Freeing the Poor from Paternalistic Protectionism

On 14 September, Balairakyat invited the founder and Director of the Indian Liberty Institute, Mr. Barun Mitra, to present his views on global trade.

Mr. Mitra argued that farmers in developing countries suffer from such harsh living conditions that many of the urban dwellers couldn’t endure. Farmers generally do much better once they abandon farming and move to businesses yielding higher earnings. This, however, is prevented by paternalistic protectionists in comfortable urban areas, who call for farming subsidies and protective import tariffs. This, in the end, maintains the marginalised status of impoverished farmers.

Naturally, his position caused strong reactions by some participants, who were basically told their protective care for the marginalized communities might after all perpetuate the fate of the poor.

Also, since the debate came at times of US-Malaysian trade negotiations, there was a strong aversion against lowering trade tariffs for the fear of selling Malaysian interests to the United States. In Mr. Mitra’s opinion, however, unilateral trade concessions have proven to be the best remedy for the poor. He cited Singapore, Chile and China as positive examples and he showcased India as a nation, whose trade barriers and protectionism have kept millions of people in poverty.

Balairakyat and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation share the concern that Malaysia needs to improve its culture of dialogue and controversy. All too often, there rift between opinions doesn’t allow for rational discourse. Balairakyat and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation hence started a series of open dialogue sessions, which bring together people from all walks of life and with diverse opinions to discuss matters of public interest.

The Liberty Institute in New Delhi/India is a non-profit, independent public policy research and educational organization, dedicated to providing market based responses to contemporary issues that enhance freedom of choice for all. Barun Mitra received the 2005 Julian Simon Award from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (Washington DC), the Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award 2004 (Pacific Research Institute, San Francisco), and the 2004 Freedom Torch Medal from the International Society for Individual Liberty. The Liberty Institute was awarded the inaugural Templeton Prize for Social Entrepreneurship in 2004, and the 2001 Sir Anthony Fisher Memorial International Prize from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.

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