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.
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)
What can we learn
from South Korea’s history?
- South Korea also have the dictatorship and military era.
- 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.
- The suppressive power cannot hold the people, corrupt government will force the people of South Korea to have another demonstration.
