Backlash may hit foreign buyers<\/p>\n
LOS ANGELES (Reuters): Foreign investors scavenging for
\nbargains amid the rubble of Asia's financial crisis could spark
\nnationalist backlashes that could alter the political landscape,
\nan analyst who sparked controversy over alleged corruption in
\nIndonesia said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The West could do more to uphold democracy and the rule of law
\nin Asia, although implementing those ideas will likely be driven
\nby popular demand rather than by foreign lecturing.<\/p>\n
\"In order to minimize hostility that has arisen, and to keep
\nit from snowballing, global capital needs to show it has an
\ninterest in long-term stability,\" said Jeffrey Winters, an
\nassociate professor of political economy at Chicago's
\nNorthwestern University.<\/p>\n
\"Long-term investors will be much more warmly received than
\nthe jump-in, make money off the devastation, jump-back-out kind,\"
\nWinters said in an interview on the sidelines of the Milken
\nInstitute global economic conference here.<\/p>\n
Winters has been embroiled in a controversy in Indonesia for
\nraising questions last year of corruption by a top economic
\nofficial.<\/p>\n
Indonesia said in October it would ban him from the country,
\nthen said he would be allowed in for questioning over the alleged
\nslander of its chief economics minister.<\/p>\n
Foreign investors, many of whom fled the region when the
\neconomic woes started in 1997, have started eying Asian companies
\nthat are for sale for pennies on the dollar.<\/p>\n
The quest for quick profits could stir up nationalist
\nsentiment, however, in countries already smarting from having to
\naccept handouts from international agencies after the collapse of
\ntheir once-vibrant economies, Winters said.<\/p>\n
\"It could engender a shift in tone of politics and make more
\nviable extreme candidates and parties and policies that were not
\nviable before,\" Winters said.<\/p>\n
For instance, Indonesia could see the rise of a more radical
\nform of Islam, Winters said. Former U.S. allies could distance
\nthemselves from Washington.<\/p>\n
Winters pointed to the indignant backlash of many Americans
\nagainst Japan in the 1980s when Japanese firms snapped up prime
\nU.S. real estate.<\/p>\n
\"Americans seem to forget that sentiment when they run around
\nthe world buying up other people's assets,\" he said. \"Nationality
\nstill matters.\"<\/p>\n
Resentment in Asia would be further sharpened by the perceived
\nhypocrisy of Western nations, which often contradicted their
\nfree-market mantra, he said.<\/p>\n
He pointed to demands from Washington that Asian countries
\nallow bankrupt companies to fail and then turning around and
\nbailing out the U.S.-based investment fund Long-Term Capital
\nManagement last year.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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