Cultural disparities in most Asian countries are a source of concern. The crisis will heighten disparities in income and cultures. This is one of the areas which government must address or mitigate through safety nets and social programs. Indonesia's problem for example along this line, where the more well to do Chinese sector is being threatened, springs from unequal distribution of wealth which is made worse or more noticeable during the crisis.
I submit that to recover from the crisis and secure the future for Asia, we must:
1. Increase productivity, especially in agriculture. Bring industry to agriculture for greater production, higher efficiency and higher incomes. Many Asian economies are still agriculture-based. Modernize agriculture. Bring the equipment, the processing plants and marketing efforts to the farms. Integrate agricultural production to industry, transport systems, even to export markets. This will bring rural incomes closer to industrial, services incomes and address imbalance of incomes. It will result in greater stability and better law and order. At the same time, ensure food security and self-sufficiency while conserving precious foreign exchange.
2. Temporarily curb importation of non-essentials. Especially non-essential finished goods or consumer products. Buy local or Asian goods for non-essentials to save foreign exchange. For example, foodstuffs like chocolates, cereal, consumer goods like garments, make-up. Asian-made goods can compare with the best in the world, are cheaper and spurs Asian industries.
3. Better, more stable financial and monetary markets. Establish regulations to prevent financial crimes, to encourage prudence and sound practices in banks and non-bank financial institutions like leasing companies, insurance firms, securities companies, pension funds, mutual funds, finance companies and cooperatives. Establish a single agency to develop and regulate the capital market of cache country. Set standards to minimize malpractice and ensure fuller disclosure of information to ensure stability of stock markets. Strengthen credit rating agencies to ensure independent and reliable information on riskiness of private debt and corporate bonds. Assign special prosecutors solely dedicated to prosecute financial crimes, fraud and malpractices.
4. Strike a balance between growth and the IMF policy prescriptions. Contractionary IMF policies spawn recession, restrict business, dampen production and economic activity. But the way out of the Asian crisis is not recession, but growth. Fiscal discipline, prudence and less imports are important but production and employment should continue to earn incomes, to fuel the economy, to cam foreign exchange, to improve infrastructure, transport and communications, to prevent displacement of labor and social instability.
5. Tighter economic regional cooperation among Asian economies. Let us help each other. This crisis will be an opportunity to correct our structural weaknesses, a chance to band together and pool our efforts to "'regionalize" our development, our connects towards a common objective.
Let this crisis be a springboard for Asians to come together in trade, in social and cultural integration, in crime prevention, in law and order.
A. Finance Asian central banks and financial managers can establish a regional surveillance system to monitor and avert financial malpractices, prevent fraud, go after unscrupulous financial sharks, managers.
B. Trade and Investments Let us seriously consider a regional alliance in trade and investments among Asian countries. Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines have limited complementary in products because they have similar comparative advantages in goods and services. With a preferential trading arrangement which includes Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and China, Asia will have less dependence on the United States and European imports. Japan can sell its machinery to Asian neighbors. Asian counties can supply Japan silica and carageenan to boost its electronics industry. Japanese investments in tourism estates can be given incentives and priority treatment.
C. Let us have international cooperation for solution of crimes that adversely affect human resource development Child abuse or violation of rights of labor, women and children arc crimes against the most valuable factor of production, human resource. Solution and prosecution of certain offenses can be internationalized. In the Philippines, for example, a Dutch visitor committed a renowned offense against a child, only 10 years old. He was arrested and the case was filed against him, but he was able to flee the Philippines and went back to Holland.
But through government cooperation, the Dutch government prosecuted him with the evidence supplied by the Philippines to Holland even though the crime did not take place in Holland but the Philippines. They tried him and convicted him. Today he languishes in jail for the crime not committed in the country of the origin but the outside of the jurisdiction. If we can do that in the region with the most strengthen basis, we can help crime prevention and prosecution most strongly. This cooperative effort can be duplicated when it comes to intelligence, investigative and prosecution efforts in drug-related crimes. Drugs destroy the youth and the most productive sectors of our human resource base. Therefore, greater cooperation and a more determined political will are needed to combat international drug syndicates.
Finally we should forge efforts towards "prosperity without crime". For greater economic and political stability, establish an Asian regional council for economic cooperation and trans-national crime. Let us support and strengthen the initiatives already undertaken by Mr. Oshima, the chairman of Osaka International House Foundation and Mr. Minoru Shikita the chairman of Asia Crime Prevention Foundation. These organizations enhance multilateral efforts for more effective crime prevention and control. For a better system of criminal justice and administration in Asia. They promote Asian economic development through peace and order and stability. So I say, Asia, despite the crisis, is the way to the future. More power to Asian nations! More resolute measures for swifter economic recovery! Better crime prevention!
