WHY MALAYSIA IS DOING BETTER THAN THE PH

Kishore Mabubani sums up the reasons in "ASEAN Miracle".

Malaysia economic development record in Southeast Asia is second only to Singapore’s in the last 50 years. Yet, from the micro-perspective, it seems to be a country riddled with problems. Ethnic tensions between the majority Malay population and the minority Chinese population continue to fester, although there has been no repetition of the bloody ethnic riots of 1969. The ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation, has proven resilient despite decades of internal political turmoil...

Dr. Mahathir deserves much of the credit for the success of modern Malaysia. He was a determined and hands-on PM who insisted on seeing results, not papers. His Vision 2020 captured the imagination of Malaysians. Under his rule, the capital city was transformed. He made Malaysia a car-owning society, promoting a national car and massive highway projects, with the total road length in Malaysia more than doubling from 31,568 km in 1981 to 79,667 km in 2003.

Globally, Malaysia has become a highly respected country. When Ian Bremmer, a renowned public intellectual, was asked to name seven countries he would bet on for the future, he included Malaysia in the list. He argued that India, Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, Kenya and Malaysia were good places for companies to make strategic investments because they were stable and resilient. “These are markets where it would seem good governance and sustainable growth are likely to go hand in hand,” he wrote. “In Malaysia, an incumbent government is offering credible pledges for smarter economic management.”

Market-oriented Economic Policies

In the 1980s and 1990s, more importantly, ASEAN learned the best practices of economic development from the leading East Asian economies, especially Japan and the four tigers (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore). In short, the ASEAN founders—Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines—wove themselves into the thriving economic ecosystem that was developing across East Asia, taking advantage of (and helping drive) the expansion in global trade.

The Philippines was held back by internal political turbulence, but Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand enjoyed rapid economic growth in the 1980s. From 1980 to 1990, the weighted average growth of the ASEAN-5 economies was 6.1%, with Indonesia growing at 6.6%, Malaysia at 6.2%, Singapore at 7.6%, and Thailand at 7.7%. (Unfortunately, The Philippines had a growth rate of only 2.1% during this period).

Dr. Mahathir, who became prime minister of Malaysia in 1981, captured well the spirit of the times with his “Look East” Policy. He said: "Malaysia identified what we believed to be the factors which contributed towards Japan’s success. They are Patriotism, Discipline, good Work Ethics, Competent Management system and above all the close Cooperation between the Government and the Private sector. And so we tried to adopt these practices and instill these cultures in our people. And everyone now acknowledges that Malaysia has made better progress than most other developing countries."

The fastest pace of Malaysia’s progress and development took place in the last two decades coinciding with Malaysia’s "Look East" Policy.

Via Graciano Habagat with thanks.