Comments on: Meeting Ustaz Hadi http://wansaiful.com/2007/07/27/meeting-ustaz-hadi/ Personal thoughts of Wan Saiful Wan Jan Fri, 25 May 2012 11:18:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: wansaiful http://wansaiful.com/2007/07/27/meeting-ustaz-hadi/#comment-3083 Sun, 29 Jul 2007 12:59:55 +0000 http://wansaiful.com/2007/07/27/meeting-ustaz-hadi/#comment-3083 The Free Trade Agreement is just what it says on the tin – an agreement between different nations to trade freely. Just like any other agreements, all parties arefree to negotiate.

The key therefore is for Malaysia to negotiate so that we too get the most out of the agreement.

Whether we should liberalise first, or strengthen the institutions first is a chicken and egg situation. Do we wait until our institutions and civil society are strengthened, or do we liberalise first? I think they should go together, and that means we must embrace both – the strengthening of institutions AND liberalisation.

We should not be afraid of creative destruction. It is obvious that some industry will go bust and some people will become redundant. If England were to resist liberalisation to protect their farmers and manufacturers centuries / decades ago, like what we in Malaysia are demanding now, we would not have the England that we have today.

But, evidence shows that unilateral liberalisation is still best. China, India, and Hong Kong are just some of the examples of what happen when a country unilaterally liberalise their economy.

]]> By: Hazri http://wansaiful.com/2007/07/27/meeting-ustaz-hadi/#comment-3062 Fri, 27 Jul 2007 10:40:08 +0000 http://wansaiful.com/2007/07/27/meeting-ustaz-hadi/#comment-3062 The fear of many Malaysians, as with many developing countries, with globalisation is that it opens up the whole country to the scrutiny of strong and powerful nations, particularly when the former’s policies do not agree with the latter’s, more so in this age when economic determinism seems to hold sway, so much so that all socio-cultural fabric of that society is made to correspond with its economic functions. At stake is not only the sovereignty and independence of the nation-state but also past traditions and heritage handed down for generations. This is social engineering writ large which ironically, seems to be the all-consuming passion of the socialists. The government, previously accountable to the people alone, now is at a crossroads between meeting the demands of the electorate and pandering to the dictates of its trade partners.

The question of free trade and globalisation is not a matter of choice. Hadi Awang may not reject free trade outright, but exactly why this is his position is more questionable. For my part, I do believe that free trade and globalisation are inevitable, the only question remaining is when do we embrace it. At present, our social institutions and civil society are relatively weak, and anti-competitive practices remain rampant such that if we open up our market now, we are doomed to disaster, which is precisely why I don’t think we should agree to the FTA with the US yet, though by the hints of Rafidah Aziz chances are we will proceed with it anyway. Moreover, an FTA should be a symbiotic process : if the we are willing to allow American corporations to penetrate our economy, is the US wiling to allow free flow of Malaysian labour into the US labour market?

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