Asia Liberty Forum brought together more than 225 leaders, advocates, and think tank professionals from 22 countries to explore the work being done to break down the barriers to prosperity in the region.
“We’re seeking to tear down the market barriers that impede free markets and free enterprise for the 1 billion people of India,” said Amit Chandra, associate director for policy advisory at the New Delhi–based Centre for Civil Society (CCS). Chandra accepted the prestigious 2017 Asia Liberty Award on behalf of CCS for its “Jeevika: Law, Liberty & Livelihood Campaign.”
Since 2009, CCS has pursued its Jeevika campaign to reduce the barriers that impede free markets and free enterprise, while simultaneously championing the freedom of India’s poorest citizens to pursue livelihoods unburdened by overbearing government regulation. To this end, Jeevika focuses primarily on liberalizing India’s informal economy, improving the lives of groups such as street vendors, rural artisans, and small entrepreneurs. Successful and sustained advocacy saw CCS succeed in securing and implementing the Street Vendors Act of 2014 in Rajasthan — landmark legislation protecting and legitimizing street vendors. The “Repeal 100 Laws Project,” a key element of the Jeevika Campaign, also succeeded in having 19 out of 25 onerous business laws repealed in Maharashtra, an influential state in western India.
Think Tank Shark Tank winner takes on price controls in Malaysia
In addition to the Asia Liberty Award, the Think Tank Shark Tank – Asia competition was held during the forum.
The winner of the 2017 Think Tank Shark Tank – Asia competition was Tricia Yeoh of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Malaysia) for her pitch on a strategy to end price controls on small businesses in Malaysia.
“My pitch was about the story of Selva, a small sundry shop owner in a small town near Kuantan, the state capital of Pahang, Malaysia,” Yeoh said. “His shop was raided in October 2016 because he was selling some laundry detergent at $2.65 instead of the $2.45 that the government said he should be selling it at, so just 20 cents difference. And then the government asked him to fill out some complicated forms, but he’s not highly educated, so he couldn’t fill out those forms. So then the government charged him in court for failure to comply with the information request, and he had to pay $2,000. There are many others like him who are being charged in court and fined a lot of money. So our campaign, #FREEMYBUSINESS, aims to change this and finally break down all the barriers to prosperity."
Yeoh explained her campaign in a recent column for the Malaysian newspaper the Sun Daily.
“Thousands of stories like these mean that the country loses as much as US$12 billion a year on cumbersome business regulations, economic opportunities that we would have otherwise gained,” Yeoh wrote. “The poorest of the poor are affected, and worse, it stifles their spirit of enterprise and efforts to get themselves out of poverty. The signs are already showing. The SME growth rate fell by 20% from 2011 to 2015 (7.3% to 6.1%), and worse, the total early-stage entrepreneurial activity rate — or the start-up rate in short — fell by almost 50% from 2010 to 2016 (4.96% to 2.9%). If this trend continues, this will be of great concern to the Malaysian economy, since at the moment SMEs contribute more than one third to the country's GDP, at about 36.3% as at 2016. They are the true drivers of growth as they create jobs, and perhaps more importantly, they are the very epitome of human potential that strives against all odds to better their lives and that of their families.”
