Not a model
THESE meetings featured a shoot-out between Dr Mahathir and George Soros: insults for two and coffee for one. Dr Mahathir says that his tiger economy has been wounded by selfish Western specula- tors, led by Mr Soros, who have brought the ringgit, Malaysia's currency, down. Mr Soros says that Dr Mahathir is a menace who has now shot himself in the ringgit. A Hong Kong banker adds that the Mahathir family has a ringgit or two of its own — the son controls a shipping line — and could easily take on Mr Soros at his own game. My own instinct is that these Asian tigers are resilient animals, but that they can get weighed down by the governments they have had to carry on their backs. These, of course, are governments on the much- touted Asian model, which assumes that many freedoms — free markets for a start — are expensive Western indulgences. This model has its costs, too, and we are now seeing them. Hong Kong so far has been spared them, but Hong Kong is a free econ- omy — none freer — and a free society. So far.
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