Southeast Asia is a region with great diversity of political systems and institutions – autocracies, democracies and dictatorship aligning with monarchies as well as republics. Likewise, economic performance varies to a considerable extent among the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Among the best performing countries economically is Malaysia, considered a moderate autocracy by regime type. By contrast, the Philippines, while having far more democratic features than Malaysia, is not as economically successful. Although both countries are ranked as “moderate” transformers on the Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI), the data on political and economic management of transformation processes suggest that Malaysia's authoritarian leadership has been more conducive to the country's economic development than democratic leadership has been to development in the Philippines.
This lecture examines the period of intense economic progress in Malaysia, from the 1980s to the mid-1990s, demonstrating how it has been pivotal for today's economic achievements. It is argued that the development of this period in Malaysia came about primarily because of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad's self-understanding as the “CEO” of Malaysia. Malaysia’s development trajectory over the past several decades is compared to that of the Philippines in order to explore the relationship between political leadership and economic performance.
