Liberalism II: Policies for the Future

(July 6 - 14, 2003)
by Jan-Argy Y. Tolentino

Jan-Argy Y. Tolentino

This seminar was a follow up of the Basics of Liberalism seminar. Ten of the participants, including me, attended the basics of liberalism seminar in February of 2002. In this event, five liberal challenges that concerns all of us was discussed and debated by mostly young liberal leaders coming from countries were liberalism faces its greatest challenge.

The first day of the seminar started with the usual report from the region. There were twenty-three participants (23) coming from the regions of Asia (Southeast, South, & the Middle East), South America, Eastern Europe & Africa. It seems that the problems of liberalism is not unique in just one country. Labeling of liberalism, fundamentalism, non-observance of the rule of law, poverty, conflicts are some of the problems being faced by liberalism worldwide. One observation made by almost all participants is the growing hatred against American unilateralism.

Five Liberal Propositions
 
Education. The discussion on the first liberal proposition started with the case study of three countries namely Sweden, Denmark and New Zealand. The case of Sweden taught us on how the voucher system is being implemented in that country. As well as the effective and efficient spending of money for education. The New Zealand case taught us of the importance of decentralization in reforming the educational system. The involvement of the community is also important if we want a meaningful change in the system. And the Denmark experience showed the value of choices and what it could bring to a society if people are given the opportunity to choose the institutions that would facilitate learning. We arrived at the following consensus: expenditures on education must be a priority, only a pro-active involvement by the citizenry will bring improvement in the system, schools must be run by local communities, education opens opportunities.

Social Policy. We were grouped into three; less developed, middle income, and developed or almost developed countries. We were asked to list down the services that we think the state should provide. The choices were education, primary health care, provision of basic needs, pension system, minimum wage, and unemployment benefits. Some of the consensus were: resources should be invested for the future, social welfare should be given to those who really need it, the ultimate aim of social policy is to reduce the need for social welfare, we should limit the windfall and free-riding effects of policies that requires transfer, securing intergenerational solidarity is a liberal aim in social policy and social policies should aim at helping people help themselves.

Strenghtening Minority Rights. There are many kinds of minorities. Cultural minorities, religious minorities, language minorities, sexual minorities and the like. The participant from South Africa and India presented two faces of discrimination and the disrespect of minorities in their respective countries. We concluded that to be able to strengthen the rights of the minority, the following course of action must be considered: decentralization, formulation of just & fair laws, respect of cultural diversity, right to self-determination, stereotyping should be discouraged, tolerance and the guarantee of political participation.

Trip to Dusseldorf. We went to the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia and met with a very young member of Parliament, Christian Lindner. He discussed how they were able to rebound from their lost in the elections by focusing on education as their campaign battle cry. He was also quite frustrated on how young people are treated in Parliament. He complained on the way committees are being distributed and that the younger members of Parliament usually handles minor committees. He was even nicknamed “bambi”. He was also frustrated on the fact that it is very hard for media to pick-up liberal messages. The afternoon was devoted to shopping at the old city of cologne.

Privatizing and Deregulating Utlities. We started the discussion on the liberal perspective of sustainable development. A consensus was reached that sustainable development is not just preserving the environment for future generation but also the improvement of the over-all situation/environment. Sustainable development is the responsibility of all. We took the example of privatizing water as a means of sustaining through a general debate. Three debating teams taking different position on the issue of privatizing water. The three positions were; water is a property of the state and must be under government regulation, control of water supply must be decentralized to the community, free market and privatizing is the only effective means of supplying water rationally. In the final analysis, the body agreed that financing for water is the biggest obstacle in the distribution of water. And some of the solutions pointed out by the participants are: improvising alternative means of supplying water, environmental tax as a way of financing clean water, recycling, community based solutions, promoting awareness that water costs, international funding.

Liberal Parties and the Challenge of Globalization. The participant from Malaysia presented a paper on proposals for promoting trade, enhancing competitiveness, and harnessing technology. The presentation was a typical Mahathir proposal, protecting your domestic economy and asking for richer nation for compassion. We were also given papers criticizing globalization and papers praising globalization. But the most exciting part came in the afternoon, during the presentation of the participants from Pakistan and Egypt, on the globalization of Terrorism. The participant from Pakistan was very candid on the issue but the presentation from Egypt suffers from extreme personality disorder. At one point he tries to justify the actions of the terrorist and at times he condemns it. The discussion was really heated but the show was not about Christians debating Muslims but Muslims debating with Muslims.

It’s nice to go back to Theodor Heuss Akademie. It has become an agora of thinkers for liberals in this country and from other parts of the world. The learning that we get from the academy will forever help us in our work and that is to propagate the ideas of liberalism in our country. There really is no substitute for interacting with people with different experiences and perspective to enlighten and open our minds on many things. I thank the Naumann Foundation for the opportunities that they’ve given me and more power.