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AsiaWeek's Power 50 puts reformers in the spotlight
26th May 1999 Back to News Menu | 
Last year, as noted in the APMF 1998/9 Asia strategy review, Asiaweek's annual ranking of the most powerful people in Asia placed a man who was not a politician, who was not even Asian, and indeed who did not even live here, as the most powerful man in Asia. Two years before very few knew his name, and few knew much about the organization he represented.Two years before that the most powerful person in Asia was the President of the fourth largest country in the world. ..And he was an Asian. Both wielded power by the only true weapon of power.. the carrot and the stick. How things change... The former power wielder was of course Michel Camdessus, head of the International Monetary Fund, who wielded power by offering a solution to battered country economies of funding in exchange for "IMF managed reform". It was the first time that foreigners had such a high profile on the list. Soros was also up there, almost pipping arch-foe Mahathir. The man Camdessus replaced, Soeharto, was no where to be found, having slipped to Number 3 after his triumph of power the year before. He now may be, according to Time and Fortune, the richest man in Asia, but he ain't the most powerful anymore. Now according to Asiaweek, if last year was the year of the falang/gweilo/Mat Salleh, and in Soeharto's time it was the year of the authoritarian politician, this year it is the year of the Reformer. Top of the list is South Korea's Kim Dae Jung and China's Zhu Rongji, both who are smart reformers who know how best to reform and also how to reduce the social consequences of fast reform. (See also our Article of the Month on the Social Consequences of Reform. ..Eds.). Goh Chok Tong is at Number 6, slowly and deliberately reforming Singapore in his own quiet, modest and unassuming way. Also towards the top of the list is Thailand Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, a willing reformer emboldened by IMF support, though stymied by an pervasive national culture of corruption, dramatic income inequalities between urban and rural population, and the expectations of a middle class that thought that every decade would be as easy as the last. Soeharto makes a comeback to the list at #29, supposedly because you cant become No 1 in Asia and lose it all in a couple of years, and on the back of the Indonesian reformers not yet (and understandably) being able to change the general power structure of a country. Joseph Estrada, just outranks Mahathir Mohomad. A good showing for a man who Malaysia suggested was a newcomer to ASEAN politics who had not learned the ropes yet when he dared to comment on the Anwar trial. To be a reformer its handy still to have elite connections.... Speaking of Anwar, he's still there towards the bottom of the list, and the free half of the partnership, Wan Azizah, makes it to the list at #50, a position historically usually reserved for interesting and controversial people, like Indian women politicians. Asiaweek seems also to agree with the Rat's Indonesia election analysis, in nominating Abdurrahman Wahid, who we know more affectionately by the more friendly and less tongue-twisting name of Gus Dur, as the most powerful man in Indonesia right now. A man almost blind, but who sees better than most. Here is Asiaweek's index to the special issue, including the methodology and editorial as well as the full detailed rankings. But for a taster here are the Top 25. Not many business people there... Rupert is there of course but he's an Aussie, (or is he a Yank?)... As one of our Chinese discussion list participants said several years back in discussing Pauline Hansen and the "Is Australia part of Asia? debate"... " ...Australians don't even look like Asians!..." As always, the AsiaWeek Power 50 is a great conversation-starter and encourages us to revisit what that concept "Power" really means....
Our previous reviews of the AsiaWeek Power 50 are available somewhere in our archives here, or try the Asia Pacific Management Forum Site Search below.
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The views expressed here may not necessarily reflect those of Orient Pacific Century or partners of the Asia Pacific Management Forum
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