Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohammed, while at an annual newspaper summit in New Delhi this week, argued that India could do with a little less democracy to promote quicker economic development.
There's little question that under his authoritarian tutelage, Malaysia was transformed from a largely plantation economy to an Asian "tiger" economy. His rule also saw a substantial reduction in overall poverty and through an affirmative action program on behalf of the majority Malay population, a significant improvement in their economic lot.
There's no gainsaying his achievements in Malaysia. However, India's policymakers can safely ignore his advice about the need for placing constraints on democracy to boost economic growth. First, while authoritarianism may have worked well in Malaysia, it has produced rather unhappy results in many other parts of the world including in various resource-rich states. For example, Nigeria is awash in petroleum and other natural resources. However, authoritarian regimes have neither promoted growth or equity. Second, Malaysia has a total population under 30 million. Only a small handful of Indian states have a population less than that of Malaysia. Consequently, someone needs to remind him that scale does matter. Third, India did briefly experiment with authoritarianism under Indira Gandhi. The results were far from exemplary and resulted in her ouster the moment she chose to hold elections.
Contrary to Mr. Mahathir, democracy isn't India's problem. The problem that plagues India is the inefficacy of its institutions. India's policymakers would be wise to safely ignore his counsel and instead focus their attention on making India's existing institutions more responsive to the vast and crying needs of its citizenry.
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EAM
Most economists would agree. Michael Spence concludes that the political system of does not necessarily correlate with its economic performance. He concludes that the high growth rates of China and India have little to do with the political system of either country and identifies the following things that both countries have in common.
1. Governments that take growth seriously and act with determination over a long period of time;
2. the elite generally adopting a set of values that “cause it to try to act in the interest of the vast majority”
3. effective policies that tap into the global economy
4. economic freedom
He makes a compelling case in “The Next Convergence”.
He also argues that in the long term democracy is better suited to pursuit of these aims. If he is right, India’s democratic model probably does not require justification or attack on economic grounds – but may still be better suited to holding together a large and diverse country since it gives everybody (0r the vast majority) a stake in the system. The same observations may also apply to Brazil and Indonesia.
Historically also the US and Germany both made the transition to being major industrial economies at about the same time with similar high growth to catch up and overtake Great Britain – even though one was democratic and the other authoritarian.
I might add that the Indian concept of “inclusive growth” now has wide acceptance outside India in both the “developing” and the “developed” world. Look at the Wall Street demonstrators. Heaven know that we too could do well by taking note of what the Indians say about distributing the benefits of growth.
tun speak the truth
You have been very polite when you write “to safely ignore his counsel.” In fact I would take it with a large pinch of salt! He is nothing but a menace to Malaysia. Malaysia is a very rich country with bountiful of natural resources e.g. oil, gas, tin, rubber, palm oil etc. What Mahathir did and will be remembered most is how he institutionalised racism (it’s ironic because it’s our First Prime Minister who walked out protesting SA Apartheid), destroyed the Judiciary when he sacked Tun Salleh Abas, massive corruptions and financial scandals e.g. BMF, Pewaja Steel, using state money to bail out failing sons and cronies companies, manufacturing lies against the Oppositions, abuse of power, suppressing the press, supporting racism (lending weight to Perkasa equivalent of the American KKK) etc. Pls read Barry Wain “Malaysian Maverick” and you will agree. Malaysia is able to achieve what is has today cannot be totally attributed to him. With this kind of money to waste, is it any wonder that even I could do what he did!
Rasagan
mahatir shouldn’t been given space to talk in India…. See his sons get contracts from the malaysian govt cause his father was PM… became millionare..they abused the post created racism…. malay supremacy to kill democaracy n create cronyism n corruptions at all level.. He talks racists at home n talks rubbish at international forums… he blames all wrong doers on Jews n Western at home but talks about equality n fairness at international levels… man of NO principles…
Patrick
While India’s inclusive growth formula might be successful in the future until the current issue of rampant corruption is not resolved we will never become an important player in world politics. All OECD countries that follow the democratic concept first had brought down corruption to an acceptable levels before their economies skyrocketed. I hope India can do the same.
EAM
“Corruption”? We have it the West too. Except that it is institutionalised, legal and brought the whole economy to near collapse in 2008. And it is on a far bigger scale than what you have in India (or China). It allows crooks to pillage trillions out of the economy without even making anything or providing a real service – and get away scot free. It is called the finance industry. George Soros has a lot to say about it – and describe it a lot more eloquently than I can
Patrick
I am not implying that western countries are corruption free (though Scandinavian countries and New Zealand would beg disagree) what I am referring to is the fact that bribery and nepotism has become a part of the social fabric in India, cops, government employees, contractors refuse to even lift a finger without getting paid first, the common man himself has realized that the only way to get things done is to pay for services which are meant to be provided for free
(it would be incomprehensible for a NYPD cop to refuse help to a mugging victim just because he is unable to pay him a few measly dollars). This mentality is our greatest weakness and the depressing fact is that I can’t see a light at the end of this particularly long and dark tunnel.
dr bano
I was lucky to visit India in 1994, some 17 years ago, and I had experienced vivid memories of the government and the people of India. Democracy Indian Style must be preserved at all cost and they don’t have to gobble what Mahathir had suggested because, being the biggest democratic country in the world, the people are hardworking, creative, educated and other intineries of being a world power in future. The only setback that I have seen are the weaknesses of the government, beaucracy and the corrupted law enforcement agencies. To overcome this state of mind, the politicians must be willing to cleanse themselves first. When the head rots, the body rots too. I think Congress Party must be given a prolonged chance of ruling and governing India. With such politician as Makmohan Singh, backed by his quite clean leaders, India would achieve economic, financial, military and political success. My suggestion is India should bring in multinatioanl companies to operate in India thus creating millions of jobs and the government must build town houses for the people. Let us live to see this become a reality.
Dr Bano, Maslaysia
davida
i dont know what drug the author is on and if he aint using any, i strongly suggest he should cause for obvious reasons, he is in pain and propofol would work wonders on him.
nobody is disputing the merits of democracy and all wonders and beautiful things it engenders. but it is not a panacea that can simply make all troubles go away. even the biggest advocates of democracy, aka, americans, are having second thoughts about the separation of powers and decentralised structure. with 20th of american average income per capital, the conditions of democracy in india isnt ripe to generate any real economic growth or equitible distribution of wealth for the majority.
no matter whatever feeings one might have about mahathir, he is speaking to the fact that even so -called most effective democracy, namely usa, is experiencing the foot-dragging and pain-staking political paralysis that is threatening to plunge the world into recession. no one would argue, despite the fact that the institutions there are strong and function efficiently most of time, in the event of crisis however, when nobody is willing to shed a couple of poundges, which is traits that we all share. selfishness and greed, in the interest of majority and the world, some guys have to assume the command and make some tough decisions that might not be popular and end up costing them dearly.
as clearly demonstrated lately in europe, those guys are at premium in democracies, who would stand by right policies to get things done, even in the face of voters’ wrath.
if europe needs some central control, more authoritarian goverments for the overall good of a country and majority of people, indians would be utterly foolish and arrogant not to even consider revamping their system and making to political structure amends necessary to move things forward.
its been, after all, more than 60 years since its independence and 80% percent of population are still subsisting on less than 1 dollar a day and that speaks volume. please dont let some white fellows hoodwink you into believing that anything they prescribe is the right dose of medicine that you need. even they dont believe that now.
Smiley G
This man – “Dr” Mahathir – institutionalized racism in Malaysia rendering all non Malays and non Muslims second class citizens in Malaysia, as well as endemic corruption in the Malay dominated government notwithstanding the fact that there are many – almost 48% non Malays and non Muslims in the country. He has made the economy racially predatory with tax paid mainly by non Malays but tax payers money funneled into fraudulent, money wasting, hair-brained and megalomaniacal projects. It is a lie that he was responsible for transforming Malaysia from a plantation based economy to an industrialized economy. Any other good leader could have done as well if not better. Malaysia had a vast pool of well educated and knowledgeable people prior to ascension to the chair of the PM. It is fool hardy to describe him as an expert in economics. If anything, the moment he dies, the country will erupt with joy and an unshackling of the true opinion of what people really thought about him. Assuming the Malaysia media is allowed to publish freely without manipulation of news by the Uequally reviled UMNO government and readers are free to air their opinions.
It is a joke to hear him advising the Indian government. I am sure the New Delhi government knows how reviled this md man is in Malaysia.
Anand
We dont need ex-PM in our country anymore. Can anyone do a favour by offering him the Citizenship/PR to him. Finally he has found his lost ancestral land.
Anand
There is nothing great to brag about this “ex-PM”. Malaysia could have preformed better than Singapore with all the natural resources. It did not beacuse we had this “great leader” as his PM. We Non-malays would just like to erase him off our mind for all his good deeds.
EAM
@Anand, would be interested to know what is the general view of Mahathir (and UMNO)among Malays? Does Malaysia still follow the “bumiputra” policies of the 70s? I remember discussing it with some visitors from Malaysia some years ago – they happened to be Malays – and my sense was that they were quite embarrassed about the policy. They were all very successful in their field and perhaps they were embarrassed if people thought that they had got to where they had got as a resuly of affirmative action – rather than merit.
Nelson Joshua
Being one of the minority ethic group(less than 200K)in Malaysia. By name we are “Bumiputra” but perhaps would be considered a 3rd.Class Bumiputra. When you talk about 1st,Class bumiputra, you are referring to the MALAYS(most if not all are Muslim) and perhaps the 2nd Grade will be those ethic group(who are Muslim).
The FUNNY thing about BUMIPUTRA status, or if not, classified as UNIQUE in a sense is MALAYS MUSLIM are Bumiputra or in general all muslims are Bumiputra.
INDIAN MUSLIMS(Including new converts) are also automatically having Bumiputra Status, BUT>>>>>>
INDIAN HINDU are still Indian and falls under NON-MUSLIM category which is at par with CHINESE – BUDDHIST,CHRISTIAN ETC…..and not eligible for certain privileges provided by the government. For instance MARA COLLEGES such as UiTM(university Institute Technology Mara) where student are 90% Malays Muslim and the 10% are allocated to the other bumiputra ethnic group(non muslim in general). Even Property Development are to provide Quota for which they have to provide percentage of the Bumiputra Buyers and they have to give a 7% or more rebate for Bumiputra Buyers.
Few years back, when my daughter applied to join UiTM, despite numerous on line application was never having any reply of acknowledgement, reply nor rejection, even though as a bumiputra she is eligible. In the end she has to enroll with other collage and graduated ( though she was funded by government grant PTPTN but not in full)
So those of you who have commented here, would appreciate if you browse FREE MALAYSIA TODAY to get yourself updated on the latest MALAYSIAN SCENARIO.
Chandramohan
Malaysia would have been better under Mr.Lee Kuan Yew and not under this chamelon devil of multifaceted crooked look.