Newsletter No. 1417
Editorial-Opinion
July 19, 2009

 

The following newsletter has been contributed by Shirzad Azad (Shingetsu Member No. 183). Azad is the editor of Asia desk at the Moj News Agency in Tehran.

FORGET ABOUT THE WEST -- CATCH UP WITH THE EAST!

Within the past century in Iran, scores of works have been written, and much more put into words, about the subject of whether or not the Iranian nation should emulate the Western way of development. Of course, the West was a source of inspiration when the government started sending students to Europe in the Qajar era, and more frequently during the rule of Pahlavi dynasty. From the shaping a national army and bureaucracy, to educational institutions and the press, Western ideas were a determining factor.

As Western thoughts penetrated into Iranian society, a clash of opinions erupted. Though Westernization sometimes dominated the public discourse, its scope was the subject of serious disagreement. A conflict developed between a fully Westernized style branded as “Westoxication” and its arch-rival convictions among reactionaries and radicals.

In fact, it has been a great loss for Iran to fail to learn appropriate lessons from the West according to the characteristics of its own society and ambitions. However, in my view, the greater loss is Iran’s ignorance and lack of attention to those who have successfully imitated the West, both in acquiring proper knowledge and developing their own societies.

The East—especially the three top countries of East Asia—are case in point. In the early 1970s, the Shah proclaimed his intention to create “a second Japan,” but he even didn’t even bother to pay a personal visit there to see what was really happening in the Land of the Rising Sun. Instead, he would wear dark glasses and land his plane in a Western capitals many times a year bearing his wishful thinking that his nation would soon join the ranks of advanced countries. He appeared to believe that development could be achieved through ignorance, indolence, and the squandering of petrodollars on cosmetic projects.

South Korea and Iran started their auto industry at roughly at the same time during the 1960s, but today Korea’s Hyundai Motors and Kia Motors have established their reputation as global brands, while Iranian cars hardly satisfy their domestic customers and can forget about capturing a share of the world’s auto markets. The same goes for other areas of the economy, and in many respects any comparison is simply ludicrous.

Not only the East has achieved spectacular advances in development, the Eastern way is now frequently recommended by famous people in the West, either in the field of education or else frugality and saving money. It was just last March when the US President Barack Obama urged American students to study harder like Korean students.

Eastern societies are marching toward superiority in almost all fields. Even Western children are trailing Asian kinds in math and science, and their diplomats have to compete with their Asian counterparts to become the heads of international organizations. With the Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese making advances in technology, there is growing concern that the United States and Europe may soon or later cede ground to Asian competitors.

Japan and China have come a long way to become the world’s second and third largest economies, respectively. Not only is Japan’s Toyota is the biggest automaker in the globe, its new Prius hybrid car is going to become America’s next top model. Fourteen Korean companies have made the Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest corporations, with names like Samsung Electronics, the LG Group, and Hyundai Motors all landing easily within the top 100—ranking 40th, 69th, and 89th, respectively. Not only are China-woven carpets selling much better than Persian ones, Korean kimchi is overtaking Iranian kebab as one of the most popular ethnic cuisines in the world.

Today, Iranian officials may give themselves a credit for having reached some progress in cloning a goat and a calf, but it means little when the country is becoming the largest importer of wheat, the nation’s staple food, overtaking Egypt as the world’s top importer. This is happening despite the fact that if the country had paid a little attention to its agricultural sector and had cultivating wheat rather than cloning goats, the nation would have now been an exporter of crops that could rely on its own domestic products, so crucial to food security.

Regarding this issue, Indonesia may be cited as another Asian example. This predominantly Muslim country in Southeast Asia succeeded last year in reaching a rice self-sufficiency status, thanks in part to increasing attention by the government to the agricultural sector through providing seeds and fertilizers to farmers. Indonesia is predicted to produce some 38 million tons of milled rice in 2009, leaving an excess of about two to three million tons for export.

Based on any factor when we compare Iran with the East, the country lags behind. For example, oil income accounts for almost 80% of Iran’s foreign exchange revenues. In the last Iranian calendar year (ending 20 March 2009), the country’s oil revenues stood at US$70 billion, of which Iran has had to pay some amount to import the gasoline it consumes.

This money for a country with a population of 70 million is not a big deal when we understand that in 2008 South Korea’s oil product exports came to US$36.6 billion, making it the first time that exports of oil products ranked first in the country’s list of export items, overtaking exports of vehicles and semiconductors. This is a big achievement because, unlike Iran, the Korean nation hasn’t significant natural resources and it spent US$141.5 billion last year alone to import energy, accounting for 32.5% of the country’s total imports of US$435.3 billion.

Even Vietnam’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2008 was more than Iran’s oil revenue because last year the Southeast Asian country attracted US$71.7 billion in FDI despite the global economic downturn.

Also in the East, we have Malaysia, which has become the first stop for West Asian oil money interested in Asian markets, enjoying a relative abundance of financial assets. With a view to becoming a financial hub for the Islamic world, Malaysia’s Islamic financial assets grew to US$51.8 billion by the end of 2008. The country is now very attractive to many Asian financial institutions and offers advantages over not only the American and European markets, but also the Asian financial hubs of Hong Kong and Singapore. Besides its economic developments, Malaysia ranked among the world’s top five medical tourism destinations in 2008, as the number of foreigners seeking treatment in that country had increased tenfold from 39,114 patients in 1998 to 374,063 last year.

To conclude, Asian values of hard work, savings, and living within one’s means can be prescribed as a great tool for achieving a certain level of development, not only in Iran, but also in many other underdeveloped societies. Even developing countries admit that they have things to learn from these societies. Iran should no longer be obsessed with the West, as Asia is now becoming the world’s center for technology and tourism, fashion and food, creativity and culture.

COMMENTARY

1) From Samuel Noumoff of McGill University on July 19, 2009:

While no doubt the opinion expressed by Shirzad Azad has set a prudent and realistic perspective, if my memory is correct, the "West" did speak with a monolithic voice during the pre-Islamic Revolutionary period; the U.S. and France were ferocious rivals for influence. Notwithstanding this, the observations of Shirzad Azad still hold.