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.