Economics over politics

Economics over politics
JP/5/INQUIRER

Economics over politics

MANILA: The new presidents of the most politically turbulent
states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines and President Megawati
Soekarnoputri of Indonesia -- followed one another in visiting
their Southeast Asian neighbors recently.

President Arroyo visited Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.
President Megawati visited Manila, then went to Singapore, Brunei
and Malaysia.

Both leaders were warmly received by their older ASEAN
colleagues as they followed a tradition among ASEAN leaders to
give priority to visiting their neighbors and establishing
personal ties with other leaders of the region.

The visits were seen in the region as a fresh attempt to
strengthen economic ties and revitalize the ASEAN after the 1997
Asian financial crisis which battered the regional economies.

In Kuala Lumpur, President Arroyo mended economic and
political fences with Malaysia, and in Brunei, she made a pitch
for the revival of the East Asia Growth Area that embraces
Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines after it went
moribund as a result of the financial meltdown as well as the
political turbulence that attended the accession to power of
Arroyo and Megawati.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is an old hand in the ASEAN,
having ruled Malaysia for more than a decade.

In Malaysia, Arroyo picked up the shreds of Malaysian-
Philippine relations with new cooperation arrangements over
border crossing.

Her statement at the end of her Kuala Lumpur visit saying that
she was not ruling out the option of imposing capital controls to
halt the depreciation of the peso relative to the US dollar must
have pleased Mahathir.

President Megawati's visit to Manila reaffirmed the close
relations between Manila and Jakarta anchored on the fraternal
ties between President Sukarno and President Arroyo in the early
days of regional cooperation of the post-colonial period.

President Megawati and President Arroyo came to power under
very similar circumstances. Both took power after a period of
domestic turbulence.

Megawati was elected president after Indonesia's highest state
body, the constituent assembly, removed President Abdurrahman
Wahid following an impeachment vote. Arroyo succeeded President
Joseph Estrada, following an aborted impeachment trial.

Their visits, however, highlighted the economic problems of
the Philippines and Indonesia, and allowed them to present their
efforts to rebuild their countries' economies.

Megawati's Cabinet appointments have been favorably received
in the region as a step toward restoring political stability in
Indonesia. Arroyo was able to project the larger economic picture
during her visits, setting aside the domestic turmoil over
legislative investigations of the alleged involvement of Sen.
Panfilo Lacson in money laundering, drug trafficking, murder and
other high crimes.

One salutary outcome of Megawati's visit to Singapore was the
announcement that Indonesia and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) have signed an agreement that would pave the way for the
release of a US$400 million loan tranche that the IMF had
withheld because of differences with the Wahid government over
its reform agenda.

Also in Singapore, Megawati and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong
agreed to discuss all "issues of importance" in a "quiet and
informal way."

Outside Manila and Jakarta, the view is different. The press
in the region does not focus on the scandals in Manila or the
problems of leadership change in Jakarta.

There's hardly a mention of the scandals in Manila, and the
view from outside makes the Filipinos appear like they have a
penchant for self-laceration in the political arena.

The refreshing aspect of giving primacy to economic concerns
over their domestic turbulence is that it projects to the world
outside a picture of ASEAN leaders again coming together to find
ways of reviving their economies as they confront the reality of
a slowdown in the advanced Western economies which are their main
export markets.

For instance, almost forgotten on account of its obsession
with domestic political squabbles is that the Philippine economy
is holding up well despite the contraction of advanced economies
and in fact a modest growth is forecast for the year 2001.

The signs in the region indicate that domestic turmoil is not
being allowed to pull down efforts by its new leaders to
revitalize their national agenda.

It's time to separate the economy from the conflict of
adversarial politics.

-- Philippine Daily Inquirer