Market of Vagueness: To Protect or To Free?
Source: Google
Having listened to RFI radio this morning makes me think of a new--maybe not--trend in world capitalism system. The trend represents controversy and double standards of neoliberal market in contexts of Cambodia and US-Europe relations. While Cambodian stakeholders including CS and Governmental bodies put issues of swollen inflows of foreign goods on table, at the other corner of the world, the America of Donald Trump is talking with divorced EU and England on trade deals. It seems to be US has to play two roles of both protectionist and non-protectionist in succeeding both deals. Angela Merkel of Germany responded to Trump's visit that the US could talk with other EU members but not Germany due to the fact that protectionism never works in EU (see RFI news report on 23/04/2017).
What goes wrong with Protectionism in neoliberal market? I have no intention here to touch on US-EU stuffs but rather examine regional issues now my Cambodia is having in terms of protectionist market in regional integration. To put in easier words, I would like to trigger public constructive discussions on how our country get on its knees in storms of regional dependency or rivalry. Market is broad to talk, but I only base my discussion on issues of domestic agricultural goods threatened by inflows of the foreign.
In late 1980s when destruction passed, economic construction came in. The former Thai Prime Minister, Chatchai Choonhava, was ambitious to turn battlefields within Mekong basin countries into market spaces with the geostrategic basis of Thailand as center of Mekong, which he called “golden peninsula” or “suvannaphum” (Oehlers, 2006). On regional level, joint initiatives such as ASEAN and ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) are crucial case study of global capitalism and its limits which may pose unintended consequences somehow.
In particular, characteristics and elements of AEC blueprints by 2025 include a highly integrated and cohesive economy which is aimed to “facilitate the movement of goods, services, investment, capital and ‘skilled’ labour within ASEAN in order to enhance ASEAN’s trade and production networks, as well as to establish more unified market for its firms and consumers (ASEAN, 2015).” In addition to macro initiatives, time-space compression also plays a role in making things and people easily mobilize, which fades away classic meaning of border.
The following paragraphs provide common pictures of current Cambodian farm goods crisis which represents limits of regional integrated market affecting price of local agricultural products and indebtedness. General commonality faced by farmers is that [too] low price of agricultural products and high expense of agriculture inputs cause them to indebtedness which have to be released by international migration.
For an instance, farmers in Kampong Cham province of Mekong River become debtors due to lowering price given to their vegetables, high expenditure to imported agricultural fertilizers and tools, and market loss to Vietnamese cheaper vegetables imported through ASEAN integrated market. In response to this, the president of Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture points out the lack of cooperation from different concerned ministries and urges people to look at organic farming as a focus of current market in situating the problem of low price crisis. However, problem is still being unsettled despite efforts of the government and people under emerging global market. The overall picture of the crisis is that farmers initially become debtors and then internationally migrate to release the debts and survive their livelihoods (Radio France International, 21/04/2017: 12.00h-13.00h). Should we close down border to prevent Vietnamese vegetable inflows? May be not a good idea !
Not a different thing happened to farmers in Northwest provinces like Banteay Meanchey and Battambang, who are goading concerned bodies into action. Studies show that the provinces experience the high number of outward migrants to Thailand in seeking better incomes for leasing poverty and debts caused by private usury in exchange of assisting their arrival in Thailand. So what is happening to their home livelihoods?
International market fluctuation is another concern while agricultural price swings here and there due to changing international policies. For instances, in 2009 Thailand barred Cambodian rice and cassavas in consequences of protectionist pressures by Thai farmers on Thai government. The market block relatively affected Cambodian farmers in border provinces like Banteay Meanchey and other border provinces. In response to such the protectionist market, Sam Rainsy, then a member of parliament and former opposition CNRP president, wrote to the Post’s editor in attempt to urge Cambodian government to set agricultural and trade policies for better support and protect Cambodian farmers. Ransy pinpointed his concerns of unforeseen Thai policies which bent upon wind of global market and populist pressures. Just a few months later, Banteay Meanchey was fortunately reported to receive a great deal of milled rice purchases from Singapore in account of 500 thousand tons a year, followed by real estate uproar in 2012.
In 2016 bad things came up again in Sangke district of Battambang when groups of resentful farmers did a road-block protest, twisting Government's arms into urgent intervention on plummeting rice price. To get things under control, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced 27 million USD emergency budget used to release financial-falling rice millers and buy rice from farmers with better deal. That reminds me of the former Thai PM Yingluck Sinawatra, who did a similar thing which got criticized as her populist politic. My overall viewpoint here is that Cambodian government, in this context, reached a dilemma whether to protect own farmers or regional market. Cost-Gain analysis must be done prudently to avoid unwanted consequences.
In global capitalist system, our farmers cry yesterday and laugh today and cry again tomorrow due to market of vagueness. To make vagueness unvague demands what I may call "conscious capitalism" and other means which may be discussed in my later blogs. Thanks for reading.
