AmerAsia's future is now.

• Author: Howell, Llewellyn D.
• Position: Column

During a recent tour of the U.S. promoting business opportunities in the country to which he is assigned, Ambassador John Wolf began his talks by asking the audience to "imagine a country that . . ." and then rattled off a series of statistics and facts that were to be attributed to the imaginary nation. These include "a country that is the world's leading exporter of electronic components, the world's leading producer of home air conditioners, the world's leading exporter of VCRS, the world's leading producer of tin, the world's leading producer of natural rubber, the world's leading producer of palm oil and largest exporter of palm oil products, an oil and natural gas exporter ...... etc.

What other relevant facts could be attributed to this imaginary country? How about one that reduced its poverty level over the last 20 years to the point where absolute poverty no longer exists; life expectancy is 71, compared to 76 in the U.S.; infant mortality is 25 per 1,000 vs. nine in the U.S. and 30 in Mexico; and the annual Gross National Product growth rate during the last 10 years has been eight percent, while the U.S. struggles to reach three.

Is this a truly imaginary country? Of course not. The only question is which nation it is. Ambassador Wolfs country of assignment is one that receives little recognition for the things that have gone right over the last 10 years, but gets wider recognition for what it does that many people dislike. Among these are executing people caught with distributable amounts of drugs, regardless of their nationality (including Americans, Australians, Europeans, and Asians) and/or with illegal firearms or ammunition, or imprisoning without trial those charged with acts endangering the social peace of a multi-ethnic society.

The country is not South Korea, Chile, or Singapore - other nations on the rising economic edge of international development. It is Malaysia, an Islamic country built on a mix of Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, lbans, and others; created out of former British colonies and protectorates in the heart of Southeast Asia, the most dynamic economic region in the world today.

The irony of Ambassador's Wolf's imaginary country gambit is that, even once it is named and the attributes declared to be real, American businesses still don't respond to the great potential of Malaysia or other Asian countries like it. From the many hundreds of U.S. corporations invited to participate in the 1993 Pacific Rim...