EFN Asia 17: Zubair Malik as President of FPCCI

The Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia facebook page announced today,

Zubair Ahmed Malik has been elected unopposed as the president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) in the annual elections for the year 2013. He was nominated by the Businessmen Panel Group and has been former president of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2004.

Zubair, in red dress in the above photo, is a friend since 2004, when I first participated in EFN Asia annual conference in Hong Kong. I would see him yearly since then, except in 2007 and 2008 where I was not invited. The country director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) in Pakistan, Olaf Kellerhoff, is very proud of this feat by Zubair. Olaf is also a friend of mine, he's a giant, could be 6'10" or almost 7 footer in height.

In the 2010 EFN Asia Conference in Jakarta, Zubair was one of the panel speakers. And I was one of the panel moderators and he was on my panel. Below are portions of my introduction of the panel before I gave the floor to him and his co-speaker, Aco Patunru from Indonesia.

These three graphs I developed then, simply show three things. (1) in the absence of people mobility and free trade across countries, there is widespread disequilibrium and disparity in wages among people worldwide. With (2) freer mobility of people and goods across countries and continents, the average wage in rich countries and in poorer countries tend to narrow down. And (3) if full free trade of goods, services and people happen, this gap will become even more narrow, the world will approach the commodity price equalization (CPE) theorem.

Then I introduced the two speakers. Aco Patunru is young, very articulate, very intelligent. I first met him in 2006 during the EFN Asia conference in Kuala Lumpur. He spoke on the panel on international trade and when he was asked during the open forum what to do with the stalled multilateral talks at the WTO, he said one solution is unilateral trade liberalization by countries.. Many in the audience, me included, gave him a loud applause for his frank and direct answer.

Then I introduced Zubair. By profession, he is a businessman, a successful entrepreneur and hence, fully appreciates the value of free enterprise, free market and individual freedom.

Three weeks ago, Zubair came to Manila then Cebu for a business trip. A week before he came, we arranged for a meeting, I would visit him in his hotel, Diamond Hotel in Manila, March 17 evening. We did not finalize things days before he arrived, and I was also in Palawan for three days. I went to his hotel that night but he was out. Should be in another business meeting.

Congrats Zubair, and see you again in the next EFN Asia conference.
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See also:

EFN Asia 13: Welfare Populism and Poverty, November 13, 2012

EFN Asia 14: Conference 2012 Resolution on Populism, November 21, 2012, 

EFN Asia 15: Distortions of Welfare Populism,  January 17, 2013 

EFN Asia 16: Participation in Jeju Forum for Peace 2013, March 19, 2013

EFN Asia 8: KL Conference, Day 1

This is my article in thelobbyist.biz this morning. It actually covers only the morning session of Day 1 yesterday, I still have to write the afternoon session and post some photos. And now, the conference has unofficially ended, we are still going to the farewell reception in an hour, for the formal closing of the activity. This is an excellent conference, thanks to FNF.
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http://www.thelobbyist.biz/perspectives/less-gorvernment/1195-competition-and-prosperity

Competition and Prosperity

WEDNESDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2011 05:33

WRITTEN BY NONOY OPLAS

Tags: Less Government

Kuala Lumpur -- Competition is the best regulator of business and market players, not government. The more players who compete with each other in producing similar goods and services, the more that they will be forced to provide good quality products at competitive and more affordable prices.

This is the main theme of the 12th Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia Conference here in the capital city of Malaysia. Today is the 2nd and last day of the two-days conference with the theme, “Competition, Engine for Prosperity”. The event is sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF), co-sponsored by two free market-oriented local think tanks, the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) and the Center for Public Policy Studies (CPPS). There was a welcome dinner two nights ago before the start of the conference, hosted by the German Ambassador to Malaysia, Dr. Gunter Guber. I posted photos and stories about it here.

The conference is attended  by more than a hundred participants from many Asian countries especially from China, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand who work in independent, if not free market-oriented think tanks, research institutes and NGOs. Country Directors and regional staff of FNF in Asian countries are also here. Unlike the previous years of the annual EFN Asia conference, only a few of us from the Philippines came here.

Day 1 of the conference yesterday was composed of the opening speeches by FNF Regional Director for Southeast and East Asia, Dr. Rainer Adam, then the head of ASLI, Dr. Michael Yeoh, and the keynote speech of DBM Secretary and top Liberal Party official, Sec. Butch Abad.

The three men expounded the advantages of competition over more government regulations, and the importance of transparency and accountability over secrecy and high bureaucracy. But Sec. Abad, being a high government official in the Philippines, gave more importance to certain government regulations to attain redistribution in society, to protect the marginalized sectors.

The free market system admittedly, will retain if not heighten inequality in society. But this is the natural result since some people are very efficient and very hard working and highly ambitious, while some have little or no ambition in life, who only want to party and drink each day whenever possible. When government intervenes hard to force or pretend to attain social equality, such intervention will naturally result in subsidizing the lazy and irresponsible, while penalizing and over-taxing the efficient and industrious guys.

Anyway, after the opening speeches, the morning session was very interesting. Five speakers from five different countries spoke on just one topic: “What Should be the Role of Government?” The speakers were (a) Prof. Jurgen Morlok, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of FNF; (b) Battsetseg Shagdar from EBI think tank, Mongolia; (c) Dr. Arianto Patunru from LPEM, Indonesia; (d) Prof. Sheng Hong of Unirule Institute, China, and (e) Barun Mitra of Liberty Institute, India.

My assignment in participating in this EFN Asia Conference was to be a host or moderator in two discussions, including this one. I was lucky to take that role as I thought that ALL the five speakers mentioned really made excellent presentations yesterday.

Jurgen Morlok talked about promulgating the rule of law as the main function of government; to set the rules of the game, to be a referee of competing players, no more, no less. I think this is a bulls-eye statement which I totally agree with.

Baagi Shagdar talked about the pathways of Mongolian society from authoritarianism to democracy the pains and hurdles along the road, and the need for more citizen information and participation in governance.

Aco Patunru opened his presentation with important quotes from (a) Murray Rothbard (government should ensure that rules are equally applied to players, leave the market as competition will regulate the market itself); (b) Ronald Coase (government role is limited to enforce property rights); and  (c)Friedrich Hayek (government should ensure that competition goes on, set the rules and regulations for competition to prosper).

Sheng Hong discussed the recent Unirule research paper, “The Nature Performance and the Reform of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in China. There are many surprising results, well at least for me, from that study. Like SOEs’ average profit from 2001-2009 was 8.1 percent vs. private enterprises’ 12.9 percent. But SOEs enjoy certain privileges that are not available to private companies, like low interest rate, low or zero rental fee, fiscal subsi and royalties. If these perks are removed, the average return on equity of SOEs from 2001-2009 goes down to -6.3 percent, a net loss.

Barun Mitra opened his presentation with a quote from Ayn Rand, “Civilization is the progress towards a society of privacy…” Then he discussed how India benefited from liberalization and competition in various sectors: automobile and land transporation, airline, telecommunication, etc., and the declining role and authority of public sector units (PSUs).

FNF has this good discussion set up that maximizes audience interaction with all speakers which I have not seen in any big forum in Manila. After the presentation by the five speakers in the ballroom, there was no Q&A. Instead, participants were divided into five separate meeting rooms, and the five speakers will be moving into those five rooms to answer questions for 15 minutes. Since I personally know three of the five speakers (Barun since 2004, Aco since 2005, Baagi since 2008), as well as some of the participants, it was relatively easy for me to facilitate the small group Q&A.

If there were no instant questions from the audience as soon as the speaker has entered the room, I have to ask the first question; if the speaker has already left after consuming the 15-18 (max) minutes allotted and the next speaker has not come yet, I asked the participants to continue the exchanges among themselves, to ensure there are no dull or idle moments. These were learning moments for me too as discussion host.

Today’s session will feature the official release of The Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) Report 2011, an annual study done by the Fraser Institute in Canada, then a talk from the Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, then a panel discussion on Competition Policy and Environment, a luncheon talk.

I am thankful to the FNF for giving me a travel grant to attend this conference, for giving me the opportunity to be one of the discussion hosts in two activities yesterday (morning and afternoon).

Competition is not a goal in itself. It is a means to a goal – to expand economic freedom and individual liberty. Even if the 2nd day of the conference is still not over (I wrote and submitted this article before breakfast), I can positively say that the conference is really educational and highly successful.
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See also:
EFN Asia 4: Migration and Freedom, Jakarta Conference, October 09, 2010

EFN Asia 5: MG Thinkers Now with EFN, October 19, 2010

EFN-Asia 6: Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Oct 10-12, October 09, 2011

EFN Asia 7: Conf, Dinner at German Ambassador, KL, October 11, 2011

EFN Asia 4: Migration and Freedom, Jakarta Conference

The 11th Economic Freedom Network - Asia Conference here in Jakarta ended last night. Below is my article yesterday posted in the lobbyist.biz with original title, Migration and Freedom)

Jakarta, Indonesia – “If goods are not allowed to cross borders, soldiers will.” And “If goods are allowed to cross borders, then workers and entrepreneurs who create those goods be freely allowed to cross borders as well.”

The first quote is from a French free market intellectual in the 17th century, Frederic Bastiat. The second is from Simon Lee, a young intellectual from Lion Rock Institute, a free market think tank in Hong Kong. He showed that quote from Bastiat in one of his presentations in a conference here.

Simon and me are among the hundred-plus participants, speakers and moderators from many countries in the 11th Economic Freedom Network (EFN) – Asia Conference held here Sultan Hotel in the capital city of Indonesia, October 6-8, 2010. The theme of this year’s conference is “Migration and the Wealth of Nations”. The main sponsor is the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) and co-sponsored by six other free market-oriented think tanks – Institute for Economics and Social Research (LPEM, Univ. of Indonesia), Freedom Institute, Indonesian Institute, Atlas, Fraser Institute, and the International Policy Network. The first three are based in Indonesia and last three are based in the US, Canada and UK, respectively.

I was invited in the conference to be one of the 9 moderators in 9 panel discussions in the two-days conference. I moderated the panel on “Preparing migrants before departure” and the two speakers in the panel were Dr. Arianto Patunru, Director of LPEM and Economics Professor at the University of Indonesia, and Zubair Ahmed Malik, former VP of the Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The two speakers gave productive and engaging presentations as they gave their own country experiences in migration of their people to other countries. Indonesia and Pakistan are the world’s 4th and 6th biggest countries in population size, with estimated 2010 population of 231 million and 170 million, respectively. With such a huge population, it is expected that many of their people will be seeking work and other opportunities abroad.

Migration happens because people want freedom. Economic, political, cultural, religious, personal freedom. If they are not happy with their current state in their home province or country, they seek an opportunity to move out and start a new life. This is a perfectly rational human behavior and thus, restricting such freedom by individuals is not an appropriate role or function by governments. Unless of course, if some individuals have committed some crime against their fellows in their home country, they should clear their names first or serve the penalty before moving out.

Remittances by workers abroad to their home countries is growing to several hundred billion dollars a year now. In the Philippines alone, remittances by OFWs through the formal financial system was $17.35 billion last year, and is projected to possibly reach $19 billion this year.

People mobility across countries and continents is a fundamental human rights. With continuing innovation and modernization in information and communications technology, in aviation and the airline and related industries, the opportunities for people mobility is getting bigger and bigger. Some households and firms abroad want more new workers; some workers and managers in other countries want new jobs with better pay and working environment. Some students simply want to learn new things abroad.

It is good that the FNF has initiated this kind of regional conference. FNF is a good ally of freedom-loving people and independent institutes in Asia and other parts of the world.
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Among the old friends in our Asian liberty forum discussion yahoogroups who came here in Jakarta were -- Barun, Parth and Bibek (India), Xingyuan and Jude (China), Wan and Shankaran (Malaysia), Arianto and Luthfi (Indonesia) , Minh and Ha (Vietnam), Simon (HK), Gorawut (Thailand), Carlos and Alvin (Philippines), Robin (Nepal), Seyitbek and Michu (Kyrgyztan), Jyoti (Australia-Thailand), Tom and Kelsey (US), and Alec (UK).

Aco Patunru was a big guy in the conference, he gave the welcome address in behalf of the Indonesian co-sponsors, he presented a paper in a panel discussion (I was his moderator :-)), he talked again in the plenary on the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) 2010 report, and he gave the intro message of the EFW 2010 Report Indoneian edition.







I told Luthfi I was super-impressed. The Freedom Institute could be the biggest free market think tank in the whole of Asia. They also have a creative source of funding. They put up a political consulting company that's making good money, and that company mainly finances or subsidizes the operating expenditures of the Institute. They also get some individual donors but not much.

There were two highlights of the farewell dinner last night.

First, the reading of the Conference Resolution on "Migration and the Wealth of Nations". The hudred-plus participants of the conference have issued a collective statement that migration is freedom, that government restrictions on the freedom of mobility of people should be relaxed. Simon Lee read the official, 2-page statement. It will be available at the EFN website soon, www.efnasia.org. Also the previous presentation materials.

Second, the live band singing and dancing. Freedom Institute got a local band playing beautiful Indonesian songs. But since the participants come from different countries, there were soon Indian songs, Chinese songs, Nepalese songs, and of course, western music. Many young participants, mostly university students who attended the 2-days Libertarian Youth conference before the EFN conference, also held in the same hotel, led the dancing. Lots of food, lots of singing and dancing, very merry atmosphere.

The EFN members' and observers' meeting will be held today in the same hotel. I told Jyoti, Gorawut, and Rainer Heufers that I cannot participate in the meeting. I left my wife at the hospital last Wed morning when our new daughter was only 2-days old. Have to be with them tonight and thus, must fly this morning.

I am super-grateful to Jyoti that she invited me to become one of the panel moderators in the conference. And of course the FNF for holding this kind of annual conference and for sponsoring my trip :-)
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See also:
EFN Asia 1: From HK to Phuket to KL, September 16, 2006
EFN Asia 2: Hayek in Asia, September 20, 2010
EFN Asia 3: Conference in Jakarta, October 06, 2010