So annual events like the Economic Freedom Network (EFN)
Asia conference, and now the Asia Liberty Forum (ALF), are very helpful in
asserting the virtues of classical liberal, aka “libertarian” or “free market”
philosophy. This concept is vastly different from other labels like
“neo-liberal” and “US conservatism”.
The three-day 4th ALF event is held here in Renaissance
Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is a huge international event from Feb.
18-20 with many participants from Asia, US, and Europe. The main sponsors of
this year’s conference are the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Washington
DC, the Center for Civil Society (CCS) in Delhi, India, and the Institute for
Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) in Malaysia.
Among the important panel discussions in the conference
will be on “Protecting Yourself Against Daylight Robbery -- Current Challenges
to Property Rights” on Day 3. The session will be chaired by Wan Saiful Wan
Jan, CEO of IDEAS Malaysia. The speakers will be (1) Barun Mitra of Liberty
Institute, India; (2) Kriengsak Chareonwongsak of the Institute of Future
Studies for Development, Thailand; (3) Julian Morris of Reason Foundation, USA;
and (4) Lorenzo Montanari of Property Rights Alliance (PRA), Washington DC,
USA.
The protection of private property rights is among the
hallmarks of a free and dynamic society. If other people can say that “Your car
is also mine; your house is also mine; your farm is also mine. I can enter and
use them anytime I want,” then society can easily degenerate into chaos and
disorder. No meaningful economic growth and social development can happen in
this type of environment.
The PRA has developed the annual International Property
Rights Index (IPRI). The index is composite for a country’s performance in
three areas: (a) legal and political environment, (b) physical property rights
protection, and (c) intellectual property rights (IPR) protection. The scores
range from 1 (poorest) to 10 (best).
I made a short study about the performance of some ASEAN
countries in terms of property rights protection covering eight years from 2008
to 2015. Singapore and Malaysia continue to have high scores overall in
property rights protection. The Philippines made a modest improvement in its
global ranking, from 87th in 2011 and 2012 (out of 130 countries), it jumped to
77th in 2013 and 65th out of 129 countries in 2015.
If we observe the Philippines, the bulk of property
rights protection -- in malls and shops, hotels and restaurants, banks and
condos, schools and universities, airports and seaports, etc. -- is heavily
privatized through the tens of thousands of private security agencies. It is
not the police or army or barangay security personnel who guard and protect
these businesses and residential, commercial areas, despite the huge and
multiple taxes and fees that people pay to the government annually.
And this is an indicator that governments often forget their
main purpose, their raison d’etre, which is the protection of the people’s
right to life (against bullies and murderers), right to private property
(against thieves, vandals and destroyers of property) and right to
self-expression (against dictators). To have a rule of law.
When governments are busy giving away endless welfarism
and subsidies, collecting endless taxes and fees, imposing endless regulations
and restrictions, running banks, casinos, TV stations, and other businesses,
there is a tendency to set aside its rule of law function and it is
unfortunate.
Government should be big enough in enforcing laws on
private property and citizens protection, and it should be small enough in
intervening too much in the people’s daily lives, hence requiring small and few
taxes to sustain itself.
Bienvenido S.
Oplas, Jr. heads the Minimal Government Thinkers, a member of Economic Freedom
Network (EFN) Asia, and a Fellow of the South East Asia Network for Development
(SEANET). minimalgovernment@gmail.com
---------------
See also:
BWorld 42, World inequality, Oxfam and bad mathematics, February 11, 2016
BWorld 43, More on WESM, PEMC and DOE, February 14, 2016
BWorld 44, Why the Philippines should join the TPP, February 19, 2016 ALF 5, Meeting of Property Rights Alliance in KL, February 19, 2016
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