The outspoken former Singaporean diplomat’s latest dispatch flies very wide off the mark. There is so much to dislike in Bilahari Kausikan’s latest splotch of wisdom in Nikkei Asia (“ASEAN needs to get back its old hardheaded realism,” July 7) that it’s difficult to know where to begin. Is it him calling Timor-Leste a “failing… Continue reading The Problems With Bilahari Kausikan’s ‘ASEAN Realism’
The current stagnation could shock the ruling Communist Party into putting economic policy back into sensible hands. Pick up an article about Vietnam’s anti-corruption campaign and chances are it will be described as a “blazing furnace.” That’s a confection of its architect, Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong. But give ear to something else he said… Continue reading Is Vietnam’s Economic Blip a Blessing in Disguise?
Even in a one-party, communist state, ordinary people can exert power It wasn’t the Communist Party that lifted the Vietnamese out of poverty; the people did it themselves. The country’s free-market revolution was the result of bottom-up pressure from the masses who broke the command-economy so much that the communist government had to accept a… Continue reading Vietnam’s communists are constrained domestically in choice between the US and China
Much ink has been spilled identifying the many problems with the sector, but much less so about possible ways forward. Stripped of the realities of human selfishness and incompetence, microfinance seems a perfect model. Include the poor in the financial sector, give them small loans to invest in their business or purchase property, and they’ll… Continue reading We Know Microfinance Harms Cambodia’s Poor. What Can Be Done About It?
China can neither allow Laos to default on huge debts nor let its small neighbor suffer too much. In the Western vernacular there’s a warning about tails wagging dogs. And the Buddhist adage dictates that when the sage points at the moon, only the fool looks at his finger. The point of both is not… Continue reading Has Laos ensnared China in a ‘creditor trap?’
