Leadership and Asia's 'Economic Miracle'

Leadership and Asia's 'Economic Miracle'

Tigers: Leaders of the new Asia-Pacific

By Greg Sheridan,

Allen and Unwin Pty Ltd., NSW, Australia, 1997

xviii and 324 pages,

S$29.90

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Many books and articles explore Asia's
"economic miracle". But Greg Sheridan is one of the few authors
who have tried to connect the success story of the Asian economy
with leaders and leadership.

Factors such as hard work, low taxes and a high savings rate,
once lauded in the Far Eastern Economic Review (Nov. 24, 1994),
can indeed be used to explain the phenomenon. According to
Sheridan, an Australian journalist who has contributed many
articles on the Asia-Pacific to Australian, Asian and British
publications, the contribution of leaders and leadership should
also not be overlooked.

Despite some conducive preconditions to the development, he
argues the fabled miracle would never have occurred without
effective leadership. Witness the unraveling of the Philippine
economy, once among the most promising, under the final decade of
the Marcos dictatorship.

This book is a journalistic work, as its author readily
admits. There is no aim to take a part in the theoretical debate
on the economic development of Asia. In short, it is not more
than just a report -- "one of the most useful things a reporter
can do", Sheridan says.

Although the point of departure is the admiration for the
Asian economic miracle, the profiles of the 13 leaders are not
limited to Asia, but also those of the U.S., Australia and New
Zealand. The role of the American leader cannot be ignored, since
"modern East Asia, in a significant degree, is a creation of
America's, but of a different America".

On Australia and New Zealand, Sheridan notes these two
countries have strongly identified themselves as parts of the
Asia-Pacific region since the early 1980s. Culturally, they are
indeed European oriented, but politically and economically they
have got become increasingly focused on Asia, providing a
significant contribution to the Asian economic miracle.

The leaders are Anwar Ibrahim, Bill Clinton, Goh Chok Tong,
Morihiro Hosokawa, John Howard, Paul Keating, Kim Yong-sam,
Martin Lee, Lee Kuan Yew, Lee Teng-hui, Mahathir Mohamad, Fidel
Ramos and Soeharto.

In presenting their profiles, Sheridan cannot neglect the role
of their main assistants in the making of foreign policies, in
this case their foreign ministers. For example, in reporting the
story on Paul Keating, Sheridan feels it necessary to expose the
role of Gareth Evans. In writing about Soeharto, he also profiles
Ali Alatas.

The profiles are based on personal interviews with the given
leaders, except for Bill Clinton, Lee Teng-hui and Soeharto,
which are culled from interviews with their assistants. In
narrating the profile of the leaders, Sheridan does not only let
them express their ideas on the crucial issues, but also gives
his comments on them.

On Keating, Sheridan repeatedly says that Keating's blunt
speech is perhaps due his never attending university or college.
This refusal to mince words jeopardized Australian-Malaysian
relations when Keating used "recalcitrant" to describe Mahathir,
who was reluctant to attend the first APEC summit in Seattle in
1993.

Sheridan regrets Keating's impolite rhetoric, but he also
regrets the "excessive" reactions of Mahathir and his assistants,
which included canceling important economic cooperation and
calling off the sending of Malaysian students to Australia.

Anyhow this tension did not last for a long time. After being
persuaded by Soeharto, Mahathir, who had kept a perception that
APEC was just an arena for strengthening the American economic
domination, was finally willing to attend the second APEC summit
in Bogor in 1994. He then enthusiastically proposed that APEC
should not only constitute a liberalization of trade, but also a
regional forum for economic cooperation in which the members
should have equal positions, like ASEAN. Mahathir, once a priori
against the grouping, had come full circle.

The Mahathir episode is just one of the examples of the
pragmatism of the Asia-Pacific leaders. Other examples are Ramos
has aided the recovery of his nation, once the "sick man" of
Asia. He sought peace with Moros, communists, and other
rebellious groups for the sake of establishing political
stability to attract foreign investment.

As a report, the book does not need a concluding note. But by
exposing the pragmatic attitude of the Asian-Pacific leaders, it
seems the author wants to convey that pragmatic leadership has
constituted one of the factors of the Asian miracle.

This dealing with realities explains how these leaders have
put their political, ideological and cultural differences aside
to find common ground in pursuit of economic gains.

Budiawan teaches in the School of Social and Political
Sciences, Atma Jaya University, Yogyakarta.