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24Q&A SessionTHE ASIA THINK TANK DIALOGUE REPORTRebuilding Confidence, Restoring LivelihoodsDr. Thomas TangExecutive Director, Global Institute for Tomorrow(GIFT), Hong Kong.Citing an experience from rural banking, Dr. Tangsaid there were two factors inhibiting its growth– the nature of the rural Chinese countryside, wherethere wasn’t a culture of micro-finance compared toother economies such as Bangladesh, and the lack ofbanking licences which were very sparsely given. Dueto heavy protectionism for local banks, foreign bankswere not allowed to play a role. Therefore there wereboth cultural and institutional barriers, in his view.Mr. Benjamin Quinones, Jr.Chairman, CSRME Asia / Institute of Small ScaleIndustries, University of the Philippines, Manila.Mr. Quinones bemoaned the fact that the poorhave always understood crisis -- becausewhether they were in a global economic crisis or not,they were always facing crisis in one form or another.He noted that the poor were good clients for microcreditand he believed therefore that investing in thepoor was the best form of investment in times of crisis.He agreed that governments tended to bail out largeorganisations who did not know how to handle crises.However, the poor who knew how to handle crisesas a way of life, received no support whatsoever viagovernment bail-out programmes.Mr. Partha RudraProgrammes Director, National Foundation for IndiaExpanding on the point on micro-credit, Mr. Rudraargued that while there was no doubt that thepoorest and the base borrowers were deserving,micro-credit alone would not work. He said there wasa need to look at micro-finance, savings facilities,insurance, the people’s capacity to absorb that kindof money, and the need for education along withcapacity-building as ingredients for success.Dr. Aris AnantaSenior Research Fellow, ISEAS, Singapore.Turning to Indonesia, Dr. Ananta said its problem wasthat the poverty rate remained high at 16 per cent.Absolute numbers were vague because populationnumbers were also vague, he said. Indonesia hadbeen successful in family planning but as a result it wasbeginning to see ageing populations, especially in therural areas. The rural areas demonstrated real depthsof poverty and severity of poverty. As for the effectsof the global financial crisis, urban communities wouldsay they were worse off than the rural communities,but he believed the rural poor would always paythe price. He also believed that poverty reductionschemes were often mis-targetted and he hopedthat efforts would be made to ensure that leakageswould not be the case when tackling poverty.‘All stakeholders must remainfocused on the ethics and moralityof labour mobility, ensuring there isfreedom from fear’ – Dr. Aris AnantaIn solving the problems associated with poverty, Dr.Ananta argued for the development of capacity whileexpressing concern that governments would providean environment of dependency instead. He urgedfor more attention towards health matters, whichwent beyond the healthcare system. For instance,preventive campaigns, clean water, cleanlinessand sanitation should be of primary importance inaddressing rural problems. All stakeholders, he said,should engage in improving education systems,remaining focused on the ethics and morality oflabour mobility, ensuring there is freedom from fearand creating an investment climate in the rural areas.A healthy investment climate, he posited, includedsmall-scale enterprises and poor people, not just theforeign and big companies alone.
THE ASIA THINK TANK DIALOGUE REPORTRebuilding Confidence, Restoring Livelihoods Q&A Session 25Rapporteurs hard at work - L-R: Ms Khairiah Mokhtaruddin; Noel Navin Dass and Ms Jean Wong observing the discussionDr. S. ManivasakanHead in Charge, Centre for South and South EastAsian Studies, University of Madras, IndiaDr. Manivasakan spoke of India’s experience inrural development programmes and how thesewere implemented for poverty eradication. The firstfocused on agriculture, where facilities, loans forfarmers, educational opportunities, and peer supportgroups run by women were among the initiativesunder this scheme. For instance, the Tamil NaduGovernment waived all co-operative farm loans,thereby rejuvenating the farming sector. In anotherexample, the abolishment of common entrance textfor professional courses by the state governmenthas facilitated an increase in number of studentsfrom rural and poor families to have access totechnical education. A number of welfare schemeswere also introduced and implemented to aid thedisabled, including mentally-disabled minorities andtribes. For example, free gas stoves and free gasconnections were given by the state government inthe women’s welfare schemes, and encouragementfor self-help groups were given for nearly 1163self-help groups for disabled persons. However,the major hurdle was when the money allocatedwas not received by the people for whom it wasintended, with approximately 70 per cent ofallocations resulting in leakages. He also spoke of theneed to address the malfunctioning of governmentmissionaries and to take the lead on the Right toInformation act.Dr. Durga P. PaudyalDirector-General, Centre on Integrated RuralDevelopment for Asia & the Pacific (CIRDAP),Bangladesh.Rural development policies and institutionsremained a low priority in the region, accordingto Dr. Paudyal who noted that this, along withmalfunctioning of institutions and the lack ofdistribution of powers and political support, resulted inweak rural institutions.He also observed that the size of the rural area had
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