Scapegoats are being found for the region¹s financial

[Dennis L. Fiddle]

Scapegoats are being found for the regionąs financial
troubles
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[picture] [Image]IN MANY countries in Asia, so
[Image] much national pride was
Putting an American invested in economic success
icon in its place that its abrupt ending was
[Image] bound to provoke some
nationalist response. So far
this has largely taken benign forms: much talk of
belt-tightening and doing oneąs bit. But, in the
chattering classes at least, there is a darker side, and
a search for scapegoats.
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łSelf help˛, said Samuel Smiles, a 19th century Scot,
łconstitutes the true source of national vigour and
strength.˛ Across the stricken economies of East Asia, a
similar doctrine is taking hold. Sometimes born of
genuine public anxiety, sometimes of official prompting,
popular self-help campaigns are encouraging ordinary
people to do their bit. Malaysians are being urged to
grow their own vegetables; South Koreans are told to take
one lump of sugar instead of two in their coffee.
[Image]
Indonesian journalists have tried to bolster their
battered currency with łI Love the Rupiah˛ stickers. Some
of the rich and powerful are setting an example by
selling dollars or gold. (The attitude of others is
probably better captured by a man quoted by an Indonesian
newspaper: łNever mind the rupiah, I love money.˛) Thai
editors lavished praise on South Korea when television
showed Korean housewives and children queuing up to
donate their jewellery and savings, and wondered what had
happened to Thai patriotism. But in Thailand, too, the
government savings bank has opened a special account for
contributions to a łThais helping Thais˛ campaign.
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Politicians are naturally happy to see such
self-sacrifice: it may not add up to much compared with
the huge weight of the nationąs financial predicament,
but it fosters an air of crisis and helps prepare people
for the tough times to come. In Thailand and Malaysia,
the governments have played another nationalist card:
announcing the expulsion of large numbers of foreign
workers. Thailand says it wants 300,000 workers to return
to Myanmar in the next six months to make room for
unemployed Thais. Malaysia has backtracked from threats
to expel most of the 1m or so illegal immigrants from
Indonesia, now saying it hopes to redeploy many of them.
In both countries, the attention given to immigrants is
only partly to do with an immediate need for jobs; it
also helps show that the government is doing its best to
protect the livelihoods of its own people.
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Poor foreigners are an easy target. But several pundits
and politicians in the region blame their difficulties on
rich foreigners: in particular, on Americans. A
front-page commentary in the Nation, a Thai newspaper,
compared the collapse of Asian economies to the fall of
the Berlin Wall; it marked łanother, more subtle triumph
of United States financial imperialism˛. At best, Asiaąs
descent is seen as an accidental but devastating
by-product of American global dominance. At worst, it is
a deliberate conspiracy by the rich world, led by
America, to force Asia to open up its markets and play by
American rules.
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In Thailand in particular, there is anger that the United
States did not contribute directly to its $17.2 billion
package of rescue loans. A former Thai foreign minister,
and frequent critic of America, has called on Thais not
to buy goods made by łour enemies˛. A son of Indonesiaąs
President Suharto, smarting at the IMF-prescribed loss of
tax perks for his pet car project, has muttered about
neo-colonialism. But as yet few leading politicians are
taking this line in public. Even Malaysiaąs prime
minister, Mahathir Mohamad, who greeted (and aggravated)
attacks on the Malaysian currency with thundering
diatribes against alleged conspirators, has more recently
learned to keep his counsel. Others also realise they
need international help, not a slanging match.
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Nor, as yet, is there much evidence of a wave of popular
America-bashing. Even the usually pugnacious students of
South Korea have refrained from mass protests. There, as
in Indonesia and Thailand, anger has been aimed at
targets closer to home: at the corrupt politicians and
businessmen who caused the mess. Indonesia has seen
rioting over price rises. Just outside Bangkok, on
January 21st, riot police clashed violently with 3,000
workers at a car-parts factory protesting at cuts in
their bonuses. As more people lose their jobs, and
once-regular purchases become unaffordable, the
temptation to blame foreigners will become more acute.
Western politicians and commentators, prone to gloat over
the bankruptcy of łAsian values˛, and to harp on the need
for economic and political reform, may therefore be
well-advised to leaven their lectures with a suitable
touch of sympathy.
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source http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/current/index_as4972.html

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dfi...@mn.uswest.net (Dennis L. Fiddle)
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