bout de papier, Vol. 12, No. 4 (1995-1996) — Winter 1995–96 // Hiver 1995-1996, pp. 43–44
MALAYSIAN DEVELOPMENT: A RETROSPECTIVE
by Martin Rudner. Ottawa, Carleton
University Press, 1994. 406 pp., $19.95
paperback.
This volume is a unique and valuable contribution to understanding the pattern of economic development of Malaysia. It consists of fourteen articles written between 1970 and 1987 by an established Canadian academic who has specialized in the study of South East Asia. Of equal importance is the fact that it has been published by Carleton University Press and will soon be available in Malay. Thus, both in Malaysia and in Canada there will be an opportunity to appreciate how and perhaps why Malaysian economic progress has occurred. These articles, with a most useful introduction and conclusion, should enable Malaysians and Canadians to prepare for what it is hoped will be a close and long-term economic relationship between their two countries of substantial benefit to both.
The book is based on a wide-ranging analytical perspective which will have to be accepted as objective by any reasonable reader. Although there is little purely political assessment, the fact is that social and institutional elements are thoroughly integrated in the analysis. It might be useful to note some of the significant reasons for which Malaysia is now one of the most secure and prosperous countries of its region.
Whether this is a result of a colonial heritage or not, the fact is that a crucial characteristic of Malaysian economic history since independence has been reliance on the economic planning function. The Economic Planning Unit of the Malaysian government has been a central influence on Malaysian policies over the years. This is in sometimes sharp contrast to other countries in South and South East Asia where elaborate five-year or other plans have been developed and then more or less ignored as circumstances changed. In the Malaysian case, there has been a deliberate and continuing effort to depend on long-term planning. It could be argued that Malaysia is a fortunate country with a number of established extractive industries and the capability of developing a manufacturing and industrial base with a highly trained workforce. However, these natural advantages have been carefully exploited. Perhaps the best essay in the book deals with educational development and change, and which reveals the importance the Malaysians attached to developing their educational system so as to respond to their changing economic needs. There are excellent essays on the management of rice and rubber in post-independence Malaysia which indicate how effectively Malaysia was able to respond even when international economic circumstances produced fluctuations in the world markets for their raw materials.
A second element which has been notable f in the Malaysian economic history in the period covered by Professor Rudner’s essays has been the reliance in Malaysia on a combination of state intervention and private enterprise. It has been argued that the secret ; of the economic development which has • characterized many of the countries in South ; East Asia has been this kind of pragmatic approach to management of the economy. The private sector was always considered to be a full partner in the planning and execution of policies to promote Malaysian economic development. At the same time : there appears to have been very little difficulty in gaining acceptance for significant governmental controls and management of the central levers of power. It is not as if Malaysia has had a clear road to its present prosperity. The World Bank in the late 1940s rated Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, as the best prospect for prosperity, and gave Malaysia only a comparatively pessimistic assessment. Malaysia was obliged to overcome one of the most extensive Communist insurgencies of the post-War period, and succeeded in a way which has been often compared to the history of Vietnam in the same period. The two circumstances are very different and precise comparisons are not useful, but there can be no doubt of the success in Malaysia of British and Malaysian efforts to combat insurgency and develop a broadly supported economy.
Malaysia also faced serious internal stresses which resulted as recently as 1969 in the need to proclaim a state of emergency and then to start off on a comparatively fresh set of governmental policies. Malaysia continues to experience major social tensions, but the prospects at the moment are for a significant period in which the country can take advantage of stable conditions to make further economic progress. The requirement has been to develop what many consider to be indigenous forms of democracy designed for Malaysian conditions.
Malaysia has also been helped towards prosperity by a reliance on basic research especially for rubber, rice, palm oil, and tin. There have been well-funded and firmly supported research programs both of strategic and of short-term value. It would be instructive for many countries (including Canada) to review the way in which Malaysia has been willing to invest in scientific research in order to ensure that its products and their marketing are internationally competitive.
No doubt the book has benefited from Professor Rudner’s contacts with institutions in Malaysia, Singapore, Britain, Israel, Australia, the United States, and Canada. The founders of Carleton University would be pleased to see this successful product of broadly-based research published in the Canadian capital. The author concludes with the assertion that “policy analysis can contribute positively to development efforts by deriving lessons learned from experience and utilizing these to monitor and evaluate current objectives and performance.” It is to be expected that both in Canada and Malaysia this text will contribute to the economic advantage of both countries.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 12, No. 4 (1995-1996) — Winter 1995–96 // Hiver 1995-1996, pp. 43–44. Read the rest of this issue →
