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CAN DEMOCRACY PROMOTE DISCIPLINE?

Two Asian Leaders Debate over Prerequisites for Economic Development

AT HOME AND ABROAD
Ir democracies in /tola, oio ana new, i*kc loo long In showing result* In the field of economic development, someone somewhere
I start talking about the need for a strong, disciplined and even a mildly authoritarian system to stimulate progress In Third World nations.
Herein lies a challenge facing Bangladesh and. Indeed, several other countries like the Philippines, Pakistan. Nepal and even a giant like India.
In this respect, one signal came last month from a conference of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry In Manila, which was addressed. among others, by Singapore* Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the Philippine President Fidel Ramos
In fact, the discussion at the meeting turned out to be debate in which a lone voice in favour of more discipline than democracy" as the pre requisite for development was raised by the vl* Hing Singapore leader. As expected, the position taken by Lee came under sharp attack from local participants, including Ramos, who cannot thal easily forget the devastating years of the Marcos dictatorship, notwithstanding their disappointment with the six-year democratic rule by President Corazon Aquino.
It was certainly an interesting line-up. with the Cambridge educated, highly sophisticated and articulate Lee Kuan Yew taking up the case, with vigour and conviction, for his oft-repcatcd theory that what a country needs is more dis clpltne than democracy. As the Far Eastern Economic Review puts It. quoting the Singapore leader, "the exuberance of democracy leads to disorderly conditions which are inimical to development."
In a remarkable reveral of positions, it is the West Point-trained Filipino General, Fidel Ramos who emerges as a strong advocate of democracy In the Philippines. I am tempted to quote him extensively, again from a report of the Reuieui, because what he says applies to Bangladesh, word for word, on the challenges facing both his country and ours.
Says Ramos: "Surely, what he (Lee) means In the Philippine context is greater discipline for all Filipinos. Surely what he means is greater discipline in politics and less of the politics of patronage. Surely what he means is greater discipline in business, greater discipline in paying our taxes, greater discipline In the use of public funds, greater discipline in government Itself, which means less — is not negligible — graft and
with each other as members of Filipino society. Which means less bickering, less factionalism . and more of the great and treasured Filipino values that carried this nation to independence."
I. for one, find this statement both tnsp'-lng and thought-provoking without being rhetorical, which is aimed at the President s own ad minis tration as much at the people at large. I cannot help wondering when we might hear something like this — hones I, down-to-earth and non-partisan — from one of our own national leaders
pline. he has certainly narrowed the gap between his position and that of the Singapore leader No matter how Lee has run his city re public where, as everyone knows, phenomenal economic progress has been achieved al consid erable cost In the field of political liberties and press freedom he does not use the forum in Manila to make a case for authoritarianism. It 1* not that he is too clever to take such an unpopu lar Une at the birth place of the People s Power He probably knows that authoritarianism lh.il we
man with a strong military background. Is much stronger than anything we have heard from any of our veteran politicians In Bangladesh. Says the Philippine President: "Our hard-earned political achievements are In every way part and parcel of the natfonal promise that we enjoy today. Because. without them, without democracy, we cannot truly win development. And we should not rush to substitute for our democratic processes the discipline of command. Democracy evokes from citizens a discipline of Its own — the better for being voluntary and not imposed from above".
By the way Ramos has defended the demo-
nau seen in tne rnnipptnes, sou tn Korea. Pakistan (which the Singapore leader recently visited) and Bangladesh only produced massive discontent which, at the start, was driven underground. instead of stimulating lasting economic well-being for the common people
Apart from pleading for discipline. Lee has advised Filipinos how they should make their system work In order to stimulate development On a number of points, the Singapore leader de-S< r-ves to be quoted, again from the report In the Review. After all. much of what Lee say* applies to Bangladesh as well.
Says Lee: The ultimate test of the value of a political system Is whether it helps that society to establish conditions which improve the standard of living for the majority of Its people, plus enabling maximum personal freedoms compatible with the freedom of others In the society . .
"I knew Filipino politics in the (pre-martlal law) Marcos era as rumbustious. Politicians revelled in democracy and its freedoms — (the) freedom of speech, freedom of the press and for those in office, the freedom to wheel and deal. It was politics enjoyed for its own sake ...
If the Ramos administration can make ordinary Filipinos understand that politics is not simply elections with singing, but- it is about iheir lives. Jobs and wages, homes, schools and hospitals, the situation can change dramatically
"When ordinary Filipinos know thal the coun try s stagnation and their Joblessness is because
of vested Interests. corrupt poitUrs tenerai dis order and lack of confidence. they will then a« late M support of thoae who want to establish taw and order and tfterlplteie. cut high tariffs and other restrictive practice* In order to get la vestments to give them job*
Finally Lee says At the end of the day after discussion and debate, the te0sfature must allow I be executive to lake the hard decision* And people must be prepared to work to make these hard decisions stick Then, the world will soon change It* view* of prospect* for the I’hihpptnrs."
Right through the whole speech. Singapore leader’s overriding concern 1a to see that the democratic system works in the Philippine*, not to run it down However. I suspect, behind this concern lies a fear that If the Ramos presidency is unable to take hard decision* and people and the government are not prepared to work to make these hard decision* stick, then the Philippines will remain what a newspaper recently called the stretcher case for a long time to core
There is little doubt that most of the sugges lions — some rather blunt and perhaps unso Helled — offered by Lee would apply to Bangladesh But certainly not all Ms advices would work well In this country For one thing, we would need a strong parliament not neves sartly a strong executive as suggested for the Philippines by the Singapore leader However, what we would certainly find essential is an effective administration that, within It* mandate, is ready to take firm, hard decisions. even unpopular one*.
Finally. as Ramos would say. no mailer how many things go wrong with democracy, we must never lose faith tn Its Inherent ability to generate popular participation In the economic agenda. If it fails to stimulate development and lets us down in other areas, the fault would lie not with the people who. in the Bangladesh or the Philippines, shed blood for the restoration of a popular accountable system, but with polfti cal parties which have virtually become the cus Indians of our destiny.
Unfortunately, when disillusionment sets In over the failure of political parties or of the government. 1t is the system as a whole which becomes the target of attack, even for demolition
l*erhaps Lee could have ended his speech in Manila with this warning. Through this column. I would haw- passed It on to our leaders In Bangladesh