Another Malaysia is Possible (2004)

Published in Malaysiakini, May 2002. Context: This was a response to an article in The Sun (unfortunately, written by a Tamil-Indian Malaysian). It was also written to indirectly address a proposed meeting of middle-class Indian Malaysians in June 2002 in Kuala Lumpur with proposals of issues to be examined. I did not attend it to deliver these thoughts. And the concerns that are reflected by these ideas were not addressed during the meeting. On 16 May 2002, The Sun carried a headline: \"Hot-headed Indians\". This makes interesting reading, not so much about the character of Indian Malaysians as much as about headline sensationalism, prejudice construction, and inaccurate and insensitive reporting in this blessed country of ours. The issue is yet again gangsterism among poor ‘Indians’ (from squatter areas). This time around, there is an interesting (though careless) observation by the police, \"as if violence and bloodshed are second nature to Indians in the district\". The prejudice seems to have gone deeper. A lot of Malaysians love to talk about gangsterism among the Indians on a periodic basis. Probably, it feels good to do so. In fact, it has become the second nature of these Malaysians! Sadly, a socio-pathological condition that afflicts us as a nation is the well- developed ability to see the wrong things. Note: The attention is on ‘violence’, not ‘poverty’; on ‘effects’, not ‘causes’; on ‘Indians’, not ‘Malaysians’. Let me take a petty issue to reveal the prejudice and insensitive reporting reflected in the cited headline. Why don’t we have headlines such as: \"The Cheating Chinese\" (\"The Chinese who will do anything to make that extra buck.\") or \"The Lazy Malays\" (\"The Malays who live off the Malaysia created by the sweat and toil of Chinese, Indians and other minorities in this country.\")? If you keep your ears to the ground, the kind of prejudicial statements that you will hear about the Indians (not so much the other ethno-minorities), the Malays or the Chinese is incredible. They are so revolting that I simply cannot bring myself to mention them here. 181

The ‘Hot-Headed Indian’ and the New Millennium “The mixture of generations of their young people and will continue drunkenness, to lose them. It is time that we realise that we are drug abuse and no more dealing with a criminal here and another there but a whole sub-culture that is producing gangsterism has them, like a devil’s factory. become the backbone of an explosive, Against this background, let me also intervene in inter-generational, the much-publicised event about the meeting on Indian Malaysians: The Malaysian Indian in the New anti-social, culture Millennium: Rebuilding Community.* This event, a of poverty. And, the middle-class intervention, is set to take place from career of this culture 1–2 June 2002 at Hotel Istana in Kuala Lumpur. I indicates that it is suppose the group that is going to meet will have to address issues such as the ones indicated above going to remain – both the prejudiced representation of the a long-term chronic community in the media and the social problems problem if, sadly, faced by the community – in addition to working out corrective and/or developmental action. only the police are going to be concerned about it.” Before considering the issues of poverty and gangsterism, it is time we consider categorising ourselves inclusively as ‘Malaysians’ not exclusively as ‘Indians’. So a proper reference to us would be achieved by the term ‘Indian Malaysians’ rather than ‘Malaysian Indians’. It is important that we talk about our problems and our futures as an ethnocultural group in the context of an inclusive category, ‘Malaysian’. This nomenclature is nothing new as many ethnocultural groups in many multicultural societies around the globe adopt it. It has a long-term political advantage of consolidating the more sustainable politics of difference and diversity in a multicultural society like ours. Let us be recognised with rights as Indian Malaysians. Let us rebuild the community as Indian Malaysians. Another important issue that needs to be addressed at the meeting is the prejudiced media representation of the community. A media-monitoring body addressing the issue of prejudice construction would go a long way in dealing with ‘racial prejudice’ in Malaysia. Even if organisations, such as SUHAKAM, have recognised all other forms of discrimination but have carefully excluded racial discrimination from their list, the issue needs to be addressed and brought into serious legal discourse in this country. The middle class is best suited to do this. Media monitoring can go along with developing and 182

The ‘Hot-Headed Indian’ and the New Millennium But where does this kind of labelling or ‘community character assassination’ take us as a national community? Nowhere, really. And besides, it puts the whole issue in a wrong perspective. It is rather sad to know that a newspaper, which must practice some restraint and wisdom, has resorted to irresponsible headline sensationalism. Social myopia seems to continue to afflict this tabloid. Consider the category of ‘Indian’ as it appears in the headline. The community is highly segmented on the basis of class, caste, religion, region and language. Among others, the Chinese and the Malays have their own segmenting fault lines. The group specifically addressed in the news item cited above is probably from the poorer sections of the (male) Tamil-Indian Malaysian community. So, why not a headline in a racial tone: “The Hot-Headed Poor Indian” or more a c c u r a t e l y, “The Hot-Headed Poor Tamil”. But, really, why not a headline in a non-racial tone: “The Hot-Headed Poor Malaysian”? Carefully constructed, racism can be made to be excitingly sensational. It seems to have become something that sells. And our business ethos seems to be: “If racism sells, let us sell racism”. “Oh … never mind the Indians!” The issues of drunkenness or gangsterism are problems that have been affecting the Tamil/Indian community (largely) for quite sometime now and have become an inter-generational problem. I suppose all Malaysians have seen a drunk Tamil/Indian doing that ‘drunken dance’ on a roadside as he walks listlessly and aimlessly. Quite a tragic, but certainly, symbolic representative image of the status and future of the community in this country. This tragic image belongs to the adult labouring community and has a working-class history. Today, however, this has developed a greater texture as it has got tied up with drug abuse and gangsterism, and has reached the (poorer) youths, something that indicates how equitable and sustainable our national development is! The mixture of drunkenness, drug abuse and gangsterism has become the backbone of an explosive, inter-generational, anti-social, culture of poverty. And, the career of this culture indicates that it is going to remain a long-term chronic problem if, sadly, only the police are going to be concerned about it. Indeed, the Tamil/Indian Malaysian community (largely) has already lost a few * See http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/mai/cms/miconference.doc. February 2004. 183

Semparuthi The ‘Hot-Headed Indian’ and the New Millennium encouraging cross-cultural sensitivity. Returning to the key issue, certainly the meeting will have to address the problem of poverty faced by the community, in general, and the poor youths, in particular. In relation to our poor youths, we must refuse to think of them as just Tamil/Indian youths but as Malaysian youths. This positioning draws the attention of not only the community but also, more importantly, the national government to address the problems of our youths. We must break that habit of the government to turn national issues into communal issues. This is perhaps a very critical intervention in rebuilding community. This is necessary so that the idea of ‘rebuilding community’ is achieved in two ways – rebuilding the Indian community as much as rebuilding the Malaysian community. An important issue that needs to be addressed is, of course, the reference made in The Sun – gangsterism. Gangsterism is a very serious and practical concern to the police. Very understandable. But the fact is that the Malay-majority police force interacts periodically with the ‘Indian community’ in perhaps one context, and with one group of Indians – the poor Tamil/Indian male youths in the context of “violence and bloodshed”. How can prejudice not be formed? (Perhaps, if the police force spent more time with our doctors, engineers or teachers, they may not find us that violent after all!) The event on rebuilding the Indian Malaysian community can address the issue of cross- cultural sensitivity by getting important institutions involved. To continue, the police are seen to hold talks with the community and its leaders to deal with the problem of gangsterism, even while responding to the situation in the most punitive manner. If one examines the relationship between the community and the police with reference to gangsters, it only indicates attention to effects rather than causes. This certainly throws up more questions than solutions. The police, both in terms of resources and institutional focus, cannot solve the 184

The ‘Hot-Headed Indian’ and the New Millennium problem of drunkenness or gangsterism A very critical component of in the Tamil-Indian Malaysian community development is community. In fact, with the police addressing the issue, the problem of creating ‘a future’ for the poorer gangsterism will continue to be or the lower-middle-class represented as a ‘law and order’ sections of the community, problem affecting general ‘public order’, which is and must be the concern particularly the poorer youths. of the police. This misrepresentation of This is the key to both the reality of gangsterism will continue governmental and community to lead to solutions that are punitive interventions. When young and piecemeal. The ‘gangsterism of the people have a handle on their poor ’ among the Tamil-Indian future, know what they can Malaysian community is really a serious become in five or ten years and social and political problem and know what they can do in the requires more serious attention from the future, the knowledge and the MPs at our parliamentary sessions, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry possibility alone offer a of Welfare and Social Development, to positive direction. Thus, an name a few key national institutions. important part of the Generally, only a serious, committed deliberation at the meeting national political will can make the must be discussions about culture of poverty – anti-social or creating realistic and possible otherwise – leading to drunkenness, futures for our young people, as domestic abuse, drug abuse and/or for all young Malaysians. gangsterism go away. Of course, the role of the community is critical. And the Rebuilding Community meeting is certainly an opportunity for the middle and upper classes to flesh it out. But in no way should the community take on the role of an elected government. In their own way, the Indian Malaysian middle-classes must find a way to involve the government and improve the governance structures related to the poor in this country, no matter which ethno-community they come from. The Rebuilding Community meeting can help contribute to greater sensitivity and to establishing institutionalised intra-community linkages. This really means that the middle and upper classes, the academic and professional Indian Malaysian communities need to institutionally engage with the community-at- 185

The ‘Hot-Headed Indian’ and the New Millennium large and particularly with the poorer sections of the community. (Incidentally, there is a popular negative image of the Indians as incapable of forming a real self-supporting community, as it is the ‘behaviour’ of one Indian to pull down another who is trying to climb the ladder!) A very critical component of community development is creating ‘a future’ for the poorer or the lower-middle-class sections of the community, particularly the poorer youths. This is the key to both governmental and community interventions. When young people have a handle on their future, know what they can become in five or ten years and know what they can do in the future, the knowledge and the possibility alone offer a positive direction. Thus, an important part of the deliberation at the meeting must be discussions about creating realistic and possible futures for our young people, as for all young Malaysians. In this context, it is important for the meeting to reflect on the question of university admission. Certainly, the more our youths go through the educational process and receive university education, the more are the chances of us overcoming the problem of gangsterism, at least in the next generation. But examine what is happening to university admission. Even those who are eligible to be in the university are not offered that opportunity (forget about what happens after one receives a university education and starts to look for a job in our racially/ethnically-sensitive corporate environment). As a close friend likes to suggest, we have a “meritocracy system without merit”. How can you have a merit system when there is no level-playing field, when there is no common university entrance examination or when there is no transparency in the admission and examination process? A meritocracy system will work only if the idea and the practice of it are sound. We hardly have a sound idea or a sound practice. On this issue, it is important to understand the perception of the community. The feeling of being let down by the government they voted to power, a feeling of being not fairly treated by their government, particularly with reference to their young, is really a serious problem for the community. Among everything else, it creates a sense of helplessness. And a feeling that they have ‘no future’. And, this feeling seriously affects the poorer sections or the middle- and lower- middle-classes. And here, we sow the seeds of anti-social behaviour (as much as legal activism in some quarters). To return to the inputs from the middle and upper classes, the intra-community 186

The ‘Hot-Headed Indian’ and the New Millennium linkages can be fleshed out institutionally and financially, in the form of democratically-governed foundations and firms, supporting the preparation of the young educationally within a national context, helping them in their education-related employment and contributing to the development of their careers. Even while critically examining community efforts that have failed, the group must also situate the role and spell out the contribution of the government, not as an option but as a necessity. Certainly, philanthropic and self-help traditions of the Indian Malaysian community can be recovered and systematically developed and fleshed out as foundations for sustaining initiatives around key issues – education, health, community-owned economic ventures, cultural development, etc. Astro Vannavil, for instance, can play a more imaginative role in this effort than by just being a market for entertainment products from India. It is important that such efforts carefully keep out party or sectarian politics as they seem to be simply inimical to the proper functioning of community efforts. Financial and management support is also certainly required for improving the facilities in Tamil schools and for improving the outcome of Tamil education. One of the things that must be urgently developed is some sort of a ‘social technology’ to work as a ‘social early-warning and opportunity-determination How can the system’. The direction in Indian diaspora help which the community is Indian Malaysians? moving needs to be examined, through research and observation of local, national, regional and global trends. This is certainly an opportunity for academics and professional researchers to become institutionally linked to the needs of the community. Negative and unsustainable Source: Gerard Chaliand and Jean-Pierrre Rageau, The Penguin Atlas of social trends, once detected, Diasporas (London: Penguin Books, 1995) need to be urgently addressed. 187

The ‘Hot-Headed Indian’ and the New Millennium As part of the early-warning system, there must be ‘social impact assessment’ and ‘social risk assessment’ of national policies, i.e. determination of unsustainable trends that can ensue from national policy that affects the individual and collective rights of communities in general, and of poor communities, in particular. There should also be a strategy of early response, with an integral government involvement. Such a facility within the Indian Malaysian and national community will go a long way in preventing the development and inter- generational continuation of serious social problems. An early-warning system, along with a comprehensive response strategy, with the support of the government, could have set in motion a definite long-term solution of the problem of gangsterism and drunkenness. Today, the Indian Malaysian community has another serious problem – suicides. We had better start looking at this problem too. In addition to an early-warning component, there must be an ‘opportunity- determination’ component. Such a component will help shape and define futures, and direct attention at prospects for the Indian Malaysian community. How can globalisation, for instance, help the community? This is a potential area for exploration which is beneficial for the community, though, at the moment, it seems to only benefit the middle and upper classes. In this context, it is equally important to look at the potential of the ‘Indian diaspora’ (again, a highly-fragmented one, with many diasporas within a single diaspora). How can, for instance, the global organisations of the middle and upper classes, such as Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), help to solve the problems of poor Indian Malaysians? These aspects must certainly be one of the focuses of the Rebuilding Community meeting in June. While we are still examining opportunity determination, one important area to consider is ‘competency profiling’. We need to carry out a ‘competency profiling’ exercise of the community, which must also involve, simultaneously, a detailed assessment of the kind of competencies that are required in Malaysia to run its organisations (firms and others) today and in the years ahead in this era. It is important that we recognise the competencies the community has, those that are in shortage or those that are lacking. With such knowledge, not only can the community fit into the future but also develop in a self-conscious manner. With such knowledge, the interests of the young can be directed in a more realistic manner. This is, for instance, happening to an extent with IT 188

The ‘Hot-Headed Indian’ and the New Millennium education. But, it needs to be more organised and to cover a wider area. Certainly, the middle class representing the Rebuilding Community can contribute to this critical activity, again without forgetting the role and responsibility of the elected government. It can go a step further and share these ‘technologies’ with the national community. The emphasis on a cross-class, cross-caste and cross-community strategy for Indian Malaysian community development to be initiated by the middle and upper classes has a tremendous potential. But it also comes with limitations. Recognition of the boundaries of middle-class action and their limitations, with a focus on the prospective potential of collaboration, with definite institutional remedies and development, will certainly make the Rebuilding Community meeting a more worthwhile effort, both in addressing the problems of the Indian Malaysian community and in rebuilding it. Among those that need immediate attention is taking to task such newspapers as The Sun, which produces inaccurate reports and reinforces a prejudiced image of the community. 189

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Written in June 2002. Unpublished. Semparuthi Context: Among the important issues discussed at the Rebuilding Community conference (see chapter 26) is that related to the question: Who is a ‘Malaysian Indian’? The piece below was written in response to this query. In a recent conference (see footnote on page 183) of the Indian Malaysian elites in the city, there was an attempt to define who a ‘Malaysian Indian’ (in the politically short-sighted words of the organisers) is. An absolute waste of time for a conference that should have spent more time coming up with some really workable, concrete solutions to Indian Malaysian problems, some of which need urgent and immediate attention. Yet, the issue of identity is a relevant one from a larger perspective. It is not just “Who is a ‘Malaysian Indian’?” we need to explore, but also, more seriously, “Who is a Malaysian?” The issue I am trying to draw our attention to is the question of identity in Malaysia. There are, as most people will know, many sources of identity – race and ethnicity, class and caste, religion, philosophical orientation, professional or other sub-group/sub-cultural affiliation, sexual orientation, gender, etc. Against this background, the issue of identity faces a serious problem of definition. In fact, because all societies are multiculturally vibrant (this is being slowly accepted as a fact), increasingly, there is a need to see identities as fluid and not fixed. Here is an example. I do not own a car, and this has forced me to use taxis, in addition to other modes of travel. It is always interesting to travel in a taxi in 191

Who is a ‘Malaysian Indian’? Kuala Lumpur, particularly when you have friendly taxi drivers. This is how taxi drivers always challenge my notions of identity. When I step into a taxi driven by a Malay, the conversation covers many aspects, including ethnicity. In fact, as far as taxi drivers are concerned, race/ethnicity is the main source of identity and an important theme in everyday conversations. When a Malay talks, it will include the Indian (as his passenger is an Indian), and the ‘bonding’ point is the assumed acceptance of his analysis: the ‘ability of the Chinese to corrupt everyone with money’. This driver is suggesting that as ‘non-Chinese Malaysians’ or as ‘non-Chinese’, we ought to beware of the Chinese. This is an identity I am given at a particular instance. The situation is different when I am in a taxi driven by a Chinese. Among the conversations I have had is this: “These Malay people want everything free … If not for us, where will this country be?” This time, I am seen as a ‘non-Malay Malaysian’ or ‘non-Malay’. Here, I am given another identity, which includes mainly the Chinese and Indians. In the taxi of an Indian driver, the situation is altogether different. Here is one conversation: “These Malays have the support of the government. The Chinese have cheated their way up and they are very clannish … The Indians, we are nowhere … And we will never learn … We have to help ourselves ... That is why when I buy things, I only buy from the Indians … Indian money should not go to the others”. Here is an identity that makes me a ‘non-Malay, non-Chinese Malaysian’ or more realistically, ‘non-Malay, non-Chinese’. The identity I assume or am given is extremely fluid. In the official construction of ethnicity and ethnic identity, there is, as a Mandailing Malaysian friend suggests, a trinity – ‘the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians’. All other identities outside this ‘ethnic trinity’ are marginal to the discussion of identity in Malaysia. There are two issues here. There is a tendency to improve a categorical notion on a population for easy political administration. Indian Malaysian, as Malay Malaysian, as Chinese Malaysian is really notional. ‘Indian Malaysian’ as such is really indefinable, except for practical and political applications. Take a moment to be patient to consider the complication. To refer to myself ethnically and politically, I need to develop a conceptual category that is rather clumsy – Tamil-Indian Malaysian. And if I delve into my caste (peculiar here to the Indian Malaysian community), class and religion, it 192

Who is a ‘Malaysian Indian’? Semparuthi becomes even more complicated and I have to build more clumsy categories. Thus, from another perspective, I will be an ‘upwardly-mobile middle-class male-sociologist-Tamil-South- Indian-Indian-Peninsular Malaysia Malaysian’. It certainly is confusing. And very often, which voice is being heard and/ or which category is being perceived becomes difficult to assess. All of which show the fluidity of our identity. There is also a need to recognise the fact that the Indian Malaysian community is highly multiethnic/multicultural. Just taking some criteria, like region and religion, are enough to complicate the reality of the Indian Malaysians. Even within the Hindus, for instance, there are different groupings and different available identities. They are those who take the path of Gandhi’s brand of Hinduism, while there are others who believe in a more fundamentalist kind associated with ‘Hindu fundamentalist’ rule in India. There are Saivites and non-Saivites. At another level, in Malaysia, North Indians separate themselves from South Indians, both suspicious of each other. The politically-dominant South Indians (particularly the Tamils, but also Telugus and Malayalees) see the North Indians as untrustworthy, and that they will dominate and marginalise the Tamils and other South Indians, while the North Indians see South Indians as having marginalised them and monopolising national resources. So, they want to separate themselves from being perceived as Indian Malaysians. That really means Tamil-South Indian Malaysians. Even the Sri Lankan Tamils want to separate themselves and form a separate group. In a recent symposium* in Penang, Sri Lankan Tamils wanted to be categorised as a ‘historical minority’, along with ‘Eurasian Malaysians’, ‘Burmese Malaysians’, ‘Thai Malaysians’, and ‘Japanese Malaysians’. So, what do you have here in terms of the Indian Malaysian community? South Indian Malaysians? North Indian Malaysians? * See http://www.penangstory.net. February 2004. 193

Who is a ‘Malaysian Indian’? Tamil Malaysians? Punjabi Malaysians (further classifiable into Sikhs, Hindus or Muslims)? Malayalee Malaysians? Sri Lanka-Sinhala Malaysians? Sri Lanka- Tamil Malaysians? Indian-Tamil Malaysians? Indian Malaysians? Pakistani- Punjabi-Muslim Malaysians? So much for trying to define who the Indian Malaysian is. (Interestingly, in Malaysia, North Indians are more acceptable than South Indians, particularly Tamils, to the Malays. There is, therefore, an Indian identity available to Indian Malaysians, which puts them closer to the cultural consumption patterns of the Malays.) The situation is not very different for the Chinese or the Malays. The Chinese are broken into dialect groups, as much as by religion and class. They have their own intra-communal differences and categories associated with them. The ‘Chinese-educated’ Chinese Malaysians see themselves differently from the ‘English-educated’ Chinese Malaysians. The ‘Peranakan Chinese’ and the ‘Baba- Nyonya Chinese’ see themselves differently. Class-wise, the Chinese from one of the New Villages is different from, say, some posh locality, like Damansara Heights. The Malays are not monolithic either. They are also broken into many groups, particularly in terms of regions. For instance, my Who Mandailing friend does not want to be clubbed into a generic Malay community. He is very sensitive to his is a roots in northern Sumatra. Malaysian? So, who is an Indian Malaysian? Who is a Malaysian? 194

PHOtO Essay displacement and the Context: Industrialisation and aggressive urbanisation have affected many traditional neighbourhoods. Many of these have disappeared. This reality is certainly most visible in the Klang Valley. Many of the neighbourhoods were populated by low-income Malaysians, including Tamil-Indian Malaysians. In some cases, they were largely populated by Tamil-Indian Malaysians. People, families and communities have been evicted/displaced or relocated, giving way for upper-class residences and/or industrial or commercial centres (some sort of ‘internal colonisation’). This displacement is further aggravated by undemocratic allocative mechanisms (“Who gets a low-cost house?”) or an inadequate number of low-cost houses, putting all poor Malaysians in a limbo in as much as their housing/shelter is concerned. Those who have been evicted/ displaced but promised low-cost houses have been traditionally moved first to a temporary shelter called rumah panjang (long houses). But in many instances, this temporary residence has transformed into a permanent feature, with people still waiting for their relocation. All photos by George Saysoo (2003). 195

Disappearing Traditional Indian Malaysian Neighbourhoods 196

Disappearing Traditional Indian Malaysian Neighbourhoods 197

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PHOtO Essay Context: Because of the nature of development in Malaysia, many Hindu temples/shrines frequented by Tamil-Indian Malaysians (and other Indian Malaysians) have been removed while some have been relocated. In a number of cases, the process begins with the eviction/displacement or relocation of the community that lives, serves and prays at the temple. This has led to the reality of ‘orphaned temples’. In modern Malaysia, the removal and/or relocation of Hindu temples (or in some cases, shrines) has been a point of negotiation, contestation and struggle between the Tamil-Indian community and the local/state/national governments. In some cases, it is a struggle with an individual or a business corporation, particularly over the land on which the temple is located. (One may add here that some Tamil schools too are a point of contestation and negotiation in relation to the land it is located on.) All photos by Nat. This was the location of a Hindu temple (Muniseswarar Koil). The banyan tree and a shrine here still remain as a reminder. 199

Sacred Memory The banyan tree and shrine is still the site of religious activity today (2003), though the temple was relocated in 2002. 200

Sacred Memory 201

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sECtiOn iii On Being a Global Citizen 203

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Written in February 2001. Unpublished. Context: Consumerism – the movement to protect and promote consumer rights in the marketplace – came to us, like most movements involving the middle classes, from the West. The issues addressed by Western consumerism were distinctly different from those that affect non-Western, Third World societies. This article was written with a view to articulating an Asian brand of consumerism. Written for World Consumer Rights Day 2001, it was too long for most magazines and online publishers to use. It is listed in the unedited submissions section of an Africa-based online NGO newsletter at: http://www.kabisaa.org (April 2001). Introduction The world over, 15 March is celebrated meaningfully as World Consumer Rights Day. In 1962, President Kennedy proposed the original Consumer Bill of Rights (CBR) – the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to choose and the right to be heard. As new players – developing societies, for instance – came into the movement, the original CBR underwent refinement and increment. Instead of four, there are eight rights today – the right to satisfaction of basic needs, the right to consumer education, the right to safety, the right to be heard, the right to redress, the right to be informed, the right to choose and the right to a healthy environment. The world has undergone a great deal of significant changes from the time the new set of rights were introduced. Whether these changes require modifications in the CBR needs to be seen. In Asia, there is a potential for rethinking the consumer movement. Perhaps an active process of rethinking Asian consumerism may take us into uncharted areas related to consumption, and help break down certain established orthodoxies in the mainstream consumer movement, all of which may open opportunities to refine, modify or extend the CBR. 205

Rethinking Asian Consumerism organisations in 119 countries (which includes organisations from Malaysia), and headquartered in London, the theme for this year‘s [2001] Consumer Rights Day is Corporate Citizenship in the Global Market: Accountability and the Consumer Perspective. While these movements have looked at tackling the aberrations in the marketplace, they have hardly made efforts in considering or developing a consistent policy on re-forming or revolutionising asset ownership patterns. There has been no focus, even after over 40 years of consumer activism worldwide, on any consistent policy that would, for instance, contribute strategies and action plans to limit the income differential within and between societies so that social inequality – and therefore poverty – is significantly reduced, if not gotten rid of, to an extent that the grave social impact of social inequality is mitigated. This kind of restructuring will cumulatively have a positive impact on the consumer movement. In fact, even working within the neo-liberal framework of the mainstream consumer movements, the consideration of a comprehensive competition policy, when examined within a broader policy of re-structuring asset ownership, will not only improve demand – though increasing demand is not automatically related to wise consumption – but also the quality of competition (again, not related to wise consumption). Imagine the market power of an affluent Philippines or India (if their land reform strategy, for instance, had succeeded). A re-formed local, national and global ownership pattern will have a positive bearing on common property resources and force its incorporation into the calculation of economic goods and services at the production, distribution and consumption levels. Asset re-structuring will have a positive influence on gender equity and contribute to the consumer movement. It will also, for instance, contribute to undoing the debt situation of the developing world and give it a stronger voice in international fora. It will encourage public-private debate in the area of consumption. Perhaps a re-consideration of asset-ownership patterns will reduce the dangers of the explosive mix of poverty, population, consumption and the environment, and of the impact of abundance and over-consumption on society (local and global) and the environment. The former relates to the developing, and the latter, to the developed world. Historicise Consumption and the Consumer 206

Rethinking Asian Consumerism Subsume the Consumer Movement Within the Broader Agenda of Sustainable Development The contemporary consumer movement largely working within a neo-liberal framework and directing its human and financial resources to make the market responsible is, in the long run, without much future. Even if we make the market free and fair, the mere focus on consumption does not make it sustainable. In addition, the drive to make production and distribution efficient does not necessarily lead to sustainable production or distribution. The ‘efficiency’ concern is limited, both in terms of giving a direction to production and in terms of developing and managing human resources. Given this situation, it will be necessary for Asia to consider a consumer movement within a larger framework, i.e. the sustainable development framework, a framework that can guide our present biological and social survival without jeopardising the \"survival\" of Nature and future generations on the principle of inter- generational and intra-generational equity. Again, in considering this framework, there is a need to move away from the orthodox ecological focus of sustainable development. Sustainable development is really a very large and complicated concern. It certainly contributes to an emancipatory project for human freedom and equality, in which sustainability includes the realms of politics, economics, technology, and culture (local, ethnic, national and global). It is not possible to speak of sustainable consumption without considering sustainable politics or technology. Subsuming the consumer movement within sustainable development will extend the life of the consumer movement and make it more responsive to the trends of the present millennium. In this effort, it is worth keeping in mind that such a framework can benefit from the wisdom of a number of indigenous knowledge systems, institutions, and practices that promote sustainability. Restructure Ownership Patterns The mainstream global consumer movement has been working very hard towards making the market a safer and fairer place, with the aim of protecting the rights of the consumer. Specifically, in the effort to make the existing, and taken-for-granted, market fairer, the movement has concentrated on such issues as responsible corporate governance or a more comprehensive competition policy. In fact, for Consumer International, a federation of over 260 consumer 207

Rethinking Asian Consumerism desires, human interaction, etc. – have all come into being and are in the process of maturing. The future of human society will certainly bring in new historical forms of consumption and categories of consumers. Therefore, the consumer movement needs to specifically address this reality rather than continue looking at the consumer in a modernist sense. Cyber-embodiment, which involves an acute technological extension of human beings (‘cyborgisation’), requires a new framework of consumerism to deal with it. Third, the conception of a consumer in a generic sense involves sensitivity to the relationship between human beings and nature. Based on an eco-centric (all things natural as central) or sentient-centric (all living beings as central) value system, the generic notion of a consumer involves the possibility of developing a pattern of sustainable consumption and lifestyle. This means we do not turn Nature or the environment into an economic resource and engage in carelessly exploiting it, but allow for ‘negotiated engagement’ by recognising its own value and our need for continuous dependence on it. A number of Asian indigenous knowledge systems allow for the development of this kind of possibility. Re-Introduce Sensitivity to the Three Stages of a Consumption Event Today, the focus of the consumer movement is the act of consumption. The consumer is also only concerned about consumption. This is an aspect of consumption in a modern consumer society. Consumption is reified. Such a situation presents consumption as ahistorical and cuts away people’s view, thinking and concern from larger issues. Carefully considered, consumption is really one moment in a movement of three stages, i.e. pre-consumption, consumption and post-consumption (see Figure 1). Together, they make a consumption event. Sensitivity to these stages has occupied the thought and behaviour of ‘consumers’ in traditional or, if you like, pre-modern societies. In fact, in many earlier societies, this consciousness governed their relationship with Nature/their ecology. For instance, in many Asian cultures, Nature is seen as the transubstantiation of the Sacred. Thus, in dealing with the Sacred, consumption was sensitive to the pre- and post- moments of the consumption event. With the arrival of the modern consumer society, sensitivity to the other moments diminished and the focus became 208

Rethinking Asian Consumerism The consumer is a historical, locality-specific category, and it is really careless to consider that the present type of consumer has always been there and will always be there. Today, the conception of the consumer as a market category animates the mainstream consumer movement. It is really this emphasis that directs a strategy of consumer protection, i.e. protection from an unfair and unsafe marketplace. While this is perhaps right in the present context, the conception of consumption and consumer requires re-consideration. First, the present conception emphasises a particular historical form of consumption and consumer. If we think of a consumer purely from a market perspective, we can think of – as a result of the consumer movement – a type of consumption that is safe (for instance, safe products) and fair (for instance, value for money in a market sense). But such a pattern of consumption may actually result in the depletion of natural/material resources and lead to intense pollution. Based on an anthropo-centric (human beings as central) value system, efficient production and responsible market behaviour of firms is no guarantee against the destruction of Nature or ecological degradation. Against this background, there is one important consideration – we need a non- American type of consumer or consumption behaviour. If the world consumed like Americans, we need many more Earths. One is certainly not enough! Second, human society is undergoing a massive change. With the emergence of the cyber-society, new forms of economic organisation and transactions, and consumer embodiment (cyber-embodiment) – which will re-define consumption Pre-consumption Post-consumption Consumption Figure 1: The three stages of a consumption event 209

Rethinking Asian Consumerism Nat making accessibility a non-issue, we reduce waste of material resources in producing private motor vehicles and move towards ‘de-materialising’ the economy. This also means that we stop stereotyping public transport as the poor people’s mode of transport as against the transport of the wealthy. Transport is about accessibility, not the possession of this or that status-defining car. The same logic can be applied in another instance – the serious, systematic concern for a ‘paperless office’ or a ‘paperless society’. (In Malaysia, for instance, Malaysiakini is certainly a part of the de-materialisation process.) The growth of an infostructure based on computer technology will certainly make a great contribution to this effort. In all these efforts, the ‘culture of profit making and having’ is sought to be replaced by a non- or post-materialistic culture of sharing and being. Although a materialistic culture of ‘possessiveness’ has been there and is now in the control of Asian consumers, Asian cultures are also well suited to actively promote a sustainable culture, i.e. a culture of being. Encourage Enlightened Localism and Modularisation Today, globalisation has become a household word. There is an on-going debate about globalisation, about its economic advantages or its predatory nature. Everyone is also talking about its inevitability. Consumerism needs to consider its relationship to globalisation, particularly in the context of a \"post- Seattle world\". This means consumerism in Asia needs to build a defence against globalisation, particularly corporate globalisation. Corporate globalisation is sustained by a regime of pro-powerful and pro-wealthy legal instruments and institutions, which do not contribute to the creation of a fair world. It compounds the problems of global 210

Rethinking Asian Consumerism concentrated on consumption. Such a transformation helped reproduce a marketised consumer society. The recovery of the wisdom of an earlier mode of consumption would make modern consumption acts more informed and holistic, more sensitive to the connection between consumption ‘here’ and its effects ‘there’, between the consumption ‘now’ and its effects ‘later’. Sensitivity to the pre-consumption moment can, for instance, influence purchase. If products were manufactured using invasive or polluting technologies, or produced by unacceptable labour practice, consumers, or their representatives, could organise a boycott of such goods (or services). Similarly, if they knew the impact or consequences of the things they consume, consumers can act on the products. For instance, if there is a choice of products and/or services that are less polluting, consumers could exercise their ecological responsibilities through their purchases. Or, not use the product or service at all but rather look for an alternative. Thus, people can demand for a better public transport system to make accessibility in their environment achievable without using private vehicular transport. Sensitivity to the three moments of the consumption event makes a more sensitive and informed consumer. De-Materialise the Economy The modern industrial economy is growth focused, and indicates growth in quantitative terms. The growth model, of course, involves largely material development and consumption. The modern society is based on the process of commodification, for it is commodities that are sold in the market to consumers. It is the business of modern industrial capitalist society to expand and deepen the process of commodification. Commodification will reach the outer space as much as the inner space of living materials. Germ plasm will be bought and sold, just like in the slave society, when slaves were bought and sold! The present economy and the process of commodification contribute actively to the socio-economic culture of ‘having’ and ‘profit-making’. Nature appears as one Big Resource Bank from which one can indiscriminately make profits. Increasingly, there is a concern that it is not ‘growth’ that we need to be concerned about as much as ‘development’. Thus, for instance, it is not this or that car we need to be concerned about as much as accessibility. Such a transformation, for instance, provides reasons for the emphasis on public transport. Thus, if we are able to encourage people to use public transport, 211

Rethinking Asian Consumerism become a central social concern encouraging many ethnocultural/national movements. The attraction to certain kinds of consumption and/or lifestyles has also had an important bearing on the question of identity. Increasingly, people consume to acquire a self-image and to promote distinctions along a vertical scale among themselves. People consciously seek status through exclusive consumption. Within the context of globalisation, consumption patterns and lifestyles are undergoing a process of social cloning, with America offering a template of the (unsustainable) model of modern or post-modern consumption. This market- driven identity formation, which has made the consumption of commodities the basis of modern identity, undermines the more sustainable traditional bases of people’s identity. A reversal of this process is required to establish a more sustainable society. This requires a concerted effort to re-invent and to actively promote an ethnocultural basis for one’s identity. It means the active promotion of ‘ethnocultural consumption’. Practically, this could mean encouraging, for instance, mother-tongue education. Or, maintaining a section in our wet markets where goods that are essential for cooking our distinct ethnic cuisine are sold. Of course, such a mode of consumption depends on how much a locality – its cultural and natural heritage – is protected or creatively developed. Corporate globalisation aggressively promotes global cities for its active survival on a package of standardised characteristics, a package that has the power to destroy local cultural and natural heritages. This kind of destruction substitutes the ethnic bases of identity and consolidates the one sustained purely by the market. Protect and Promote Diversity A rich diversity of ‘ecological localities’ based on biodiversity has contributed to the production of a dense variety of patterned cultural responses. This has shaped a rich mosaic of unique languages, dance forms, dressing styles, cuisine systems, kinship patterns, indigenous knowledge systems, etc. Today, both cultural heritage and biodiversity are at risk from the process of homogenisation/ standardisation, a pervasive force generated by two inter-related institutions, both produced by modernity: a highly centralising and culturally-homogenising nation-state, and the pervasive globalising and standardising market. The 212

Rethinking Asian Consumerism inequality, and further skews ownership patterns and power relations. There can be two critical responses to globalisation – localisation and modularisation. Modularisation checks the extreme interconnectedness of the societies or regions that globalisation depends on. This interconnectedness is such that any problem at one point creates problems elsewhere, through, for instance, the avoidable contagion effect. Consumers can be saved a great deal of problems by modularisation, which offers a complex organisational design focus, and which involves the creation of a series of independent units that are networked. Thus, the global society should be conceived not as a single inter- connected reality but as an acephalous network of independent localities/ municipalities. For an appropriate imagery, think of a number of intranets (private networks) connected over the Internet (public network). Localisation supports the modularisation process as it promotes what is local through the self-sustaining potentialities of a locality. For instance, the growing loss of land used for growing food to cash-crop agriculture or to construction activity, and increasing imports of all kinds of food items, created a problem of food insecurity during the Asian economic crisis. Creating food security is an essential part of a strategy of self-sufficiency, which is an essential component of localism. In addition, enlightened localism helps check one of corporate globalisation’s serious problems – tendency towards standardisation or homogenisation. It encourages cultural diversity by promoting the vibrancy of local cultures. Localism encourages, through self-sufficiency strategies, the management of one’s own ecological footprint within one’s locality without carelessly extending it to other areas and/or a future time frame. In the former, we consume what others need, and in the latter, we consume what future generations need. Among the developing concerns is the recognition of indigenous knowledge systems, such as that related to, for instance, the sustenance of health. Re-Establish the Basis for Individual and Communal Identity Identity gives us a sense of who we are and offers a critical motivational ground. Against homogenising globalisation and anti-federal, ultra-centrist nation-states consisting of multiple ethno-national communities, the concern for meaningful identity has assumed a serious posture. The issue of identity has 213

Rethinking Asian Consumerism resources. Higher population concentration means a reduced demand for land relative to population, greater potential for limiting the use of motor vehicles, including greatly reducing the fossil fuels they need. However, today, cities in Asia and across the globe are becoming unbearable sites of working and living, and they are faced with many avoidable problems. For instance, many of the global mega-cities in the world – the number of these cities is expected to increase manifold in Asia – show an unsustainable ecological footprint. In one examination, the ecological footprint of London was found to be 125 times its surface area of 159,000 hectares, or nearly 20 million hectares. This means that with 12 percent of Britain’s population, London requires the equivalent of Britain’s entire productive land. Though the cities’ requirements are different from rural areas, such an enormous footprint, as seen in the case of London, if reproduced in Asian cities in the context of serious social inequality, would have dreadful long-term negative consequences. For a sustainable future, cities require an intense planning overhaul. And planning certainly needs to move away from a top-down framework to one involving decision-making that is participatory, interactive and dialogical. A way to achieve this is to reconsider local governance. This process needs to be re-formed, perhaps involving an election – not political appointments – so that the participatory process can be strengthened within the present political framework. Democratic and participatory spatialisation creating ‘space consumption patterns’ in which, for instance, designing residential forms that contribute to multiethnic coexistence will be a challenge in a place like Malaysia. For instance, in Malaysia, we need more common living symbols in spatial form so that the common consumption of these forms can weave the various communities together into a closely-knit one. Taman Selera (a multicultural food court in urban Malaysia) is a good example. We need more effort to ‘Taman Selera-fy’ our social space. In this process, promoting ‘active municipalism’, and where necessary, multicultural diversity, must certainly be an integral part of the Asian consumer movement. Asian consumerism must look at unconventional areas of ‘consumption’ and organise itself to be more relevant to a holistic lifestyle. Promote Societal Self-Learning Loops 214

Rethinking Asian Consumerism market environment encourages a condition of ‘mono-culture’. Such a pressure from the market contributes to the systematic destruction of sociocultural and biological diversity. Everything slowly becomes merely distinctions of the Same. The choice between the distinctions is presented as freedom. The choice of ten varieties of butter in the supermarket is the modern definition of freedom! We need to recognise and promote ‘real’ diversity as it is critical for our continued survival. For instance, over 30 percent of the gross national product in low-income countries (LIC) comes from agriculture. Though of late, it has become highly technological, there is still dependence on traditional crop varieties and on wild plant relatives of crops. “In the 1970s, a wild rice species found in India was found to be resistant to one of the most dangerous pests (a species of plant hopper); genes from this plant were used to save millions of hectares of cultivated rice in South and Southeast Asia from being destroyed by a major epidemic.” Given this situation, diversity within agricultural systems is critical to the stability of farmers’ livelihood. While market forces threaten both bio- and cultural diversity, a form of civil war within multi-ethnocommunal nations seems to be the response to attempts at ethnocultural homogenisation by a highly-centralising state. Thus, there is an increasing tendency for ethnic groups to assert their cultural identity. Asian consumerism, for instance, needs to be sensitive to this reality in order to mobilise intellectual energies and to promote political action for the protection of both bio- and cultural diversity. Promoting a dynamic ethnocommunal diversity, consumerism must seek to consider carefully cultural consumption not as possession but as being. Protection of indigenous crafts, entertainment forms, ethnic markets crafted dynamically – since culture is by nature creative – for modern and/or post-modern sensibilities will certainly contribute to promoting cultural diversity. Focus on Sustainable Urbanisation Issues Humanity will increasingly come to live in the urban areas in the new millennium. Already, almost 50 percent of the world population live in cities. Latin America, for instance, is 75 percent urbanised. In Asia, it is expected that South Asia will be about 45 percent urbanised by 2020, while East Asia will be over 50 percent urbanised. Some of the advantages of city living include lower costs per household and per enterprise, concentration of production and consumption, providing greater range and possibility for efficient use of 215

Rethinking Asian Consumerism makes itself unnecessary by transferring critical competencies to individuals in civil society and not progressively creating a situation in which people (here, consumers) become acutely dependent on them. One way of achieving this is to install consumer units within other organisations/movements. Trade unions, co-operatives, ethnocultural associations and women’s organisations are some excellent sites to locate consumer units and promote consumer activism. In this way, the scope and scale of the movement is enlarged manifold. Such strategic spread of consumer activism creates, through collaboration, greater integration of the consumer’s experience as, for instance, woman- consumer integration or worker-consumer integration efforts. It makes consumerism more relevant. Such efforts would help generalise consumer competencies in a population and reduce the possibility of self-perpetuation and indiscriminate multiplication of consumer organisations. Eventually, an enlightened consumer must be an active subject socialised into being through a dynamic living and growing culture, not just a product of a bureaucratised consumer organisation. 216

Rethinking Asian Consumerism Democratic governance is essential for creating a fair and safe world. Among the components for democratic governance, we need a civil society that encourages learning and public activism so that societal self-learning loops (or active feedback systems) are firmly established. Such a loop encourages active discussion, debate and participation in making significant changes in those directions that society is moving that harm the public or Nature. As a society, there is an urgent need to move away from the technical management of social or ecological problems. Indiscriminate application of technical and management strategies to what must essentially be brought into the people’s participatory ambit, progressively makes them apathetic and leads them to acquire a ‘let-the-government-handle-it mentality’. There is therefore a need to move away from active management to active problem solving through people’s participation in which the government is a partner. In addition, and in support of this process, we need not only a relatively well-established educational system that promotes the spirit of free and fearless enquiry and accountable creativity but also an independent and active free press. Such an institutional environment will contribute to the process of checking, for instance, dangerous production technology, unsustainable consumption patterns or lifestyles, and of planning a turnaround through collective processes. For instance, the kind of active institutional environment that is proposed here would be sensitive to the increasing incidence of cardio-vascular diseases. If that is the direction society is moving, the societal learning loop must reverse the trend. There needs to be public-supported research, discussion and debate on this matter and it should lead to, for instance, the formulation and implementation of a National Nutrition Policy or National Dietary Policy. Such a policy must seek to reduce, for instance, the introduction into the population foods high in those compounds that lead to cardio-vascular problems. Societal self-learning loops thus help to create a self-aware society which is conscious of the direction it is moving in and is able to encourage collective action. Strengthen the Consumer Movement by Incorporation Within Other Movements The consumer movement has undergone intense institutionalisation over the last couple of decades. Such intense institutionalisation sometimes becomes self-perpetuating, losing sight to an extent, if not completely, the original goals, i.e. defending the interests and rights of consumers or, more importantly, creating competent consumers who a2re17responsible and who can defend their rights. There is wisdom in any movement/organisation that progressively

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Consumer Protection and Published in 1997. Context: This paper was written for the International Conference on Consumer Protection, which was organised by Consumer International and held in New Delhi from 22–24 January 1997. An edited version was later published as part of the proceedings, Consumers in the Global Age (Penang: CI-ROAP and CUTS, 1997). Introduction Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery is torment, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself ... If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.1 Nineteen Eighty-Four was indeed a frightening view of George Orwell’s future. But a year later, the world saw the making of an important decision on consumer protection, a guideline for a world in which consumers would be protected. On 9 April 1985, the UN General Assembly adopted, by consensus, guidelines for consumer protection for global application, though there was an emphasis on nations of the developing world. It was to provide a framework for national governments to use in \"elaborating and strengthening consumer policies and legislation\".2 The origins of the UN Guidelines (henceforth, UNG) go back to the late 1970s. A useful discussion of this is found in Allan Asher’s paper. 1 George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1944), p. 230. 2 For aspects on the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection, I have referred to two sources. (1) Allan Asher, “Guidelines for the Global Market”, a paper written for the International Conference on Consumer Protection which was held in New Delhi from 22–24 January 1997. (2) UN paper entitled “Implementation of theUnited Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection” written for the same Conference. Also see http://www.crcp.org.pk/un_guide.htm. December 2003. 219

Consumer Protection and Sustainable Consumption the discourse on the market. This also means that we can think of a tendency in consumerism to be very closely linked to the market. It also means a number of significant absences (examined below). The consumer, by definition, has needs that have to be satisfied. Goods and services available in the market satisfy the consumer’s needs. The business community (owners of productive capital and traders) makes them available (see Figure 2). va l u E s Figure 1: Value systems and the UNG for Consumer Protection A perfect market is one in which the business community provides quality products and services, the advertisements provide accurate information and the consumers are in possession of all the information required to help them buy consumer products and services they require in a rational fashion. The market presupposes rational players in the market situation. In reality, however, the market is stratified. It constitutes a power relation. The business community can manipulate the consumers. They can induce, through powerful advertising symbolism, significant changes in the configuration and intensity of needs and they can introduce poor quality products and services into the market. In all these situations, the consumers stand to lose. The consumers must, therefore, be protected. Consumer protection in the 3 There seems to be some confusion here. Whether this decision was an administrative one or one influenced by the pro-environment lobby is not exactly clear. 4 Discourse is constitutive of social life. It contributes to the production, transformation, and reproduction of social objects. It entails an active relation to the reality producing it, rather than a passive one in which language merely refers to objects taken for granted. See, for instance, Norman Fairclough, Discourse and Social Change (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992), pp. 41–42. 220

Consumer Protection and Sustainable Consumption This article is neither an exploration of the (social) history of consumer protection nor a register of the successes or failures of the UNG. This paper will attempt to look at the value system(s) that must be at the foundation of the UNG for Consumer Protection (see Figure 1). The document itself reveals a ‘suturing’ of different tendencies. In a sense, the UNG is multi-vocal and I would like to consider this multi-vocality in the context of the value systems that may inform them. businEss Two Tendencies in the UN Guidelines The UNG on Consumer Protection hold two trajectories of consumer protection. Though both trajectories were a potential to begin with, they came to co-exist only after 1995, when the UN Commission for Sustainable Development took over the task of implementing3 the guidelines. Whether this was an administrative decision or an enFvigiuroren2m: Denistcaolulrys-esoefntshietimvaerkdeteacnisditohne ciosnsunmoter important to the impact of placing the implementation with the Commission. Thus, after 1995, the two trajectories came to be part of a single text. A discussion on why there should be two versions is a lacuna in the guidelines. Perhaps, a document on guidelines is not expected to contain one. However, it has, inadvertently, introduced a break and a tension in the UNG reflecting the influences of two kinds of discourse4 on the UNG. This has resulted in two versions of consumer protection: a weaker version and a stronger version. The Weaker Version of Consumer Protection The weaker version of consumer protection can be examined in the following manner. The category of consumer is a creature of the market environment, i.e. the market posits the consumer. Or to put it differently, the consumer appears in 221

Consumer Protection and Sustainable Consumption UNG a concern of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development points to consumer protection coming under the influence of another discourse. A close and critical relationship between consumerism and environmentalism was being recognised and established. There has been a growing awareness of the strong link between the production, consumption and disposal of goods and services and a sustainable environment. There is recognition of the significant role consumer behaviour plays in either exacerbating or alleviating environmental problems. And, the traditional consumer concern for “value for money” has been broadened to encompass responsibility for the environment.6 Consumer protection in the stronger version needs to overcome a conceptual difficulty in order to combine the power of the two modern movements – consumerism and environmentalism. I will not spend time in trying to establish this relationship in a comprehensive manner. The logic for the relationship will, however, be established for the purpose of understanding the stronger version of consumer protection. In the stronger version, the category ‘consumer’ is expanded to imply ‘human being’. Thus, the category of consumer is viewed at two levels – consumer in a generic sense and consumer in a market sense. Consumer in a generic sense implies a human being. The emphasis is on the former. ‘Human beings’, unlike ‘consumers’, come alive within the discourse of Nature (See Figure 3). This way of understanding the consumer has implications for our strategy of consumer protection. 5 See Allan Asher, \"Guidelines for the Global Market\", op. cit., p. 50. 222

Consumer Protection and Sustainable Consumption weaker version means protecting consumers in the market where ethical conduct is not the strong point of the business community, and where information-poor consumers go about acquiring goods and services and may, therefore, end up making a wrong choice. The consumer protection strategy emerging from the weaker version has a number of implications. It excludes a serious inquiry into the nature/pattern of consumption or the nature and consequences of production technology. It excludes queries about overconsumption. As far as goods and services are concerned, they must be of good quality, match what has been advertised and must offer the consumer value for money. Thus, consider some of the objectives of UNG: and desires of consumers; production and distribution of goods and services to consumers; at the national and international levels, which adversely affect consumers; consumers with greater choice at lower prices.5 To conclude, the weaker version of consumer protection is purely a consumerist perspective. It offers protection by promoting a strategy that aims to make the market a place which is safe, a place where quality goods and services are peatvohaliliculsat.binlTegh/aecnawdreewlaekahsiesegnrretEvetetcnhrhHseCniEoobynluosgoinyf ecsaosnndcsoumm‘umenrsuupnsrittoaytienwcatiiblobllneEb’ eiisncgocgunoisnducemedpptbtuiyaolnrlyesppbaoltinntesdribntlsoe. These are not part of its brief. They are, by definition, outside its scope of action. The StrongetrHVEersion of Consumer ProtnecattiounrE The UNG took on a new dimension in 1995. This new dimension seeks to correct a practice (of consumer protection) that has not undergone self- reflection and, therefore, not become self-concious. Thus in 1995, making the Figure 3: The consumer in a generic and market sense 6 See UN paper \"Implementation of the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection\", op. cit., pp. 16–17. 223

Consumer Protection and Sustainable Consumption Consumer Protection and Value Systems Now, we are ready to forge a relationship between consumer protection and values. The weaker version of consumer protection – which does not involve a discussion on ‘human beings’ – seems to emphasise and promote the third value system, i.e. the anthropo-centric system. The stronger version of ‘consumer’ protection can be sustained by either the sentient-centric system or the eco- centric system. Among the two systems, the eco-centric view completely removes representing Nature in terms of its ‘use value’ to us. It has its own value. These value systems have implications for both production and consumption. They offer us a way of considering what has come to be termed ‘sustainable consumption’, which is based on the latter two value systems. Of the two modes of sustainable consumption, the sentient-centric view is the weaker version and the eco-centric view is the stronger version. It would be an important consideration in consumer protection strategies to consider the stronger version of consumer protection and the stronger version of sustainable consumption. 7 Luke Martell, Ecology and Society: An Introduction (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994), p. 162. 224

Consumer Protection and Sustainable Consumption Understanding consumption as an important human activity takes us closer to environmental concerns. For consumption is impossible without production. And production is the inter-face between human beings and Nature. To consume, we need to actively relate to Nature. It is not a phenomenon that is merely related to the market environment. The relationship between human beings and Nature is, of course, mediated by human labour. All relationships are maintained by a system of values. Values though general are fundamental standards of a given society, which have a wide influence on social conduct. There are three systems of values that influence our social conduct to our relationship with Nature. Three Value Systems The relationship between Human Being and Nature can be viewed from three value systems: non-sentient things); and humans).7 These three systems of values are related to three kinds of environmentalists: 225

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that guides analysis: Case of the social Cost of Economic Crises Written in November 1998. Unpublished. Context: This was written for a book which was published by Consumer International (Penang, Malaysia) in November 1998 on the social costs of the 1997 Asian economic crisis. Unfortunately, a problem with the Internet around the submission date did not allow this piece to reach the publisher in time to be included in the book. Introduction The purpose of all economic activity, i.e. what it ought to achieve, is the satisfaction of some very important needs of all people, like food, shelter and self-actualisation. While this is its brief, the practice of economics has taken us in that direction only differentially: some people are in a better position to satisfy their needs than others. Such a situation exists because of a number of serious distortions in the form of economic activity that takes place. The kind of economic activity we are used to is that in which the satisfaction of some is achieved at the expense of others. Affluence and misery co-exist. Thus, unemployment and poverty are as real as affluence and luxury. The difference between affluence and poverty is the certainty of having food on one’s table and not having that certainty. Economic development that does not offer certainty for all people to have the satisfaction of their very basic needs is one that has lost its purpose. The dominant form of economic development produces and feeds on social inequality – some are poor and some are rich, some are powerful and some are 227

Taking Positions which the process of profit generation is adversely affected and begins to fall? It is important to subject this point to analysis. Take, for instance, a scenario where there is basically no difference in the nature of the social cost, whether we are dealing with economic development strategy or with economic crisis. In such a situation, the corrective action strategy needs to address the dominant form of economic development approach just as much as the economic crisis situation (see Figures 1 and 2). There is a need to have a clearer understanding of the relationship between economic development, economic crisis and the social costs of both. Specifically, such an understanding obliges us to make clear the shape of the social costs specific to the crisis, in addition to the general negative impact of a specific type of economic development approach on a people and a nation. Such a focus, coupled with the need to consider action strategies to deal with the issue of social cost, demands a clear understanding of the causes of economic crises. Any narrative, presented to deal with the causes of economic crises, implicitly supports a guiding theoretical framework. Facts cannot simply be put together in an understandable sequence without the help of a theoretical framework.1 This brings us close to the focus of this paper: to explore the various theoretical stratEgy sOCial COst Crisis Figure 1: The relationship between economic development strategy, economic crisis and social cost (a comprehensive perspective) 228

Taking Positions sOCial COst Crisis Figure 2: The relationship between economic crisis and social cost (a truncated perspective) powerless, some are properly employed while others are underemployed or unemployed. This really means that the present strategy of economic development has an inherent negative impact on the social fabric. There is, therefore, a ‘social cost’ already inbuilt into this dominant model of economic development. Which is why, even in non-crisis circumstances, there is a standing need for social safety nets. Social costs can be understood as the negative impacts of an economic crisis or economic development on a group of people in such a way that the people’s needs – physiological, safety (security), social and self-actualisation – are not met or are poorly met. And, if these needs are met, they are done so differentially, with some people’s needs better met than others. We need to understand what is so different and/or distinctive about the negative impact of the present economic crisis, i.e. the social cost of the economic crisis on a people and a nation. Or, rather, can this economic crisis be understood as a phase within the dominant economic development strategy in 1 Different social interrogative positions will influence our understanding of the crisis and its social impact. How we look at our economic development and the crisis is bound to influence how we look at ‘social cost’ and how we arrive at such a cost. Even if the social cost is similar, the reasons for it to emerge may be different. In addition, why we are interested in looking at social cost will also influence our analysis and understanding. This concern essentially links our grassroot politics/political action to economic and social analysis. Answers to ‘how’ and ‘why’ have potentials for informing or transforming practice, i.e. efforts to deal with the crisis and its cost practically. 229

Taking Positions initially most visible within a national economy. Given that we have a globalised economy, a prolonged crisis in any one place will move through ‘contagion’ to other areas. We are, therefore, now faced with not only national or regional but also a global economic crisis. To sum up, economic crises are the result of both internal and external factors (keeping in mind the reference to national boundaries and the dominant economic development strategy). Looking at this analytically, one can arrive at the following positions: a) Position 1: Crisis induced by exogenous factors only (e.g. unregulated international financial markets, speculators, IMF policies, etc.): b) Position 2: Crisis induced by endogenous factors only (e.g. weak domestic banking system, poor governance, local currency/property speculators, etc.): Causal factors of Economic Crisis Economic Crisis factors factors Figure 3: Causal factors of an economic crisis 2 In attempting to understand the social cost of economic crises, there is really no point in trying only to paint a detailed picture of the descriptive features of social cost. It is more important to point our fingers at causes so that we may not only know the nature and intensity of the social costs of economic crises but also the causal factors behind such a state of affairs so that action could be taken. Understanding causal factors is directly related to understanding the positions we take or could take. This will eventually help to develop strategies for practical action, not only to deal with the crisis as such, but its social cost. 230