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Think again
Michael Alan Hamlin
Anyone with any doubt that negative perception of a country brand has a similar negative impact on foreign investment should look to Thailand for insight. After two months of often violent political protests that shut down central Bangkok, “Thailand’s at a real risk of becoming a laggard” in the race for investment, HSBC economist Frederic Neumann told The Wall Street Journal’s Patrick Barta in a report this week. “We’ve never seen Bangkok ablaze, and there’s now a realization that there is a political gridlock in Thailand with no resolution, and so the uncertainties continue.”
Business investors hate uncertainty, and that dislike shows up in foreign investment trends. As a result of political uncertainty that threatens businesses’ ability to sustain normal operations, Thailand has received less foreign investment in recent years than Vietnam. Mr. Barta observed in his report that Vietnam is a far smaller economy than that of Thailand, and that lower foreign investment has other negative consequences, such as the inability to provide resources to rehabilitate aging infrastructure.
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Posted
5/27/2010 12:02:25 PM |
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Back to reality
Michael Alan Hamlin
Not as many as expected turned out-somewhere between 70 and 75% of registered voters--but the 30-38 million Filipinos who voted in last week’s historic Philippine national election saw their votes counted in record time, and for more than half of them, before they went to bed. Despite the frustrations resulting from poor logistics management; the first nationwide application of a new technology, and teething problems for teachers manning the automated precincts, the Philippines found itself in the unique-and perhaps improbable-position of being praised internationally for conducting an efficient, fair, and transparent national election.
Counting was so fast that for the most part cheaters were left in a bewildered daze. Intimidation was apparent in traditional hot spots, but a wary military and police establishment appeared to be in no mood for trouble in the wake of the Maguindanao massacre in November that attracted international attention and severely pummeled the Philippines’ and the authorities’ already tarnished reputations. Vote buying was hard to curb, however, as evidenced along provincial roads leading to polling stations in Mindanao, Palawan, Bataan, and elsewhere.
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Posted
5/21/2010 11:04:21 AM |
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The tortured rebirth of Philippine democracy
Michael Alan Hamlin
On Monday, David E. Apter, a Yale University professor and political scientist recognized for his research into “the often tortured birth of developing nations” as The New York Times’ Dennis Hevesi characterized his work, died. Although Dr. Apter knew Asia-he studied China’s revolutionary leader Mao Zedong and Japanese militants who led protests against the development of farmland where the Tokyo International Airport now stands-his interest in the Philippines was limited.
Yet among Asia’s tortured development stories, none is more tortured than the Philippines’ birth, and regular and just as tortured rebirths. Despite Japan’s current economic and political struggles, the story of its birth is one of success. With the support of its former enemies, Japan rebuilt its economy from the ashes of its destruction to emerge the second largest economy in the world.
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Posted
5/12/2010 6:59:15 PM |
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Decker: New signs of hope in the Philippines
Michael Alan Hamlin
As Monday's election draws near, the Washington Times' editorial page editor Brett Decker describes signs of hope in this opinion piece. Investors hope he is right.
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Posted
5/7/2010 10:59:44 AM |
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In the province: Campaign 2010
Michael Alan Hamlin
In five days, up to 50,000 Filipinos will troop to polls to elect their president, vice president, and other national and local officials in the country’s first automated elections. The decibel level associated with the integrity of the computerized process and the transmission of votes has steadily increased in recent weeks after major business groups and other influential associations called for a parallel manual count to ensure accurate results.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) unanimously rejected those calls, arguing that a manual vote would undermine the purpose of the automated elections by delaying the tally. In response, Senator Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino III (Liberal) warned that a failure of elections or attempts by the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to manipulate the outcome in favor of other presidential candidates could bring people back to the streets for yet another iteration of People Power.
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Posted
5/5/2010 12:39:53 PM |
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