Questionnaire Publication II: The Tiger of Asia

How to measure country development level is by compare it with other country.

This blog is the second part from the “Questionnaire Publication”

The Tiger of Asia.

I think every magazine always compare countries in Asia,

“Here is the tiger of Asia”

“Here is rising tiger of Asia”

“This was the tiger of Asia”

I think that there is three ways for any country to become the tiger of Asia,

First is to have a strong-semi authoritarian government, or

second, has willingness to step further or

third, do both.

If we monitor Southeast Asia, all the great 3 countries (Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore) have strong-semi authoritarian government. Although Thailand was shaken by the red-shirt movement to shake the current prime minister, Thailand’s monarchy stand still and with the military forces backed up. In case of Malaysia’s government, it’s dominated by the UMNO.

Both Malaysia and Singapore is backed up with Internal Security Act that allows the police to arrest person or a group up to 30 days (Singapore) or 60 days (Malaysia), to counter any Coup de etat or terrorism action. Seems that’s not humane, but that’s country prerogative. 

Those southeast Asian countries has semi-authoritarian government and succeeded lead the nation as the tigers of (southeast) Asia.

If we observe East Asia countries like Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. They are the tiger of Asia. 
 

One “happening” country is South Korea, from Kimchi to LG, south Korean product, food and lifestyle is everywhere. What happened to South Korea today is not happened in the blink of an eye.

South Korea is one of the victim of the cold war, it’s also been into dictatorship government under Syngman Rhee (The First Republic), The Second Republic and The Military Rule lead by Park Chung-hee.

The third republic established populist program in economy extended its governance up to the fourth republic but then his government went corrupt and after 18 years, he was murdered by Kim Jae-kyu, ended also the military rule in the fourth republic.

The fifth republic still marked with protest, political unrest and house detention for the opposition leader, started with Coup de etat on the current prime minister by Chun Doo-hwan in 1979. His government promised new era of economic and democratic justice, marked by the rise of South Korea’s economy, but also widen the gap between the rich and poor.

The fifth republic success marked by Asian Games 1986.

Remember back that the fifth republic was build from Coup de etat, it means that the government is still based on military government, not civilian. And again, another protest occurred caused by the Gwangju Massacre in 1987.

June 1987 marked the rise of the Republic of South Korea lead by Roh Tae-woo.

This status still remains until now.

1988 Olympic game was held in Seoul, after Roh Tae-woo step down, Kim Yong-sam was the first civilian president since 30 years, he did many breakthrough in economy and law, took former president Cun and Roh to court for bribery.

South Korea also suffered from the 1998 economic crisis,  as a great challenge for the new president, Kim Dae-jung. The government is doing aggresive effort in investment attracting, gold-collecting campaign and industry cooperation. South Korea succeeded out of the crisis in a relative short time.

In Kim’s era, industrial reconstruction with the big conglomerates were pursued, the national health system was introduce, education reform was introduced and the IT field is increased. 2002 cooperate south Korea with Japan as host for FIFA World Cup.

Roh Moo-hyun took the presidential chair in 2002, hee is succeeded to settling Korea-USA FTA issue and launch the high-speed train system. But then he was accused in corruption and bribery. Korean stock market was rose, but the unemployment and the housing prices were also high.

The lawsuit ended when he commit suicide in 2009.

Until now, the president of South Korea is Lee Myung-bak.

 (Source and summarized from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_South_Korea)

(See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_South_Korea)

What can we learn from South Korea’s history?

1. South Korea also have the dictatorship and military era. 
2. What determine South Korea is that they has the continuity in its economic policy (strong government determination since 1960 until now), although each government era was the opposition that took place.
3. The suppressive power cannot hold the people, corrupt government will force the people of South Korea to have another demonstration. 

How about Indonesia? Indonesia also has almost the same fate with South Korea, Soekarno's been close to the socialist block, after been coupe by Soeharto, Indonesia has similar progress with South Korea. But what differentiate them with South Korea is determination and continuity. Click here for international news about Indonesia's current President.