draw on best practices from American experience that might have implications for human rights in Thailand’s southern border provinces. A two-week affiliation with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore was followed by an observation program in Michigan, Washington DC, and Northern California.

The Asia Foundation Chang-Lin Tien Fellows Program was established to foster exchanges for leaders to meet and interact with their counterparts in Asia and the U.S. The fellowship honors the late Dr. Chang-Lin Tien, former Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, for his many accomplishments in science, higher education, and community affairs. It was created to highlight Dr. Tien’s assuming the chairmanship of The Asia Foundation Board of Trustees in 1999.

In Face of Disaster, Japanese Citizens and Government Pull from Lessons Learned

Japan’s frantic rescue efforts in response to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami catastrophe are now entering their seventh day. Over half a million evacuees are being housed in temporary shelters without adequate supplies of food, water, and other essentials. Hospitals are running short of medicine and supplies. Millions of Japanese are deprived of drinking water and face recurring power outages. The entire country, and the world, is nervously watching Japan’s attempts to avert a potentially terrifying melt-down at the Fukushima nuclear power plant 150 miles north of Tokyo.

Relief efforts begin after Japanese Earthquake

Rescue officials search for survivors in Ofunato, Japan, following a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Photo: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Matthew M. Bradley

The scale of the Tohoku disaster is just beginning to sink in, but it’s already clear that the physical destruction, economic cost, and, most tragic of all, loss of life will be without precedent in Japan’s post-World War II history.

One can only admire the self-discipline, orderliness, and patience of the Japanese people in the midst of such a horrendous emergency. But as the hours grow into days with relief supplies still slow to arrive, it comes as no surprise that criticism and complaints are starting to be registered against the government’s response thus far. (more…)

Egypt and the Philippines: Bridging 25 Years

Many are wondering what lessons the 1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines, which ousted Ferdinand Marcos after 14 years of strongman rule (which followed two terms as elected president), might hold for the current “fourth wave” of democratization sweeping through North Africa and the Middle East. Sometimes, having lived in the Philippines through these years, with all of the twists and turns, I am reminded of Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai’s response when asked to assess the French Revolution: “It is too early to say.”

People Power Monument in Philippines

Last month, President Noynoy Aquino led the 25th anniversary of the 1986 People Power at the iconic People Power Monument, above.

In early 2001, after People Power 2 had ousted President Joseph Estrada from office and Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo became president, The Asia Foundation sponsored a visit by several Filipinos to cities in the United States to explain the perspectives of the new administration. At the last stop, a long-time immigrant from the Philippines said, “Every time there is a new administration in the Philippines a group like you comes through and tells us how things are going to be better. What makes this time any different?” One of the visitors responded, “It took us more than three years after Ninoy Aquino’s assassination [in August 1983] to get rid of Ferdinand Marcos. This time it only took us four months after the jueteng [a numbers game] exposé to get rid of ‘Erap’ Estrada. We are getting better at ousting bad leaders.”

Five years later, the 20th anniversary of People Power 1 was marred by a state of emergency declared by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who was struggling to stay in the presidency after accusations of fraud in the 2004 elections. She eventually served out her term, to be succeeded by Noynoy Aquino, son of the martyred Ninoy Aquino and former President Cory Aquino, who had led the forces ousting Marcos. (more…)

Malaysia’s Middle-Income Trap

Many first-time visitors to Kuala Lumpur are quickly impressed by the large highways, ultra-modern shopping malls and, of course, the twin Petronas Towers that dominate the city’s skyline. However, some do not realize just how impressive these overwhelming signs of economic progress are – especially considering Malaysia’s recent history. As recently as 50 years ago, half of Malaysians lived in absolute poverty with a GDP per capita of around $260 (MR 788).

As recently as 50 years ago, half of Malaysians lived in absolute poverty with a GDP per capita of around $260. Today, Malaysia has been among the best-performing economies in the world since World War II.

Today, just 4 percent of Malaysians live in poverty, and GDP per capita has reached $8,100 (MR 24,300), almost doubling each decade. Malaysia has been among the best-performing economies in the world since World War II, consistently achieving an average of 7+ percent GDP growth between 1980 and 1997. Indeed, Malaysia has transformed from a poor, colonial plantation economy into a modern, upper-middle income country in the span of one generation. This represents one of the strongest records of economic and human development in recent memory.

In spite of this remarkable development, many economists fear that Malaysia is getting farther from its goal of becoming a fully developed country by 2020. They contend that Malaysia is in the so-called “middle-income trap,” in which a country gets stuck at a relatively comfortable level of income but cannot seem to take the next leap to developed nation status. The reasons for getting “stuck” are relatively simple. At low levels of income, it’s easy to take advantage of cheap labor for low-skilled manufacturing exports that facilitate the transition from low to middle income. However, making the leap from middle to high income is much more difficult. As incomes increase, so do costs, which means countries like Malaysia must “move up the value chain,” by exporting more technologically advanced products. In addition, they must innovate and use capital and labor more productively. This means having a better-educated workforce and an innovative domestic private sector that invests in research and development.

Ironically, the same policies that put Malaysia on its path to success 50 years ago may be holding it back today. Although the Malaysian economy has moved from being a raw commodity exporter to a manufacturing exporter, it has done so by relying heavily on foreign direct investment. While this is not a bad thing, only Malaysian domestic investors are going to develop innovative Malaysian businesses and products that can move the country to high-income status. Unfortunately, Malaysian domestic private investment is even lower today than it was before the 1997 Asian economic crisis, making prospects for a Malaysia-led development path even dimmer.

In addition, Malaysia’s 40-year-old New Economic Policy (NEP) – originally designed to help Bumiputera (a Malay term used to describe the indigenous people of Malaysia) compete more effectively in the economy through educational and ownership quotas – has instead hampered growth by preventing the full mobilization of human resources (particularly of ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities). Critics claim that it has also scared off some foreign investors who believe that the NEP represents too much government interference in the economy. While the NEP rightly focused on expanding opportunities for and redistributing wealth to poorer Malaysian communities when it was created, many Malaysians, including Bumiputera who have benefited from the policy, believe it is now an outdated model that discourages Malaysia’s best and brightest (from whatever ethnic background) from innovating.

In February 2010, the government announced the introduction of the New Economic Model (NEM) as part of its 10th Malaysia Plan. The NEM aims to stimulate economic growth by improving worker productivity across all sectors of society, in part through an improved need-based system of affirmative action. The government believes that the NEM will help create a knowledge-based economy, re-position Malaysia farther up the value chain, and propel Malaysia to developed-country status by 2020.

With the advent of the NEM, the government is positioning itself as an enabler or facilitator of economic development rather than a strict regulator. The primary proponents of the NEM believe that excessive government interference in the economy is dampening investor sentiment and holding back Malaysian industry. They believe that by giving private business better incentives to invest in innovative projects, it will set Malaysia on a higher growth path. Many believe that the new policy appears to have similar ideological underpinnings to the Washington Consensus or The Lisbon Treaty, expounding the virtues of deregulation and reduced state presence.

Nevertheless, this move, seen by the government as the “secret ingredient” to double Malaysia’s economy, is debatable. Many economists wonder if the timing is right. In the current global economic situation, where many governments are strengthening regulations and adopting fiscal measures to avert banking crises, Malaysia seems to be moving against the current. The grave lesson of the global economic crash of 2008 – that sometimes under-regulated capitalism can have severe consequences – seems to have had minimal impact on Malaysia’s new policies.

In addition, the NEM also propagated a “better quality of life” for Malaysian citizens with the creation of a high-income group and the reduction of the income disparity between the rich and the poor. However, evidence from many high-income countries over the years (U.S., UK, Germany) points to an emergent pattern of increased income inequality without redistributive efforts from the government. Therefore, questions must be posed about whether the NEM is sufficiently geared toward addressing these issues.

On the other hand, some critics think that the NEM does not go far enough in loosening government regulations and reforms. To date, the details of the policy have not been articulated, which some critics point to as a sign that the NEM is just political rhetoric. In addition, some wonder what the government is going to do to curb growth-killing graft and corruption and improve education to buoy the workforce. While the government has put together an Economic Transformation Programme and a Government Transformation Programme to address these critical issues, some remain skeptical that progress will be made.

Clearly, the government of Malaysia is serious about moving the country out of the “middle-income trap” and onto a higher growth path. However, in moving forward with NEM and Vision 2020, Malaysia will have to consider not just growth, but how it is going to tackle the serious challenges that could ultimately stall the progress toward development. The government will have to improve efforts to combat entrenched institutional problems like corruption. These issues will not be easily solved. But if the history of Malaysia over the past 50 years is any indication, it can, with careful policies and political will, make progress on these fronts.

Nina Merchant-Vega is The Asia Foundation’s assistant director for the Economic Reform and Development program and Herizal Hazri is program director in the Foundation’s Malaysia office. They can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected], respectively.

Zamboanga City Reaps Gains of Better Business Environment

Zamboanga City is one of the oldest cities in the Philippines, with a rich history and distinct culture. It is the third largest city in the country in terms of land area, and sixth in terms of population. The city is also a center of economic activities in Mindanao, with a modern seaport and airport that serve as the gateway of goods to the region. It also serves as the tourism hub of Western Mindanao, and is dubbed the sardine capital of the Philippines.

Until recently, Zamboanga City's local business atmosphere was stifled by enormous challenges with business registration and the proliferation of non-registered business establishments. In 2005, A series of dialogues brought city government officials together with businesses to find a win-win solution to this long standing problem. Photo by Karl Grobl.

Despite its economic and cultural significance as “Asia’s Latin City,” until recently, Zamboanga City’s local business atmosphere was stifled by enormous challenges with business registration and the proliferation of non-registered business establishments.

In conjunction with its annual Doing Business Report, which provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 183 economies, in December the International Finance Corporation (IFC) launched its second sub-national 2011 Doing Business Report in the Philippines. The report compares the regulatory environment for business in 25 cities, and Zamboanga City boasted a high sixth place. This is a remarkable achievement considering where it stood in 2005 when The Asia Foundation began a series of reforms and dialogues through its Transparent Accountable Governance (TAG) Project, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). (more…)

Premesh Chandran Named Chang-Lin Tien Visiting Fellow

A co-founder of and CEO of Malaysiakini, the leading online news distribution source in Malaysia, Mr. Premesh Chandran made presentations on his vision for developing new media in Malaysia and Southeast Asia through a social enterprise model. His visit entailed meetings with practitioners and researchers to discuss social capital markets, social entrepreneurship, and developments in new media.

The Asia Foundation Chang-Lin Tien Fellows Program was established to foster exchanges for leaders to meet and interact with their counterparts in Asia and the U.S. The fellowship honors the late Dr. Chang-Lin Tien, former Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, for his many accomplishments in science, higher education, and community affairs. It was created to highlight Dr. Tien’s assuming the chairmanship of The Asia Foundation Board of Trustees in 1999.