Neo-liberalism and a strong believe in “hands-off” free market policies are actually in short supply among the speakers we have heard so far. For the most part, the economic crisis has been blamed on a lack of regulation in financial and other industries, along with an “absence of values” among business leaders worldwide.
On Tuesday morning, we heard from a variety of dynamic speakers, and two in particular caught my attention. The first, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, is Singapore’s Minister for Community Development, Youth, and Sports. The second, Mr. Ho Kwon Ping, is the Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings Limited (a worldwide hotel chain) as well as a higher-level administrative official for Singapore Management University.
I didn’t expect someone like Dr. Balakrishnan, who holds a ministerial-level position in government, to speak so candidly on his views of globalization and the world economy. But, then again, you have to recognize that protectionist measures with trade that the U.S. uses to give its exports an advantage (i.e. tariffs on imports, a decrease in foreign investment, etc.) have a very negative impact on a country such as Singapore. Namely, the country is an island that doesn’t provide enough food to feed itself, and most of its exports are technological.
Dr. Vivian pointed out that economic liberalization has benefited the world as a whole, but not all sectors of society are benefitting in an equal fashion. The fall in foreign direct investment will hurt, and certainly not help, the global economy. “Have we really learned the right lessons from the economic crisis?” he said. “History repeats itself… and we must ask ourselves in which scenario is the greater good achieved.” Meetings such as APEC are crucial for the region, but we also need to put our money where our mouths are and crank out real, sustainable change and not just empty promises to make the world a better place for all to live.
The other speaker, “Mr. Ho,” was the second for the Voices of the Future opening plenary. His advice to the audience was for us all to pursue careers in investment banking, make lots of money, and funnel our profits into sustainable development. The world doesn’t need bureaucrats who commit their lives to careers in international development, per se, but we need to invest in entrepreneurship to help people help themselves. This is the solution to global poverty, not major governments just getting together and making promises that never keep.
Indeed, Mr. Ho himself has an interesting background, but his arguments were not without contradictions. Inspired by the likes of Che Guevara as a youth, he backpacked instead throughout Southeast Asia in his pursuit to find how he could best improve conditions in the world. And somehow he became an investment banker and eventual CEO.
His speech was certainly captivating, but the other Furman delegates and I found issue with his call for “moral values” in global business. At the end of the day, you can’t deny the fact that businesses exist to make money, and there is no universal set of “values” (a question that Kelly specifically asked of him). Also, his citation of Samuel Huntington to answer a question was disappointing— credible academics have mostly dismissed his theories as racist and ethnocentric. In a multi-ethnic world like ours today, viable societies will be based on how a diversity of peoples can work together. In my opinion, Huntington's description of a looming "clash of civilizations" played all to nicely into a fear of "the other" that was deepened after 9/11.
Even with my likes and dislikes, I must say these two speakers were very dynamic. Neither of them seemed restrained by their political or business associations, and both of them presented themselves in ways I wouldn't have expected.
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