Editorial
Friday, October 31, 2003
Mahathir: Lessons for Kenya
Dr Mahathir was a bad example of a democrat. His government's human rights record, particularly his treatment of political rivals and critics, verged on the shameful. Press freedom groups regularly listed him among the world's top enemies of media rights.
But as Malaysia savours the tremendous growth that Dr Mahathir oversaw, the autocrat is getting very decent press. And that for good reasons.
When he became prime minister, Malaysia's gross domestic product was just $12 billion. By last year, it had grown to $210 billion, and per capita income stood at $3,540, the third-highest in South-East Asia and one of the most successful performances by a Third World economy in the 20th century.
The difference between South-East Asian economic successes and Africa, in general, and Kenya, in particular, is that authoritarian governments grew economies, invested in people, and made intelligent interventions in the market.
In Kenya, for most of the years of independence, governments intervened in the economy to plunder it. They ran down educational institutions and ransacked productive industries in the parastatal sector.
The governments failed to offer the trade-off that leaders like Dr Mahathir did. In return for repressive rule, people got housing, education, jobs and a clean environment, and everyone went home with money in the pocket.
It's too soon to write the last word on the Mahathir legacy. While his years give useful insights into how to transform a poor country, it's not certain yet that the seeds he sowed will make Malaysia a free and truly world class economy.
Kenyans, for sure, would have been better off if Mr Moi's rule had yielded a quarter the dividends that Mahathir's did. Now it's Mr Kibaki's turn. Kenyans are much wiser and watching.
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