‘SL must learn fast from mistakes of successful Asian economies’

Thursday, 16 May 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam

With the world undergoing a fundamental change while Sri Lanka was preoccupied with its three-decade war, an acclaimed expert on international affairs yesterday advised that the nation has to learn from other countries to make up for what was lost.

Speaking on Sri Lanka’s potential in the new Asian hemisphere, National University of Singapore/Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Dean and Professor Kishore Mahbubani expressed that change could come for the country if it was open to adapt and willing to intelligently take up solutions that other economies in the world had previously devised for problems faced while achieving development.

Sharing his views at the inauguration of the Eminent Speakers series held at the Miloda Academy of Financial Studies, which was also attended by Secretary to the Cabinet Sumith Abeysinghe, Finance and Planning Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, and Ambassador of Japan Nobuhito Hobo, Prof. Mahbubani said that the world is now seeing an end to Western domination.

“We live in a world of two narratives, the first is the Western and the second that is emerging is the Asian narrative. Sri Lanka has to understand this if it is to be a part of it,” he said. Stressing that this lessening of Western domination does not mean the end of the West, he said the return of Asia is being witnessed, referring to the developments of USA and China over the past few decades, which shows that USA’s shares in the global economy dropped from 25% to 18% during the period while China’s shares increased from 2.2% to a thumping 18%.

He asserted that the most fundamental question Sri Lanka should ask is what successful Asian countries are waking up to.“If your country grasps this, even if you join the successful ones later, you can learn from the mistakes made by others.

The problems that you are facing today were faced by some other country at some point, for which they had found solutions. It’s about learning from it, which is actually much easier,” Mahbubani pointed.

Shedding light on why the successful economies managed to get to where they are today, Mahbubani asserted: “They succeeded because that understood the seven pillars of Western wisdom.”

Stating that the first pillar is having a free market economy, he pointed that Asia now greatly believes in Free Trade Agreements, whereas the USA is struggling to enter such agreements.

Mahbubani went on to say that the other pillars were mastering in science and technology, culture of pragmatism, meritocracy, culture of peace, rule of law and education.

Elaborating on the pillars, Mahbubani said nothing in history had ever gone up in a straight line. “There are always ups and downs. The challenges will always be there; you need to identify and tackle them accordingly,” he noted.

Listing the challenges faced by growing economies under three Gs, Mahbubani emphasised that the first challenge is geopolitical, the second is global governance and third, internal challenges of good governance.

Noting that the demand for global leadership is inversely proportional to its supply, Mahbubani stated: “If you want to succeed and grow, you have to balance the invisible hand of economics with the visible hand of good governance.”