Fifth China-ASEAN Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction

The opening ceremony of the Fifth China-Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction was held on 14 September at Borobudur Hotel in Jakarta. The forum was organized by Indonesian National Development Planning Ministry, office for poverty alleviation of Chinese State Council, and China International Center for Poverty Alleviation; and collaborated by the bureau for poverty reduction of Indonesian National Development Planning Ministry and office for poverty alleviation of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The region was endorsed by ASEAN Secretariat, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), China International Center for Economic and Technology Exchanges, Asian Development Bank (ADB), China International Exchange Association, and Australian Council for International Development.
The opening ceremony was moderated by Indonesian National Development Center. Speakers of the ceremony included Agung Laksono, Indonesian Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare; Li Jinhua, honorary president of China Association of Poverty Alleviation; Sayakane Sisouvong, vice secretary-general of ASEAN; ADB Vice President Ursula Schaefer Preuss; and Armida Alisjahbana, Indonesian Minister for National Development Planning. UNDP Administrator Helen Clark sent her congratulatory note. Agung Laksono announced the official opening of the forum.
Focus on Poverty Alleviation
Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia, Zhang Qiyue, also attended the forum. The forum recorded an attendance of more than 100 participants, including persons-in-charge of offices for national and social development and offices for poverty alleviation from ASEAN countries like Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam; prominent experts and scholars in the studies of poverty reduction, prominent entrepreneurs, and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGO) and international organizations.
The theme of the forum was "The Quality of Growth and Poverty Reduction". The forum aimed at studying the analysis framework and interaction mechanism between the quality of economic growth and poverty reduction; sharing the experience of different countries in improving the quality of economic growth to facilitate poverty reduction; and assessing the attempts taken by international development organizations, NGOs, and enterprises in improving the quality of economic growth to reduce poverty.
Li Jinhua introduced to the audience the current situation of poverty reduction endeavor in China. He said that the cause of poverty reduction is now entering a new phase in China. The state has continued to boost its commitment and efforts in alleviating poverty, to improve the system of assuring adequate food and clothing for the people, to stimulate the vitality for development in poverty-stricken areas, and to consolidate the efforts of various sectors in the society in the cause of poverty reduction. China has achieved a great success in this regard. The country has achieved the target stipulated in the UN Millennium Development Goals by reducing the population living in poverty by half. China has made its contribution to the global cause for poverty reduction.
Tackling Financial Crisis
In this new century, ASEAN countries have gradually gotten over the financial crisis erupted at the end of last century and shown a trend of economic recovery and growth. For example, Indonesia achieved an average economic growth of over 5 percent in the past eight years. In addition to Singapore and Brunei, all other member states of ASEAN are still developing countries. Therefore, development remains the core issue for these countries at present. How to reduce poverty in the process of development is one of the most important challenges facing these countries. ASEAN is still one of the regions facing serious poverty problem. The lack of coordination between economic growth and social development has led to the imbalance in development in these countries or in the region. The scope of poverty is more extensive and the extent of poverty is more profound; whereas the foundation for economic development in this region is relatively feeble. A long term mechanism for sustainable development is not established yet. Likewise, China also faces the similar predicament. What need to achieve is to make sure the people's needs for adequate food and clothing, free education, basic healthcare, and shelter are catered.
Quality of Economic Growth
Armida Alisjahbana said that Indonesian Government needs to improve the quality of economic growth using different approaches. At the same time, another challenge for the government is to make more people benefit from the economic growth and make sure the poor can also enjoy the fruits of economic growth. This has also become a hot academic topic and a matter of public concern.
The pressing tasks for Indonesia and other ASEAN countries are to improve the quality of economic growth, to make sure the income of the poor grows faster than the income of the non-poor, to make sure the poor enjoy equal opportunities in employment and basic public services like healthcare and education, to speed up the poverty reduction, and to reduce the disparity between the poor and the rich. We would earnestly promote the self-independent program devised by the Indonesian government to make the poor become rich within a short period.

Malaysia-Brunei Ties: Cooperation in Oil and Natural Gas Sector

After jointly investing in the exploration of the CA2 deepwater oil block in the waters off Brunei, Malaysia and Brunei recently agreed to step up the bilateral cooperation in the oil and natural gas sector. Petronas (Malaysian state-owned oil and gas company) and Brunei National Petroleum Company (Petroleum Brunei) signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU).
The MoU on the work on the joint demarcation and survey of the land boundary will also be finalized under the framework of the production sharing contract. This is another positive move taken by countries in the South China Sea to explore oil resources after the cooperation of Vietnam and the Philippines with US and British oil companies in exploring oil resources and offshore drilling. Considering that Malaysia and Brunei have the experience of cooperation in deepwater oil drilling, it is believed that the big-scale oil exploration endeavor this time will bring about a new model for the exploration and development of resources in the South China Sea.
Resources in South China Sea
The idea of the two countries to jointly develop the resources in the South China Sea is still pending the actual implementation for the time being. In order to facilitate the administrative work, we suggest Malaysia and Brunei to set up a joint venture company to reach a consensus of cooperation and joint investment in developing offshore resources in northern Sarawak and Brunei. The proposal to jointly develop resources in the South China Sea is a groundbreaking idea to expand the scope of the economic development in the two countries and a feasible way to further develop the bilateral ties of Malaysia and Brunei.
Malaysia and Brunei are inseparably related both in terms of geographical location and historical background. To work together with Brunei in developing resources is always an important goal in Malaysia's endeavor in expanding and developing its ties with foreign countries. As the dispute over the sovereign right in the South China Sea is becoming increasingly complex and superficial, the idea proposed by leaders of Malaysia and Brunei to jointly develop deepwater resources undoubtedly offers another possibility to resolve the dispute. The close relationship between Malaysia and Brunei has seen some changes in recent few years. One of the most important factors causing the changes is the escalation of the race for resources in this region and the sovereignty dispute over islands in the South China Sea. As sovereignty disputes between China and Vietnam, as well as the Philippines, become increasingly intense, the United States has also "officially" made a bid by stationing its aircraft carrier at Cam Ranh Bay. This move taken by the Pentagon also indicated the intention of the Obama administration to extend its influence to Southeast Asia. As the United States is "marking its territories" in the South China Sea, Southeast Asian countries are also compelled to seek their allies and partners for economic cooperation to ensure their continuous economic growth and political influence. Such a development has inevitably led to the changes in the bilateral ties between Malaysia and Brunei.
Meanwhile, in view of the rapid development of Indonesia's economic and trade sector, there are also scores of tourism cooperation projects in the west coast of Borneo for Malaysia and Indonesia to explore. The two countries have also engaged in cooperation in exploring or even drilling oil fields and this trend has been particularly obvious over the past few years. This has facilitated the Malaysia-Brunei cooperation in exploring oil resources. The Malaysian and Brunei governments have agreed to step up their cooperation in the sector of natural resources. Since it involves the complicated process of border demarcation, the task has been entrusted to the Joint Brunei-Malaysia Land Boundary Committee. Once the survey is done and the exploitation of offshore oil resources commences, there will be a new round of race for resources in the South China Sea.
Political and Economic Ties
Malaysia is undergoing economic transformation; while the world economy is showing a trend of slowing down and the second round of economic recession has already started. Thus, in the past one year, the Malaysian government has endeavored to promote the so-called "external exploration" policy.
Malaysia hopes to strengthen and boost its political and economic ties with other countries in this region by working together in exploring and distributing resources. At the same time, Malaysia also hopes to locate new investment destinations in a bid to ease the mounting pressure caused by the slow economic growth in the country. The agreement on the bridge construction signed by Malaysian and Brunei Governments will get the two countries ready for more cooperation in exploring resources in the future.
Joint Communique
Nevertheless, there is also a blind spot in the Malaysian government's policy toward Brunei. The border demarcation is a matter concerning territorial sovereignty of the two countries and it is expected that there will be lots of practical difficulties ahead. An earlier rumor about "exchanging oil blocks with sovereign right over Limbang" is actually an implication of border demarcation. Fortunately, Malaysia and Brunei immediately agreed on joint investment and development of the CA2 deepwater oil block off Brunei and debunked the rumor. Anyway, it is only until recently that a new opportunity arose to make this cooperation project possible through a Joint Communique, a result of the earnest efforts taken by both Malaysian and Brunei governments. This shows that there are more rigorous tests awaiting the policy of joint development of oil resources.
In the face of the many difficulties in the cooperation plan and the possibility of triggering a new round of conflicts over the islands in the South China Sea, leaders of Malaysia and Brunei have timely proposed the idea of cooperation package which includes cooperation in trade, investment, defense, finance, and transportation. Such an idea can make the plan to develop the resources in the South China Sea less sensitive. At the same time, the plan can also be an important bid to further develop the Malaysia-Brunei relations. This kind of broad vision and policy mind-set will lead us to the right path towards bright prospects of our national development.
The joint development of the CA2 oil block is a greatly profitable plan and expected to generate multi-billion dollar profits to both countries in the next 40 years. The profits should exceed this amount if we take other oil by-products into account. Setting up a joint venture company to explore and develop the abundant oil resources in the deep sea off northern Sarawak and Brunei using modern corporate approach will at least reduce the red tape in bureaucratic procedures.

US Pays Heavy Opportunity Cost 10 Years After 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

Prior to 11 September 2001, the United States was always full of confidence in facing all kinds of challenges and provocations. The name of the United States then was synonymous to "international police personnel" and "financial big brother."
But suddenly, 11 September 2011 came; three aircrafts hit the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon Building of the US Defense Department. Towering buildings collapsed; and the confidence of the people in the United States also collapsed with them. The world community suddenly realized US President George W. Bush could so easily be attacked by the weaker party.
In 2009 when George W. Bush, Jr. left the White House, many people in the United States especially the family members of the US soldiers who had to station overseas to fight the so called counterterrorism war in Iraq and in Afghanistan; as well as the antiwar protestors, were happy to see Bush leaving. They applauded.
Spreading Islam-Phobia
After the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States, the US security mechanism has also undergone tremendous change. The so-called Islam-phobia also spread quickly in the United States. In the US society, the personal freedom of the citizens became subject to certain restrictions. The immigration law has also been tightened. Once again, Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilization" thought caught the attention of the people again.
Joseph Nye, Jr. who served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Clinton administration believed that a major significant shift of the 11 September incident was that there was an increasing strength of the nonstate actors in the power fight. This shift of power has become one of the largest power transitions in the information age.
The number of the people in the United States killed by Al-Qaida terrorist network was more than the people killed by the Japanese military when Japan attacked the US Pearl Harbor during the Second World War. As such the attacks by the terrorists as non-state actors can perhaps be called the "privatization of war." This is because the war between two nations can no longer be limited or confined to the fight and contest of military strength between nations only.
During the Cold War period, the "mutually assured destruction" strategy allowed the United States and the former Soviet Union to process strong and elite military force. But such a strategy could not allow either country to get benefit from adversaries. In the end both sides became equally vulnerable in order to avoid disaster from happening. But the 11 September terrorist attack in the United States has re-written this international rule of the game.
Creating Asymmetric Situations
Joseph Nye, Jr believed the 11 September terrorist attack incident has created two asymmetric situations that in turn have helped to push the Al Qa'ida terrorist network a step forward.
First, it is the "information" asymmetry. While the terrorists are well aware of their target of attacks, but the United States has little understanding of the hiding places and facial features of the terrorists. While some intelligence were able to predict the damage of the nonstate actors could cause to great powers such as the United States but the conclusions of the intelligence did not get acceptance and be included as part of the official counterterrorism strategy adopted by the authority. Second, there is this "attention" asymmetry. While it is logical for large scale participating bodies with many interests and goals to overlook and pay less attention to some of the smaller scale participating bodies; on the other hand, the smaller participating players can pay more attention to their own goals and are able to focus their attention to what they want to do.
On reflection, the global agenda pertaining to the terrorist attacks staged by Al-Qaida Chief Osama Bin Laden has already been dominated in the world scene for approximately 10 years. Although Bin Laden has already been killed by the US military force in Pakistan in May 2011, but the United States has also paid trillions of dollars in the past ten years trying to arrest Bin Laden. The United States has ended up paying more for the opportunity cost than it has earlier expected.
It is indeed strange and funny for us to observe that when the people in the far away land in the United States suffered the hurt of terrorist attacks 10 years ago, some sectors still hold the suspicion that the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States was but a self-directed act by the United States itself. Moreover, there were also some sectors that were thankful that such tragedy had happened in the United States but had not happened to them; and there were also some compassionate sectors who expressed their sympathies to the people in the United States. But a tragedy remains a tragedy. After the wounds heal, the indelible scars left in the hearts of the Americans can still occasionally feel the pain.
It has been ten years after the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States. The world media has spent large media space to report on news related to the 11 September incident in order to evoke our past memory of what had happened to the United States ten years ago. But such a memory war will not just stop here; it may even turn worse as days go by.
Top National Priority
International rule of the game is like the Leaning Tower of Pisa; it will continue to tilt toward the side of the stronger power. US President Barack Obama has tried to change it. He begins US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. But the asymmetry situation he faces will be difficult for him to see the result within short period of time.
No wonder some people in the United States feel that the biggest lesson the United States can learn from the experience of the 11 September incident is on how the US Government should handle its foreign affairs. They feel that the US Government should adhere to the advice of former US President Eisenhower who had won many highly decorated war honors for half of his life some half a century ago. This former US president had said: "Do not get into war that involves in the occupation of other countries' territories. Put focus on strengthening US economy as top national priority."
Unemployment Rate and Federal Deficit
However, now the US economy is in a mess. Although the pending US sovereignty debt issue seems to have been resolved, but there are many hidden concerns in the US society. President Obama has continued to be troubled by the high unemployment rate and federal deficit issue in the United States.
The United States has already bid farewell to its former arrogant hegemony and their proudly-hailed power. The misjudgment of what the United States should do after the 11 September terrorist attacks has led the United States loosing many good opportunities to make good the nation. What is left after the 11 September incident is but a rotten economy, a mess and regret in the US society.