Sri Lanka’s potential in the new Asian hemisphere

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam

Sharing how Singapore went through short-term pain for long-term gain, an acclaimed expert on world affairs of that country said that Sri Lanka must take in the views of the public.

Inaugurating the Eminent Speakers Series at the Miloda Academy of Financial Studies recently,

Dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and National University of Singapore Professor Kishore Mahbubani said that every Government must be open to public opinion. “This makes governance in Sri Lanka a big challenge,” he asserted.

With over three decades of experience in the Singapore diplomatic service, Professor Mahbubani spoke along the lines of the potential of Sri Lanka in the new Asian hemisphere.

Addressing a packed audience, Mahbubani gave fine insights regarding the seven pillars of Western wisdom and the three G challenges, which according to him Sri Lanka will have to embrace to enhance its development.

Stating that the most fundamental question Sri Lanka should ask is ‘what did successful Asian economies wake up to?’ he said: “The reason why Asian countries are finally succeeding is because they have understood the seven pillars of Western wisdom.”

First pillar: Free

market economy

“We all know the power of free market economy,” Mahbubani said. He pointed out that it is incentives that drive productivity in a work force and the switch has to be made in this arena.

“China has adapted to this while the believers of this were originally from the West,” he stated. “Look how successful they are and we can now say that the believers in this are now in Asia.”

He stated that if one is looking for proof, they should simply look at the number of Free Trade Agreements signed in Asia while USA struggles to bring to a close just one agreement with South Korea.

Second pillar: Mastering science and technology

Opining that there has been a remarkable shift in this sphere, Mahbubani pointed that though the largest users of this used to be in the West, now it is much greatly used in the East Asia. “You don’t have to take my word for this. If you want to see change, just observe what is happening in outer space,” he said. Mahbubani went on to say that while the USA ranked first in space exploration a few decades ago, it is not the case at present. “If the USA wants to go to space now, they have to embark on a Russian space craft. This is how much change that has been happening around the world.”

Third pillar: Culture of pragmatism

Mahbubani acknowledged that in Asian counties, when they decide that it is time to learn from the world, there is nothing that could stop them from doing so.

“This is what Sri Lanka should take up. All you have to do is to go out and learn from the rest of the world. Learn to copy from the rest of the world. The problems you are facing today, some developed nation have faced them before and has the solution for them.”

Fourth pillar: Meritocracy

This being about selecting nothing but the best to run and take responsible for an entity, Mahbubani asserted the explanation as to why Asia is doing good is quite simple. “Asia has the largest school of brains. But it also has the largest school of unused brains.”

Mahbubani elaborated that governments need to think this through and make use of the “unused” segment. “This just needs to be multiplied.”

Fifth pillar: Culture of peace

Acknowledging its importance, Mahbubani expressed that though Sri Lanka has peace today, the Asia region as a whole is still far behind Europe in this regard.

“The EU has achieved the greatest peak of human civilisation, since there you just don’t have war, but the zero prospect of war,” he explained. “My dream is that we will one day we will reach a time where there will not only be zero war in Asia, but zero prospect of war within the region.”

Sixth pillar: Rule of law

Stating that this is an area of familiarity for Sri Lanka, he said: “This is an extremely important asset the West has.”

Mahbubai asserted that while Asians are still struggling with this, the region will have to seriously work on this to progress further.

Seventh pillar: Education

Commending Sri Lanka for its high literacy rates, Mahbubani stated that the exploration in this regard in the region is remarkable.

“When we link Western education to Asian minds, truly remarkable things happen and we are beginning to discover this,” he pointed.

He stressed that nothing in history has ever gone up in a straight line. “There always will be ups and downs, which are the challenges. The world will have to deal with this for the next three decades or so,” he expressed, highlighting the challenges under ‘three Gs’.

First G: Geopolitics

“This is certainly a challenge. It has been around for over 2,000 years and probably will be around for the next 2,000 years as well,” Mahbubani said.

Noting that while the world is in a time where the greatest shifts are taking place, he said such challenges of this nature are highly prevalent.

“We have to watch for relationships with the world’s greatest power, which is the USA, and the world’s greatest emerging power, which is China. If something goes wrong in that relationship, it’s normal since that is what is supposed to happen.”

Referring to the lessening tensions between USA and China and the interest of both the countries being extremely linked to one another, he opined that it is a rather strange situation that the world faces today.

Second G: Global governance

“We have to worry about how we are going to manage this one world,” Mahbubani expressed.

He pointed out that at a time when demand for global leadership is going up, supply is noted to be going down. Mahbubani linked this to the USA not having enough time to “fix” the world since it has become internally preoccupied.

Third G: Good internal governance

“The biggest lesson we are learning is that if you want to succeed and grow, you have to balance the invisible hand of economics with the visible hand of good governance,” he said, affirming that Asia is capable of this.

Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe