Business and Society - 2

Our leaders have to think as big as President Yudhoyono. After we recover from the impact of the ongoing financial meltdown in the developed countries, we have to be convinced that we too can grow at rates approximating the 8 to 10 percent which not only China, but also India and Vietnam have been able to register for the past 8 years or more. Vietnam, too, is not exactly a model of good governance and efficient infrastructures. But like India and China, it has been able to grow at 8 percent or more for a good number of years.

One key to Indonesia’s success is the decentralization of political power to the regions. Quoting the Newsweek article again: "Indonesia’s political turnaround has been just as dramatic as its economic one. The president, known universally as SBY, is a former general who was elected in mid-2004 and has since become the country’s most effective democratic leader. In four years, he has helped Indonesia roll up its terrorist problem and rebuild from the 2004 tsunami. Less appreciated (but more enduring), he has backed a profound political decentralization program, empowering hundreds of local administrations. Jakarta now rules by consensus, not decree. This has its downsides: it makes it impossible to railroad through big national development projects of the sort China is famous for. As SBY himself admits: ‘In many circumstance, we face local communities that don’t agree with government projects, so we have to convince them. I do no think the system is wrong. In a democracy like ours, change, reform and resistance are normal.’"

Corruption, chaos and complexity should not be obstacles to the Philippines replicating its 2007 performance of growing at 7.3 percent or more. We just have to make sure that we are allowing the Jesse Robredo’s, Marides Fernando’s, Fred Tinga’s, Sonny Belmonte’s, and similar outstanding local officials to do their thing, with little interference from the national government. Actually, many of these provinces and cities led by competent and honest local officials are already growing in Gross Regional Product at more than 7 percent annually. We just have to multiply their numbers to get a Gross Domestic Product growing at a similar rate. The conditions for this take off already exist in the Philippines. We are not far from what Indonesia has accomplished in political reforms over the last ten years. The Newsweek article describes these favorable conditions that have kick-started the Indonesian take-off: "The country’s largest parties now basically agree on economic policy and the need to reduce corruption, improve the rule of law and make government ore efficient. Key democratic institutions – including a free press, impartial courts and a legislature chosen by voters – are remarkably robust, and the once all-powerful military has largely removed itself from politics." The regional dispersal of economic activities has reduced Jakarta’s share in Indonesia’s GDP to just 15 percent. With the massive infrastructure projects being pushed in Mindanao, Northern and Central Luzon and Central Visayas, we should be moving in the same direction. We just have to decapitate the monstrous capital that is the Metro Manila region.