Mobilizing Political will
for the promotion of regional co-operation in South Asia
Javed Jabbar, Pakistan
Introduction:
Regional co-operation in the economic and social spheres has demonstrated
significant and measurable gains for nation-states sharing the same region. Existing
networks in North America (NAFTA), South America (Mercusor), Europe (EU/EC), and the South
East Asia (ASEAN) are prime examples of success in varying degrees with the European
example being the most substantive achievement.
Regional security and military co-operation as in the Organization for
security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) and in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) has also brought stability and order for the most part to areas that were
historically volatile and remain, in some parts and aspects, vulnerable to violent
conflict as in the Balkans.
The
Pivotal factor:
Whatever be the scale and sectors of regional co-operation, the pivotal
factor in initiating the process has always been the presence of political will. Even when
geographic proximity and shared ecology are too-evident and obvious to be ignored, history
shows that nations within the same region have frequently engaged in mutually destructive
and wasteful conflict for several decades and years because there was an absence of
political will which could transcend differences in order to build upon commonalties and
affinities.
Political will is an expression that is greater than the sum of its two
parts, i.e. "political" and "will". While a political perspective is
supposed to encompass all the diverse dimensions of the society to apply a holistic and
unifying approach, the existence of a determined and committed attitude in leadership is
seen as the manifestation of a "will" to achieve a difficult but desirable
objective. Political will represents the power to mobilize people and galvanize their
energy to a shared purpose, to overcome hindrance and circumvent barriers to scale the
heights of enriching collective endeavor.
In the context of regional co-operation political will faces the additional
challenge of rising above both international and national schisms and long-festering
bilateral tensions o create new bridges and bonds of trust and friendship.
State of
Political parties
Political will has to emerge from some form of political associations, which
enable political activity. Most political parties in South Asian are organizations rather
than institutions. Too many of them are excessively dependent on the personalities of
their leaders rather than their individual ideologies, philosophies and programs. Almost
an equal number are yet ramshackle movements rather than being well-structured
organizations. The leaderships are not entirely to blame for this condition. Lack of
financial resources on a steady and regular basic is one reason. Funds tend to be
mobilized only at elections or when agitational movements have to be organized. State and
governmental systems give virtually no financial support to the operation and development
of political parties, except perhaps to some extent in Sri Lanka. Opposition parties are
far too often subject to persecution and harassment by ruling parties. It is very
difficult for parties to mobilize resources to do justice to subject as regional
cooperation.
Very few individuals with talent and specialized skills enter the political
process in South Asia because of the hazardous nature of the process, which is subject to
various pressures, constraints and risks. Substantive efforts are required in order to
improve facets of the political sphere to enable the best and the brightest to give the
benefit of their minds and resources to the political process and to building political
will.
Political leaders of the South Asian countries, most often only when they
have occupied official positions, have made a large number of references to the need for
regional cooperation. When in opposition, the attention paid has been very limited, if not
negligible. They have met to discuss the subject only at someone else's initiative and
that too at a random and rare frequency.
Political parties even in a country with a record of virtually uninterrupted
democracy, i.e India have not launched or developed an initiative to hold regular meeting
of leaders of and parties on a South Asian basis.
In February 1999, on a bilateral basis there took place an interesting
inter-action between parliamentarians and political leaders of Pakistan and India when,
just some days before the signing of the Lahore Declaration on February 20,1999, about
fifty leaders from both the countries met at sessions in Lahore and Islamabad sponsored by
a leading English newspaper of Pakistan. The News International.
An occasion when high ranking out-of-office political leaders gathered
together on a regional basis was when the Pakistan People's Party leader, (and
former Prime Minster) Benazir Bhutto invited a few out of-office leaders from India,
Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to a South Asian opposition leaders conference in Karachi
in 1992. Attendees included former Indian Prime Minister V. P. Singh, Nepal's Manmohan
Adhikari and Bangladesh's Sheikh Hasina (both of whom later became Prime Ministers) and
Sri Lanka's Aruna Bandarnaike. Despite plans made at the Conference to sustain this
initiative, none were subsequently implemented. The moot suffered from the conceptual flaw
of restricting the scope only to opposition parties whereas it is only when all major
parties are invited that a substantial and credible process can be established.
A limited form of contact between political leaders of the region also takes
place at international fora such as at the meetings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and
the commonwealth Parliamentary association and other bodies such as meetings arranged by
Parliamentarians for Global Action, New York, USA at specially convened workshops in and
out of the region. One such event took place in 1995 in the Maldives when PGA and the
International Center for Peace Initiative, Mumbai, brought together prominent political
leaders and resource specialists to discuss conflict resolution in South Asia.
Vision
from the top?
Catalytic factors such as political will which make a critical difference in
changing a situation for the better tend to be seen as emanating from attributes of the
leadership of a country. In other words, a vision that originated from what is
conventionally called the "highest levels' of a society. There is also a tendency to
see the existence of the transforming capacity of a great leadership as being capable of
being separate from the mass reality in which that very same leadership exists and over
which it exercises command.
Thus, the reality at the grass-roots may be steeped in tradition and
convention, in suspicion and distrust, in violence and conflict, whereas there may occur
at a certain time in history, a change in the mind-set of the leadership at the top that
is to bring about a fundamental change of direction and vision. Such a radical change at
the very top ultimately percolates down to the grass roots level and brings a new peace
and harmony to over-ride and replace tension and discord that has previously existed.
In some ways, the decision of President Anwar Saadat to travel from Cairo to
Jerusalem and to sign the Camp David accords is seen as an example of such basic change
being brought about by a change of mind and heart in a leadership already in office.
Basic change can also occur at the very top when one kind of leadership
rooted in past patterns of conflict is replaced by a new leadership as a result of a
cathartic event such as military defeat as in the instances of Germany and Japan soon
after the Second World War. The individual character of the political leadership certainly
plays in bringing about such basic change.
Vision
from the grass roots:
At the same
time, the existence of transforming political will at the highest levels can also be seen
as a manifestation of a strong, humanistic, universally shared desire for peace and
stability that exists in the hearts and minds of most people living at the grass-roots
level. This is a primal desire for fraternity and friendship which, because it is so
wide-spread and because it survives so close to the other, diversionary pressures of daily
life in which the mass of people struggle to eke out an existence, remains for the most
part, unexpressed and unrecognized. However, it actually works its way up through any
given society or nation to find coherent and forceful expression in the new vision and
political will demonstrated by the transforming leader.
Therefore, it
can be said that political will begins at the level of the grass roots. Indeed it must
first exist at the level where most people live and work and play and dream because unless
it exists at this basic level, the mere expression of political will at the very top can
soon be seen to be what it is: an isolated phenomenon, existing on its own steam, notable
in its own right, but eventually shown to be ephemeral and transient and unable to make a
vital difference to the situation that has existed for several hundreds of years or
decades because it has no real connection with the foundations of its milieu.
Yet allowance
has to be made for the occasional or rare appearance of political will which is so
inherently strong, creative, self-assured, transformational and determined that, while
having little or no relation with the attitudes and practices of the people at the mass,
level, is nevertheless abler to bring about fundamental changes in the attitudes and
behavior of society as a whole. Prophets of religion have most visibly possessed this
quality. It is perhaps for this reason that Prophet Muhammad was ranked even in a study
conducted by a non-Muslim to have been the single most influential individual in history
because he was able to decisively change faith, values and behavior in a direction
entirely different from the beliefs and practices that prevailed in his own life time and
in his particular part of the planet and to have done so in so persuasive and powerful a
manner that its impact has endured for over 1400 years.
Regrettably,
with him passed the great benefit of prophets. Regional co-operation will have to look
towards individual who do not have the status of prophets but who share with them some of
that rare intensity of passion and clarity f vision to be able to make a basic difference
in the relationship between nations in South-Asia. (Paper presented by the author at a
Kathmandu CASAC conference held in the first week of this month-Chief editor).
Free Internet in public places
Emmanuel
The'vonen, France
Cyberdeck centers, built by an innovating French company called Pacific
Digital Telecoms and set up in stations, banks and shopping centers, give completely free
access to the Internet.
After Cybercafes, the French public has now access to Cyberdecks. For a fee
depending on the duration of the connection, Cybercafes enabled a lot of people to
discover the ins and outs of the Internet. Cyberdecks, on the other hand, which have been
set up in a great variety of public places, are revolutionary multimedia stations. They
give users completely free access to the Internet. During the summer, people passing
through the Port Royale Metro station, in Paris, were thus able to find out about the
natural event of the year in Europe, the eclipse of 11 August. Anybody at all was able to
surf the Net without spending a centime on one of the four tactile screens set up by the
Pacific Digital Telecoms-PDT-company in the entrance to the station. Taking advantage of
the opportunity, "Many young people," Mr. Hernandez from the Paris Public
Transport Company-RATP- points out, "created a mail box and stop by every day to
check on their messages.
Six months later, dozens of Cyberdecks have invaded French public places such
as shopping centers, banks, hotels, airports, stations, town halls and universities. The
aim of Alain Villenave, the chairman and managing director of PDT, is quite ambitious. He
intends to set up 2000 Cyberdecks in France by the end of next year and nearly 8,000 in
Europe in four years.
The latter offer the user an impressive array of services. In addition to
electronic mail, the user has access to all the Web sites. He can also place orders for
purchases with complete safety with a bankcard. In the near future, he will also be able
to talk to people right across the world through a chat forum, using telephony and
videophone technology. Thanks to Cyberdecks, the Internet really is becoming accessible to
every one.
Personalised Advertisements: PDT ensures a completely free service for the
users who do not need to buy any computer equipment or pay a subscription to a provider or
for the time of connection. PDT pays for installing the system and operating the service
in exchange for being able to use the best locations free of charge. The benefits for the
places agreeing to have a Cyberdeck installed in their premise is that they will give an
image of being modern and dynamic.
Advertising, electronic commerce and transfers between operators finance the
system. PDT have signed up with major firms in electronic commerce. These include
Degriftours-tour operators-, Boxman, La Redoute, Alpage, etc. Thanks to Cyberdeck, these
advertisers will be able to target their publicity and thereby stimulate purchasing
reflexes, which can be put into effect immediately. For instance, it is possible to take
advantage of last-minute offer advertised by a travel agency, in real time. "Rather
than showing the same advertisements to everybody", Alain Villenave, the chairman PDT
insists, "we will shortly be able to personalize the advertisements depending on the
profile of the user." In exchange for the free service, the system will finally
register the user's consumer profile. The advertiser will then be able to send his
messages to only people that he will have targeted.
Communists top in Russian polls
Kathmandu :Dec 19: The Communist Party took top spot in Russian general
elections on Sunday but a pro-Kremlin bloc stormed into second place, dealing a crushing
blow to Presidential Boris Yeltsin's main political opponents report agencies. The
Communist Party secured 28 per cent of the vote in elections to the State Duma lower house
of parliament, with the two-month-old Unity bloc in second place on 24 per cent, according
to an exit poll broadcast by NTV television.
The humiliation of the anti-Kremlin Fatherland-All Russia (OVR) bloc led by
Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and ex-premier Yevgeny Primakov was underscored by its failure
to beat a rightist coalition led by the country's most unpopular liberal economic
reformers. The Union of Rightist Forces (SPS) formed in the middle of this year tied with
OVR on 11 per cent, according to the exit poll, agencies have reported.
If confirmed by the official results, the election would mark the political
birth of an SPS faction led by Sergei Kiriyenko, another former premier. His party pushed
the more established liberal Yabloko bloc into fifth place with eight per cent of the
vote, according to the NTV poll.
A gleeful Kiriyenko basked in the performance of his party, which analysts
said ran the most professional campaign during the election.
"I think this is a tremendous victory," he told NTV. "Two
months ago no one gave us more than two per cent. People were wondering whether we would
ever make it into the Duma."
The ultranationalist Zhirinovsky bloc was the only other party to meet the
five per cent threshold to win representation in the party list half of the State Duma
vote, said the NTV poll, conducted by the Institute of Comparative Social Investigations
(TsESSI) at 115 voter stations.
Around 55 per cent of Russia's 107 million voters took part in Sunday's
election, the third in post-Soviet Russia, the head of the country's Central Election
Commission Alexander Veshnyakov said, the Interfax news agency reported. The 68-year-old
Yeltsin grinned as he wished for a new friendly Duma after casting his vote.
"Russia needs a Duma that will pass laws and not one which engages in
political manoeuvring," said Yeltsin. "I hope that the next Duma will be a good
parliament."
The Kremlin chief fought furiously with the old parliament and on several
occasions threatened to shut it down for failing to cooperate over budgets and even trying
to impeach him.
Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov had also expressed confidence as he
cast his ballot at central Moscow's Pioneer Palace, saying: "Everything will be
fine."
ADB Reviews its loan fees
The Asian Development Bank will raise charges on its loans from ordinary
capital resources (OCR) from 1 January 2000. The move is needed to maintain the ADB's
financial strength to fulfill its development mandate in the Asian and Pacific region.
Charges for concessional loans from the Asian Development Fund - which are provided to its
poorest member countries - will remain unchanged.
The ADB's new loan charge policy has three components: The lending spread -
the difference between the cost to the borrower and the ADB's funding cost - will be
raised to 0.6
percent from 0.4 percent. This will apply to all outstanding pool-based loans
for both existing and new loans. The overwhelming majority of OCR loans is pool-based. The
increased spread will also apply to new public-sector loans under the
market-based loan window. A new front-end fee of 1 percent will be charged on new loans.
Borrowers will have the option of including this charge in the loan.
The commitment fee for new program loans will carry a flat 0.75 percent
annual fee instead of a progressive rate as before. The commitment fee for new project
loans will remain unchanged.
The additional net income that the new loan charges will generate will
significantly enhance the ADB's stand-alone financial strength and enable it to absorb
unexpected financial shocks with a margin comfortable enough to inspire continuing
investor confidence. Stand-alone financial strength and shareholder support will together
enable the ADB to meet the development challenges of the new millennium. (Compiled by the
Telegraph weekly). |
