Shortsightedness

“Killing people in the name of the war on drugs – forget about whether it’s a crime – is shortsightedness. What experiential or body of knowledge can we cite to make this the mantra of a nation of over a hundred million supposedly God-loving people?

“The bottom line: We need the Chief Executive to demonstrate leadership in the pursuit of an industrial economy, not in killing people in the name of the war on drugs. If we want to lift Juan de la Cruz from poverty, we must recognize that industrialization is ground zero.

“Then the Chief Executive must lead the nation to acquire the knack for innovation and global competitiveness rapidly. Industry per se is just a platform. We are eons behind, way beyond the 20-year lag we acknowledge in infrastructure. 

“With due respect, leadership cannot delegate the challenge to traverse the road from poverty to prosperity to the economic managers. To delegate accountability is abdication.

“We can't move the needle forward until we shift paradigms and doggedly pursue an industrial economy, and we can start with agribusiness. Moreover, to jumpstart industry, we can’t keep talking about FDIs. We must demonstrate and proactively seek them. 

“None of this is earthshaking or rocket science. Our neighbors have done it; if we can only overcome Pinoy parochialism and insularity. No man is an island.”

That's from a recent posting; the operative word being “shortsighted.”

Here’s Google with its synonyms: Unable to see things clearly unless they are relatively close to the eyes; nearsighted; myopic; lacking imagination or foresight. Expedient, shortsighted solutions to a problem. Narrow-minded, improvident, unadventurous, small-minded, short-term, insular, parochial, provincial. What about the antonyms? Far-sighted, imaginative.

Consider: “There has been much talk about helping small businesses become the backbone of a prosperous economy even in previous administrations, yet micro-entrepreneurs still struggle to survive. There is a law—Republic Act No. 9501, or the Magna Carta for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), signed on May 23, 2008—that should guide the government in growing this sector, but its implementation leaves much to be desired.

“The MSMEs’ predicament should prompt the government to require banks to recognize the key role MSMEs play in the Philippine economy, and to allocate more of their money to help these MSMEs prosper. Perhaps it can use its regulatory powers if moral suasion fails. There are other problems that MSMEs face, including red tape in dealing with permits from local government units. However, the most pressing need remains the lack of access to bank financing that is being filled by usurious lenders. It’s about time this problem was addressed squarely and firmly.” [Micro entrepreneurs’ real problem, EDITORIAL, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 23rd Jul 2019]

Note we have this 11-year old law to help small businesses. It won't be a surprise if we have been talking about access to bank financing for even longer than that. It sounds logical, especially if we read the rest of the above Editorial: “The World Bank earlier noted that 81.2 percent of Philippine businesses relied on internal funds to finance expansion or keep themselves afloat and that only 0.1 percent of them could access bank financing, which is a key ingredient of growth.”

What if we toss our insular and parochial view and look at Malaysia, for instance?

“Mahathir came to power in 1981 and was the first non-aristocratic leader of Malaysia.

“He is credited with replacing colonial subservience with national pride and raising a country from the Third World to developed world status at an astounding pace.

“Mahathir also ambitiously pursued economic reforms, such as orienting the economy toward the production of export goods, promoting joint ventures with Asian firms, and privatizing many state industries.

“Mahathir bin Mohamad was the leading force in making Malaysia into a major industrial power. He is credited with turning Kuala Lumpur into a modern city with (for a while) the world’s tallest building and high-tech industrial areas but criticized for ignoring the villages and provinces. Even, his home province of Kedah seems undeveloped and stuck in a time warp.

“Mahathir developed the ‘Malaysia Can’ slogan in 1993 and developed the Vision 2020 program in which he planned to make Malaysia a fully developed country with 70 million people (compared to 20 million in 1998) by the year 2020.

“Mahathir put much money into expansive infrastructure projects … and high-tech development even when Malaysia was suffering an economic crisis. Mahathir once called himself a ‘cyber addict.' He was one of the first world leaders to have his blog and website and said he wanted to create a paperless government in Malaysia.

“Vision 2020. The aim [is] to turn Malaysia into a fully industrialized country and to quadruple per capita income by the year 2020. It will require the country to continue ascending the technological ‘ladder' from low- to high-tech types of industrial production, with a corresponding increase in the intensity of capital investment and higher retention of value-added (i.e., the value added to raw materials in the production process) by Malaysian producers.

“One of Dr Mahathir's ambitions was to make Malaysia into an Asian Silicon Valley. Foreign companies were invited to invest in a ‘Multimedia Super Corridor' between the new international airport and the twin Petronas Towers, which rise like gigantic pewter cocktail shakers in the center of Kuala Lumpur. An international committee of experts, including Bill Gates, advised Dr. Mahathir that, if he wished to attract foreign investment, censoring the Internet would be unwise.

“Mahathir sought to shake the colonial past, to remake his county and people much as he has transformed the natural landscape of Malaysia. Omar bin Sidek, a 91-year-old with a wispy white beard, remembers the long years when his town of Dengkil in Selangor state was a modest jungle outpost amid vast oil palm plantations, long a mainstay of the Malaysian economy. 'Ooh, I'm speechless to describe the change,' said Omar, squinting to recall life before Mahathir's major public works came to this area 25 miles south of Kuala Lumpur, the capital.

“While the export of raw material remained a vital part of the Malaysian economy, manufacturing became more of a focus under Mahathir. Essential manufactured goods have included rubber gloves, catheters, rubber-threads, room air conditioners, semiconductors, and audio-visual equipment.

“By the 1990s Malaysia had become the world's largest exporter of semiconductors, an industry that dates to the mid-1970s when many U.S. and Japanese companies set up factories in Malaysia. At that time, there was also a trend to produce more assembled products like cameras and VCRs from semiconductors in Malaysia.

“Malaysia's rapid development has been attributed to the transparency of government policies, its educated and skilled workforce, well-developed infrastructure, excellent communications facilities, and efficient bureaucracy.

“High tech industries developed in Malaysia in the 1990s and 2000s included advanced electronics, scientific instruments, biotechnology, automated manufacturing systems, electro-optics and non-linear optics, advanced composite materials, optoelectronics, software engineering, alternative energy sources, and aerospace.

“Malaysia in the 1990s was reminiscent of South Korea in the 1980s and Japan in the 1960s and 1970s, when people are intoxicated with their new affluence and happy to leave their poverty behind them.

“Over these three decades, Malaysia accomplished a transition from a primary product-dependent economy to one in which manufacturing industry had emerged as the leading growth sector. Rubber and tin, which accounted for 54.3 percent of Malaysian export value in 1970, declined sharply in relative terms to a mere 4.9 percent in 1990.” [http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Malaysia/sub5_4a/entry-3627.html]

Are we or aren’t we shortsighted aka insular, parochial, provincial? See above re Google.

Do we want to cry just reading how a neighbor demonstrated what leadership is and what it takes to be far-sighted and imaginative?

On the other hand, we aren't looking at MSMEs any different from subsistence farming, i.e., as livelihood undertakings.  Ditto for the OFW phenomenon. Industrialize. Industrialize. Industrialize. 

Of course, we can’t do it on our own. Not even with our Forbes billionaires and oligarchy. Beg for Western money and technology, so counseled Lee and Mahathir to Deng. Even Vietnam heeded it, but not Juan de la Cruz. Adapt or perish. 

It is worth repeating, to jumpstart industry, we can’t keep talking about FDIs. We must demonstrate and actively seek them.

We must look beyond the here and now, including what leadership is and isn’t. 

We have a humongous challenge; our shortsightedness comes from our instincts of parochialism and insularity. 

Gising bayan!

“Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? And that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it.” [We are ruled by Rizal’s ‘tyrants of tomorrow,’ Editorial, The Manila Times, 29th Dec 2015]

“Now I know why Paul dared to speak of ‘the curse of the law’ (Galatians 3:13). Law reigns and discernment is unnecessary, which means there is little growth or change in such people. When you do not grow, you remain an infant.” [Faith and Science, Open to Change, Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, 23rd Oct 2017]

“As a major component for the education and reorientation of our people, mainstream media – their reporters, writers, photographers, columnists and editors – have an obligation to this country . . .” [Era of documented irrelevance: Mainstream media, critics and protesters, Homobono A. Adaza, The Manila Times, 25th Nov 2015]

“National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country’s natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency’s value, as classical economics insists . . . A nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade.” [The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, March–April 1990]

“You have to have a dream, whether big or small. Then plan, focus, work hard and be very determined to achieve your goals.” [Henry Sy Sr., Chairman Emeritus and Founder, SM Group (1924 - 2019)]

“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” [William Pollard, 1911-1989, physicist-priest, Manhattan Project]

“Development [is informed by a people’s] worldview, cognitive capacity, values, moral development, self-identity, spirituality, and leadership . . .” [Frederic Laloux, Reinventing organizations, Nelson Parker, 2014]