Posts tagged under interviews
Interview with Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs columnist, Financial Times
The ATM team got the chance to talk to Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs columnist at the Financial Times. He was visiting Singapore to participate in a roundtable event organised by the Asian Trends Monitoring Bulletin and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy on the topic of “Rising Asia, Growing Inequality”.
Rachman touched upon the issues of China’s growing economic influence in the region and its political consequences for ASEAN as an organisation as well as its individual member states. He drew comparisons to the European Integration process and pointed out how free of movement of goods, capital and labour helped bridge gaps in development between Eastern European member states and the core members. We also asked him about his perspective on the Arab spring revolts, the threat of social uprisings in Southeast Asia (e.g. a Burmese Spring) and regulatory gaps in the global financial system.
About Gideon Rachman
Gideon Rachman is chief foreign-affairs comlumnist for the Financial Times and author of Zero-Sum Future: American Power in an Age of Anxiety.
He joined the FT after a 15-year career at The Economist, which included spells as a foreign correspondent in Washington and as bureau chief in Brussels and Bangkok. He also edited The Economist’s business and Asia sections. His particular interests include American foreign policy, the European Union and globalization.
Corruption and poverty: interview with Robert Klitgaard part 2
Did you enjoy the first five answers by Robert Klitgaard on corruption and poverty (see previous blog entry)? Then you will be thrilled to watch the second half of the interview divided into five segments below.
The Asian Trends Monitoring team spoke to Robert Klitgaard, a globally renowned expert on corruption, about increasing transparency, cleaning up corrupt bureaucracies and convening local level officials to share their experiences in fighting corruption.
The interview was broken down into 10 short Segments for your viewing convenience. If you want to watch the interview in one piece you can do so here: Part One and Part Two
Q6: Prof. Klitgaard, can you name country examples where corruption was fought successfully?
Q7: What are the challenges at the local level, let’s say for governors and mayors?
Q8: Who owns these difficult reform processes? And do you typically need a few strong players?
Q9: What about systemic reform deadlock in contested democracies?
Q10: What strategies do you suggest for countries that do not have the fiscal space to pay their bureaucrats attractive salaries?
You missed questions 1-5 ? Just scroll to the previous blog entry, and enjoy!
Corruption and poverty: interview with Robert Klitgaard part 1
When there is more corruption there is more poverty. The link, however, is complicated. The poor suffer particularly from all kinds of corruption, which often means they are denied access to basic services rendered unaffordable by corrupt practices.
The Asian Trends Monitoring team spoke to Robert Klitgaard, a globally renowned expert on corruption, about increasing transparency, cleaning up corrupt bureaucracies and convening local level officials to share their experiences in fighting corruption. Even small steps taken by officials or grassroots activists can make a big difference in the lives of the poor as illustrated by the Indian website I Paid a Bribe. As of August 2011 the website users reported over 12,000 cases of bribes paid. Klitgaard points out that the concept has recently been copied by activists and is now used in China.
The interview is broken down into 10 short Segments for your viewing convenience. If you want to watch the interview in one piece you can do so here: Part One and Part Two is coming tomorrow
Q1: Prof. Klitgaard, How would you define corruption?
Q2: How would you describe the link between corruption and poverty?
Voices from Aceh: interviews with microfinance beneficiaries
The Asian Trends Monitoring team traveled to Aceh, Indonesia in May – June 2011 to learn more about organizations working on long term development, following massive reconstruction efforts to rebuild the province after the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. Aceh was the most severely affected regionally, with an estimated 169,000 killed in the tsunami.
Here, the ATM interviews members of a village savings group that has been set up by YPK (featured in previous video interviews). The villagers participate in business training workshops of various kinds. Before they are able to take out loans they have to pay into the group’s fund for six months in order to qualify.
In the first interview, Endah describes how taking a loan from the village’s microfinance group enabled her to start a small chicken business. When the chicken caught a disease and all died, she reapplied for a new loan to start a business in building traditional roofs made from rumbia leaf.
In the second interview, we spoke with three women heading the savings group. They say that since the inception of the village-run microfinance institution, many families have benefited from new income generating opportunities such as rubber collection or the opening of a small shop with the newly gained access to affordable loans.
Voices from Aceh: interview with Solidaritas Perempuan Aceh
The Asian Trends Monitoring team traveled to Aceh, Indonesia in May – June 2011 to learn more about organizations working on long term development, following massive reconstruction efforts to rebuild the province after the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. Aceh was the most severely affected regionally, with an estimated 169,000 killed in the tsunami.
SP Aceh's Office Entry
Here, the ATM interviews Solidaritas Perempuan (SP Aceh) (Women’s Solidarity for Human Rights). We spoke with Ruwaida, the Program Coordinator, about SP Aceh’s community advocacy work in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.
For example, SP works to bring women’s voices to municipal government, as their voices are often not heard in natural resource management. “In Naga Umbang village, when clean water became scarce, the main victims were the women, who found it difficult to find clean water for cooking, cleaning and irrigation” says Ruwaida.
More interesting cases are featured in our Bulletin 10: Aceh Recovery and Reconstruction.
Voices from Aceh: interview with Indonesian NGO, Yayasan Pengembangan Kawasan
During another field visit in Aceh, the Asian Trends Monitoring (ATM) Team got the chance to talk to the director of Yayasan Pengembangan Kawasan (YPK), based in Meulaboh, West Aceh. After the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, communities along the coast struggled to revive the local economy. The ATM was particularly interested in YPK’s Economic Development Initiative, implemented in 40 villages in West Aceh and Nagan Raya districts.
YPK team members discussing their work with the ATM
Founded in 1999 and supported by funding from international bodies like Oxfam and the American Jewish World Service, YPK initiated microfinance programmes in 2005 to fishermen affected by the tsunami. Since then, the foundation has expanded their range of microfinance offerings and coupled this work with professional skills training.
Men and women interested in YPK saving’s groups must first obtain membership by depositing an initial, interest-accruing amount of Rp. 50,000 – 100,000 followed by Rp. 5,000 monthly for six months. Deposits are akin to YPK shares such that members who fully withdraw their savings also revoke their membership and consequently their right to borrow.
Voices from Aceh: interview with Tabrani Yunis (CCDE)
The Asian Trends Monitoring (ATM) Team traveled to Aceh, Indonesia in May – June 2011 to learn more about organizations working on long term development, following the massive reconstruction efforts to rebuild the province after the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. Aceh was the most severely affected region, with an estimated 169,000 killed by the tsunami.
Here, the ATM Team interviews Mr. Tabrani Yunis, Director of the Center for Community Development and Education (CCDE) based in Banda Aceh, an organisation promoting women’s rights and providing advocacy and business training for women. Mr. Tabrani is also the editor of Aceh’s only women’s magazine Potret.
- Issues of Potret Magazine ready for distribution
- The center’s team posing in front of the training center
“Women were living in intellectual poverty” says Mr Tabrani, referring to a knowledge and skills gap observed in women and their missing voice in local media. Set up in November 1993, CCDE’s purpose is to elevate women’s status through education and training. One of the major strands of CCDE’s work has been in fostering literary talent amongst Acehnese women via basic creative writing workshops and Potret magazine, which features articles written exclusively by female writers across Aceh.
The impact of palm oil on Indonesia’s poor: podcast with Prof Gellert
On Monday, 20 June 2011, Professor Paul K. Gellert visited the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy to give a talk on “Commodification of Indonesian forests: from timber to palm oil”. Right after the talk the ATM Team got a chance to sit down with Prof. Gellert and interview him on the rapid expansion of the palm oil industry and its impact on the lives of poor and vulnerable communities in Indonesia.
Global palm oil production is dominated by Indonesia and Malaysia, which together account for about 85 % of global production and close to 90 % of palm oil exports. Palm oil production is very land-intensive and growth projections for Indonesia will require the conversion of millions of hectares of forest into plantations in the years to come.
In our interview with Prof. Gellert we asked him about the role of the World Bank’s recent re-engagement into ‘facilitating investments’ in palm oil, the impact on poverty alleviation and regulatory issues with the rapid expansion of this industry. To listen to his answers click on the video below.
Podcast: Luke Patey on Asian oil security and corporate responsibility
Luke Patey
“Is Asian oil security a counter-weight to corporate responsibility?”
That has been the driving question for Luke Patey, a project researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, and his research on ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) operations in Sudan. OVL, a subsidiary of the state-owned Indian oil company ONGC, began operating in Sudan in 2003, filling a void created by the exit of the Canada-based multinational Talisman. Despite several years of resisting pressure, Talisman eventually ceded to international activists and the US government and packed up their bags. Considering that OVL entered and still occupies the same socio-political space in Sudan, what accounts for the difference in how corporate responsibility is expressed by Talisman, an IOC, and OVL?
Patey uses a 4-stage schematic to depict how companies get ‘socialized’ to corporate responsibility. First there is a (1) norm violation which results in (2) discursive debate that anybody who has any opinion enters. Some form of (3) structural reform occurs which sets the stage for (4) an instrumental change in future operations. He alluded to the Deepwater Horizon incident as an example of this sequence, which can then be used to understand how Talisman’s response to international activism generated the instrumental change of selling its assets and disclaiming its connection to the Sudanese civil war and social unrest.
Podcast: Dr Razeen Sally on global trade policy after the crisis
Dr Razeen Sally, Director of the European Centre for International Political Economy
Dr Razeen Sally, Director of the European Centre for International Political Economy spoke at the NUS Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy on 28-Sep-10 about global trade policy after the crisis: shift from West to East and a leadership vacuum.
From the 1980s to 2007 the world trade system was on a steady path towards liberalization. The economic downturn raised concerns about the risk of increasing protectionism but surprisingly few traditional barriers to trade were implemented or raised. The low level of traditional protectionism has little to do with WTO compliancy but is rather a consequence of markets and the logic of intra-firm trade in transnational companies. More subtle protectionist measures have however occurred in foremost North America and Western Europe. After decades of liberalizing markets, government interventions have made a comeback bailing out banks, subsidising uncompetitive domestic car industries and changing restrictions in government procurements.
The WTO Doha Round is still going nowhere; The Obama administration has shown ambivalence regarding its foreign trade policy while the EU is focusing on internal issues. China, now one of the largest players in international trade shows little interest in taking the lead on concluding the Round and India is neither significant enough nor very interested in trade liberalizations. The multilateral trading system is in a leadership vacuum.
