Theme II Economic Change After Independence

Theme II: Economic Change After Independence 1 Love of money is the root of all evil. - The New Testament Lack of money is the root of all evil. - George Bernard Shaw 1 Office of the Vice President The Republic of Indonesia - B.J. Habibie: 72 Days as Vice President

ai. Changes and Continuity: Agricultural Sector 1. Technological advancements by the green revolution changed traditional means of production to embracing technological aid and improvement that increased the quality and quantity of produce. Gaining a competitive advantage over their neighbours, they were a pillar. a. Indonesia’s Bimas, a state agricultural programme provided funding and physical inputs (innovations in rice strains, fertiliser, and irrigation techniques) to promote rice production. From 1968-1989, rice production increased by 2.5 times to nearly 30m tonnes. Accounted for 50% of GDP. Probe: However, the Agricultural sector while growing, saw a general de- emphasis as in Repelita 4 and 5, growth targets for industry consistently outweighed agriculture and its share of GDP shrank (51% to 16%). b. Malaysian yields (3x to 600000 tonnes for rubber and 25x to 5 million tonnes for palm oil) improved over 120% between 1954 and 1970 with the use of technologically advanced farm machines such as tractors, combine harvesters and water pumps as well as high yielding variants of crops. Agricultural exports contributed to 7% of GDP growth c. The green revolution saw Marcos utilise IR8 (high-yielding variety International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)), chemical fertilizers and irrigation techniques. From 1961 to 1981, rice production doubled to 7.9 million. Philippines was dubbed the “Rice Granary of Asia”. Micro-comparison: Both countries milked the green revolution full as clear from how rice production was boosted to such an extent that both countries were able to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production. Both Vietnam and Thailand even went to learn rice production techniques from Philippine’s IRRI. 2. Change was also plain where governments decided to eventually diversify into other sectors instead of premising their economy solely on the agricultural sector. This signified that the change of the agricultural sector from a sole contributor to a shared one. a. Mahathir’s 1981 Heavy Industry Corporation of Malaysia (HICOM) saw state led firms like Perwaja Steel led the development of the heavy industry in Malaysia. Manufacturing constituted of 60% of Malaysia’s exports as it became one of the world’s largest producers of semiconductors. 8% of GDP. Marked the breakaway form the emphasis on agriculture 10 years ago. b. De-emphasis on agriculture from Marcos to Aquino and Ramos under Aquino’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) laid the foundation for the subsequent diversification into EOI by privatising inefficient SOEs like Philippine Airlines and giving foreign investors the right to 100% ownership in Ph