Organizer: Barbara Watson Andaya, University of Hawai'i
Chair: Charnvit Kasetsiri, Thammasat University
Singapore's Rapid Industrialization: A Re-Assessment
Leonard J. Perry, University of Technology, Sydney
Controversy has recently arisen over the extent to which productivity growth has contributed to the rise in economic prominence of many of Asia's newly industrialized economies (NIEs). Krugman (Foreign Affairs, Nov./Dec. 1994) and others have, for example, challenged the orthodox view that Asia's NIEs have experienced rapid economic growth because of the application of improved technology. Krugman argues, instead, that rapid economic growth has been achieved mainly by the application of a greater volume of labor and capital resources, rather than the more efficient use of those resources.
In this paper the issue of productivity growth and resource utilization is re-examined with respect to Singapore. It is revealed that, by re-analyzing employment and output data for various key sectors, productivity growth was actually negative during certain critical stages of development. These findings permit a re-interpretation of Singapore's early period of rapid growth. It is suggested that early periods of rapid employment growth, though marked by inefficiency, may nevertheless have contributed to the mobilization and reskilling of labor. In the longer term, this enhanced the quality of labor resources and labor employability.
Pies in the Sky?: "Philippines 2000" and Agrarian Reform in the
Philippines
J. R. Nereus O. Acosta, Xavier University
This paper will first dissect the lofty goals of the Ramos administration with regards to an overarching vision of making the Philippines a newly industrializing country by the year 2000 (the government's operative term is "attaining NIC-hood"). Juxtaposed with this would be a discussion on the gains and inadequacies of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) enacted in 1988 and hailed as a landmark legislation on social justice in a post-Marcos era. The presupposition here is that the Ramos administration is bent on attaining faster industrialization with its vigorous programs of attracting foreign investors and its dogged drive to bring the national economy closer to the orbit of a world capitalist economy, as evidenced by the country's entry into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in late 1994. This general thrust may serve to undermine a more substantive delivery of the social justice provisions of the 1987 Constitution, including the administration of the CARP.
While private enterprise/industrialization and social justice programs may not be necessarily mutually exclusive, the serious pursuit of both ends breeds problem areas. This paper will look into such areas, like the movement towards a careful management and preservation of natural resource bases (forests, seas, minerals) and the claims of ancestral lands by indigenous communities colliding with development plans that underscore the tapping of newer sources of energy to fuel industrialization and the allowing of private interests to exploit or lay claim to tracts of land and remaining natural resources. Related to this is a discussion on the state's actions on rationalizing land use even as growing landlessness within a huge small-farmer sector exists.
This paper serves to extrapolate the directions of both the agrarian reform program and the imperatives of economic growth and industrialization, and how these competing agenda impact on a wider political discourse.
Land Use Conversion and Urban Growth in the Northern Coast of West Java,
Indonesia
Tommy Firman, Institute of Technology, Bandung
This paper will discuss land use conversion and urban growth in the northern coast of West Java, covering the area of District Serang, Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi, Karawang and the Special Region of Jakarta. The main argument of the paper is that this process essentially has been driven by market forces. In other words, the article will try to show links between urban growth and capital development in the region, and how the external factors, notably foreign investment, have significanly affected the process of land conversion in the region.
The West Coast of West Java Region is the fastest growing and most urbanized region in Indonesia, where most of the foreign and domestic investment in manufacturing, finance, property, and services in Indonesia are concentrated. This process has been going on since the early 1970s, when the Government of Indonesia started to invite foreign and domestic investors to expand their businesses in the country by creating a favourable climate for business development.
This paper will be organized into four parts. Part one briefly discusses the socio-economic characteristics of the region. Foreign and domestic investment growth is examined in part two, whereas part three analyzes the ways in which the investment development has affected land use conversion and urban growth in the region. Part four will conclude the discussion.
The Rise of Sub Economies: Growth Areas and Political Cooperation in ASEAN
Pushpa Thambipillai, University of Brunei
Southeast Asia comprises some of the fastest growing economies in the world. Aided by a booming Pacific rim, member countries of ASEAN, the main vehicle for cooperation in Southeast Asia, have overcome most of their political obstacles to seek a collective compromise for the pursuit of economic benefits. While ASEAN has not often been speedy with its economic programs, it has nevertheless shown that micro level aspects of cooperation within ASEAN, be it bilateral, trilateral or quadrilateral, can still be effectively pursued while simultaneously pursuing macro level regional cooperation. The Growth Area concept involves states/provinces within member countries cooperating through economic ventures through direct support from the public sectors. To date ASEAN has seen the establishment of the Southern Growth Triangle, the Northern Growth Triangle and the East ASEAN Growth Area, the more advanced being the Southern and the newest being the East. Each of the growth areas has attempted to bring, not only the sub regions, but the national entities, into a closer network of political and socio-economic cooperation. The paper attempts to provide a comparative assessment of the three growth areas with a view to identifying factors that contribute or retard their intended goals, their contributions to the socio economic development of their peoples, and their impact on the larger aims of ASEAN's regional cooperation agenda.
Thailand's Foreign Policy in the 1990s
Corrine Phuangkasem, Thammasat University
Thailand is well known for conducting a very flexible foreign policy throughout its history as an independent state that has never been colonized by Western imperialists. This type of policy is illustrated by its continuous adjustment of foreign policy directions in accordance with the developments and changes at the domestic, regional, and global levels.
The 1990s saw many drastic changes at all levels. The end of the Cold War followed by rapproachment between former adversaries such as the United States and Russia, Russia and China, China and Vietnam, Vietnam and the ASEAN states, etc., have led to the final resolution of the Kampuchean conflict which lasted more than a decade. At the economic arena, the emergence of trade blocs, protectionism, and possible trade wars has influenced the Southeast Asian states to look inward and cooperate more at the regional level. But this region's high economic growth and other potentialities still attract the attention of all major powers and have made it one important center of the globalized world. Thus the 1990s is likely to be a decade of peace, reconciliation, and prosperity for Southeast Asia.
At the domestic level, Thailand has experienced positive as well as negative changes. The transition from authoritarianism to a fuller degree of democracy has not always been a smooth path without bloodshed. Democratic governments with clean image and practical accomplishments are needed to push the booming economy further for more equal distribution of benefits. Respected international reputation of the government is one important factor for pursuing a successful foreign policy. Despite the many domestic problems facing Thailand, this major actor of the region has done well in its external affairs, particularly in its relationship with neighboring countries. It has adopted an "Omnidirectional" foreign policy since 1985 and has reoriented its security-oriented policy to an economic-oriented one.
This paper aims to examine the nature, directions, and objectives of Thailand's foreign policy and assess the role and performances in international affairs of at least five governments that have ruled the country during the first half of this decade.