[asia-apec 579] THE RAG, Issue Number 2 (part2 of 3)
PAN Asia Pacific
panap at panap.po.my
Wed Aug 26 20:35:55 JST 1998
*************THE RAG*************
(Resistance Against Globalisation)
The Monthly Newsletter of the Asia-Pacific Peoples' Assembly
Issue No.2, August 1998
Hong Kong conference responds to financial crisis
NGOs from the Hong Kong region organized a conference from 15-18 June entitled "Financial
Crisis: Our responses". Participants stated that the crisis is "a threat to the basic right to life of
Asian peoples". They denounced the response of Asian governments and multilateral institutions,
posing as "saviors", that "have resorted to the very same economic policies that have created the
conditions leading to Asia's economic collapse." For participants, the solution to the crisis lies not in
the hands of these saviors but in the Asian victims of development-the primary producers and
forgers of the future.
Participants defined globalisation as an "indiscriminate, unregulated, neo-liberal development model
. . . that prioritizes the profits of the few while ignoring the livelihood of the many. This profit
oriented, structurally inequitable system has been aggressively imposed upon the peoples in Asia. It
is re-colonization par excellence. We reject this model."
The conference singled-out the role that poor governance and the absence of substantive
democracy played in bringing about the crisis. "The culture of authoritarianism, militarisation,
violence, corruption and immorality has prevailed all over the region for decades . . . The crisis
today exposed the reality that those outdated dictatorial regimes are no longer able to handle the
situation. The "Asian Miracle" under undemocratic governments no longer exists."
For participants, the policies that produced this crisis have brought adverse consequences to
everyone: workers are subject to gross exploitation in wages and conditions and more than 21
million from Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong and Indonesia alone, will go
unemployed in 1998; migrant workers have moved to Asian countries en-mass and at least one
million will be deported; people in urban areas who lose their jobs also lose "a citizen to his society"
and many return to the rural areas that were unable to support them in housing, health facilities,
educational facilities for children and the civil amenities that connect better times; and women, who
occupy most of the low-paid, unskilled jobs, are the first to be retrenched and the privatization of
public and social services has increased their domestic burden.
Finding globalisation in Penang
Last week I was speaking to an American who works for one of the world's leading information
technology multinational companies (MNCs). He was in Penang to help the company's Malaysian
factories set up a tool for failure analysis. He said that the company had been operating in
Malaysia for thirty years. So why, after thirty years, did the company still need to send Americans
over here? He said that he was here because the tool was developed in the US and only a few
people there could train others to work it. His answer was revealing; the company was sending
Americans here because all of the company's research and development was done in the US. After
thirty years of operation in Penang's free-trade zones, the Malaysian branches had not developed
beyond simple low-wage assembly plants. As the American explained, the only reason the tool was
even sent here was in case an earthquake took place in California.
The next day on a bus to Kuala Lumpur, I met a gentleman from the Universiti Sains Malaysia.
He told me about how the university faced increased enrolement and large budget cuts. I asked
him if the private sector was offering any financial help. He said that national companies give
scholarships and grants to students to study overseas but foreign MNCs do not. "What has Coke
ever given Malaysian students," he said. Then he said a friend of his was just hired as a manager
by a foreign multinational in Kuala Lumpur. He said she was studying business in Ohio, where a
number of Malaysians study on scholarship, when she saw the ad for the position. The company
was eager to cash in on Malaysia's education programmes but unwilling to invest in them. Foreign
MNCs are benefiting from globalisation: is Malaysia? -ed
E-commerce: Who needs it?
The United States surprised everybody this year at the WTO ministerial when Bill Clinton
proposed that tariffs not be levied on electronic commerce (e-commerce involves any transaction
done over the Internet in which no physical delivery of goods across borders takes place). Most
countries were caught off guard by the US proposal because electronic commerce hardly appears
on their trade statistics. At present, few countries conduct much trade over the Internet; the US
accounts for 85% of all revenue generated by the Internet and is probably the only net exporter of
electronic commerce. But electronic trade is rapidly expanding and will eventually affect all
countries. Estimates are that trade will balloon from $3 billion in 1997 to over $200 billion by
2000.
Free trade in e-commerce only benefits the North. While both the South and the North give-up
revenues from custom fees, only the North exports through e-commerce only the North gets
something in return. E-commerce is only for the rich; the poor, without access to the Internet, are
left out of this telecommunications revolution and tax-break scheme. So why would any Southern
countries want to endorse a trade agreement that so little of their populations can ever hope to
benefit from? Big business wants e-commerce in a big way. The potential for industry, primarily
in the North, where most financial services, telecommunications, and software companies are
located, is massive. This month, some of the Asia-Pacific's biggest banks met in Singapore to form
an alliance to set standards for more secure financial services and e- commerce over the Internet.
The banks are eager to profit on bill payments, on-line sales and electronic invoicing, and a host of
other financial and business services that can all be done over the Internet. Not surprisingly,
electronic commerce was one of the APEC Business Advisory Council's key areas for
recommendation to APEC Leaders and APEC will be leading the drive in the WTO for acceptance
of the US proposal.
E-commerce and education
APEC's ecotech program gives special attention to a new concept called "distance education".
Distance education provides education or training over the Internet and across long distances.
APEC claims that the technology will bring high-levels of training and education to areas where it
was previously unfeasible. Just how these areas without proper schools will be able to provide
widespread access to the Internet isn't clear. And whether areas with deficient education systems
should import education instead of continuing to develop their own systems isn't debated. But
there's more to the story.
Distance education quickly captured the attention of multinational industries, and the major
industrial lobby groups of the North are busy promoting it. It's easy to see why. First,
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members spend US$1000
billion annually on education. Distance education would dramatically alter how this money is
distributed. Less would be spent on teachers, classrooms, and the development of public education
programs catered to local contexts; more would be spent on telecommunication services and
infrastructure and computer software that private corporations provide. Students would also pay
for a greater share of their education, as the system would operate on a fee-for-service basis.
Second, corporations spend massive amounts on training their employees; distance learning would
shift the burden to employees, who could do the training on their own time from home or
computer sites. The training would be especially relevant to the growing telemarketing industry.
Developments in distance education to date suggest that the programs offered will only cater to the
education and training demands of industry, making education more of a business than a learning
process. The EU is even attempting to revoke the exclusive right of nations to grant diplomas;
distance education institutions will be able to grant "competency accreditation cards" that will read
like CVs, describing the number of training programs that the individual has completed.
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The Rag is the monthly newsletter of the Asia Pacific Peoples' Assembly (APPA). All
organizations and individuals from within and outside of Malaysia that are concerned about
globalisation are encouraged to participate and join in hosting APPA. If you or your organisation
are interested in participating in or hosting or assisting with a Peoples' Assembly event, an issue or
sector forum, or a cultural activity, please contact the Secretariat for more information. The
intention is to create a genuine space to contest crucial ideas and issues in an open and participatory
way. Comments about and contributions to the Rag should be addressed to the Secretariat.
If you would like to receive the printed version of The Rag, please send a request by email to the
Secretariat with your complete address.
The Secretariat
57 Lorong Kurau,
59100 Lucky Gardens,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Email: appasec at tm.net.my
Tel: 604-2836245
Fax: 604-2833536
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