Observations

How China’s propaganda machine tried to control the message in the Hong Kong protests

China is known for the strict control it exercises on information, especially online. Discussion of events that might reflect unfavourably on the government is often censored, or framed in such a way that it becomes pro-government propaganda. That’s why so many Chinese citizens remain unaware of, for example, the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Online discussion of the recent protests in Hong Kong against a now-suspended extradition bill was no different. But this was also a rare occasion when China’s news propaganda machine was mobilised to simultaneously target several audiences both inside and outside China. China’s propaganda network is made up of a constellation of domesticand international news outlets. They span social media, mobile apps, websites and traditional media. The news is tailored to particular audiences according to different agendas. Everything, however, comes under the direction of the Central Publicity (formerly translated as “Propaganda”) Department of the Chinese Communist Party. This is an amazing time lapse of the hundreds of thousands of protesters in Hong Kong. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen the China extradition bill elevated from a local Hong Kong controversy to a story of international concern following the protesters’ lobbying campaign targeted at the G20 summit. As events escalated from peaceful rallies focused on a single issue to at times violent confrontations seeking a range of demands, including the resignation of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the agendas of several spheres of China’s propaganda converged. The first day protesters took to the streets was March 31. That was two days after the extradition bill was published in the Gazette, the official publication of the Hong Kong government. The same day, two Chinese-language newspapers that have long acted as de-facto official media of the Chinese government in Hong Kong (but not openly declared as such) swung into action. Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao both used either the entire or the majority of the second […]

Three Lessons from the Hong Kong Protests

Protests this month in Hong Kong over a proposed extradition law have revealed the depth of citizens’ concern for their way of life, and of their anger at Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s gross mismanagement. Lam now seems unlikely to serve out her full term in office – but China also has lessons to learn from recent events. LONDON – The massive protests in Hong Kong in recent weeks have demonstrated the depth of its citizens’ determination to uphold their democratic way of life – something they were supposedly guaranteed when the United Kingdom returned sovereignty over the city to China in 1997. Moreover, the protests hold three powerful lessons: for Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, for the demonstrators themselves, and for China’s rulers. The Roots of Our DiscontentTITO BOERI interviews RAGHURAM G. RAJAN about the plight of left-behind communities, migration, and the war on expertise.9Add to Bookmarks Over the past few years, the Chinese authorities have steadily increased their interference in Hong Kong’s affairs, gradually eroding the “one country, two systems” principle that was meant to ensure a “high degree of autonomy” for the city after 1997. The current crisis stems from China’s desire for a legal framework to return fugitives from the mainland who have allegedly used the city as a safe haven for ill-gotten wealth. In many respects, the extradition law introduced by Lam represented an extension of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign to Hong Kong, and was intended to avoid further incidents like Chinese security officers’ 2017 abduction of tycoon Xiao Jianhua from the city. There is no evidence that China gave Lam detailed instructions on enacting the law. Instead, she seems to have taken it upon herself to introduce it. However, Lam exceeded her remit by making the proposed extradition law applicable not only to fugitive mainland Chinese, but […]

The business case for diversity in the workplace is now overwhelming

We live in a complex, interconnected world where diversity, shaped by globalisation and technological advance, forms the fabric of modern society. Notwithstanding this interconnectedness, there is also growing polarisation – both in the physical and digital worlds – fuelled by identity politics and the resurgence of nationalist ideals. Not surprisingly, our workplaces tend to mirror the sociocultural dynamics at play in our lives outside work. Having built and scaled a multinational enterprise over nearly two decades, I’ve learned that diversity in the workplace is an asset for both businesses and their employees, in its capacity to foster innovation, creativity and empathy in ways that homogeneous environments seldom do. Yet it takes careful nurturing and conscious orchestration to unleash the true potential of this invaluable asset. In this era of globalisation, diversity in the business environment is about more than gender, race and ethnicity. It now includes employees with diverse religious and political beliefs, education, socioeconomic backgrounds, sexual orientation, cultures and even disabilities. Companies are discovering that, by supporting and promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace, they are gaining benefits that go beyond the optics. Business has the transformative power to change and contribute to a more open, diverse and inclusive society. We can only accomplish this by starting from within our organisations. Many of us know intuitively that diversity is good for business. The case for establishing a truly diverse workforce, at all organisational levels, grows more compelling each year. The moral argument is weighty enough, but the financial impact – as proven by multiple studies – makes this a no-brainer. Disruption and innovation The coming together of people of different ethnicities with different experiences in cities and societies is a key driver of innovation. The food that we eat every day is a result of this blending of cultures. […]

Why talking about yourself in the third person could help control your emotions

Andy Henion, Postdoctoral Researcher, Michigan State University. During stressful times, talking to yourself in the third person—silently—could help you control your emotions. This method doesn’t take any more mental effort, say researchers, than talking to yourself in the first person, which is how people normally talk to themselves. The study in Scientific Reports indicates that such third-person self-talk may constitute a relatively effortless form of self-control. Say a man named John is upset about recently being dumped. By simply reflecting on his feelings in the third person (“Why is John upset?”), John is less emotionally reactive than when he addresses himself in the first person (“Why am I upset?”). “Essentially, we think referring to yourself in the third person leads people to think about themselves more similar to how they think about others, and you can see evidence for this in the brain,” says Jason Moser, associate professor of psychology at Michigan State University. “That helps people gain a tiny bit of psychological distance from their experiences, which can often be useful for regulating emotions.” The study involved two experiments that both significantly reinforced this main conclusion. In one experiment, at Moser’s Clinical Psychophysiology Lab, participants viewed neutral and disturbing images and reacted to the images in both the first and third person while an electroencephalograph monitored their brain. When reacting to the disturbing photos (such as a man holding a gun to their heads), participants’ emotional brain activity decreased very quickly (within 1 second) when they referred to themselves in the third person. The researchers also measured participants’ effort-related brain activity and found that using the third person took no more effort than using first person self-talk. This bodes well for using third-person self-talk as an on-the-spot strategy for regulating emotions, Moser says, as many other forms of emotion regulation, such […]

4 lessons from Bhutan on the pursuit of happiness above GDP

In the picture:Novice monks at the Dechen Phrodrang Buddhist monastery walk down a hillside to have breakfast in Bhutan’s capital Thimphu. Waking to the sound of monks chanting prayers and drumming their gongs during countless traditional pujas, a ceremony of honour, worship and devotion; running up the steep Himalayan mountain slopes under colourful prayer flags hung between trees in the lush natural landscape; looking out at the expanse of forests and mountains that surrounded its capital city, Thimphu. These are the memories that remain imprinted in my memory after two years living in Bhutan – the Himalayan Kingdom best known for its concept of “Gross National Happiness” (GNH). But, what is GNH and are the people of Bhutan really the happiest in the world? GNH as a development philosophy in Bhutan dates back as far as 1972, when the fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, announced that Bhutan would pursue “happiness” in its path towards development, rather than measuring progress merely through growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Revered in Bhutan for his many progressive actions as king, this forward-looking leader recognized that GDP did not take into account the ultimate goal of every human being: happiness. What does the pursuit of happiness really mean? John Lennon sums up the concept, and the tensions behind it, beautifully. He wrote: “When I was five years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” Naturally, “happiness” is a challenging goal to understand, let alone measure. Yet, since the 1970s, much has been done to move GNH from being […]

May I have your attention, please?

Mindfulness could benefit individuals and organisations and transform the way we live and work, according to a researcher from Singapore Management University. Whenever you need a break at work, instead of checking your social media account, try this instead: STOP, and by that I mean Stop, Take a breath, Observe and Proceed. Stop whatever you are currently doing. Take a conscious breath, or two, or three. Observe how you are feeling at this very moment: are you feeling tense? Energetic? Tired? Think about your intentions for the next hour or day: what needs to be done? And finally, proceed to connect back with the flow of your day. This is a quick, yet powerful mindfulness practice that helps you to realign your attention and focus on the present, says Jochen Reb, associate professor of organisational behaviour and human resources at the Singapore Management University (SMU) Lee Kong Chian School of Business. His research interests lie in the psychological aspects of behavioural decision-making as well as the study of mindfulness at work. According to Professor Reb, mindfulness is defined by present-centred attention and meta-awareness—to be fully in the here and now, moment to moment, and to be aware of it. Mindfulness teaches you to pay attention to your own habits and actions, some of which may seemingly be subconscious. “You can experience temptations but not necessarily give in to them,” he says. “We often give in automatically, for example, by checking our e-mail on the phone when we wake up at night.” But with mindfulness, practitioners could become more aware of their impulses and then make a decision whether they want to address them or not. “We try to practice becoming more aware of these impulses, recognising that we actually have a choice; it doesn’t have to be automatic,” he explains. […]

How do you build an international university from Scratch?

By Francisco Marmolejo Recently, I wrote a column discussing the challenges and opportunities associated with the creation of new higher-education institutions, in which I made reference to the specific case of Albukhary International University in Malaysia. This second article describes interesting experiences of a similar kind in India. School children in India. Poised to become the most populous country in the world by 2030, India is facing tremendous challenges in addressing the educational needs of its citizens. To put into context the magnitude of the educational challenge that confronts India, there are more than 370 million Indian school-age citizens (ages 6-23) representing a cohort larger than the entire population of the U.S. and three times the total population of Mexico. Considering the fertility rates in India, this number will remain unchanged for the next 40 years. By comparison, the college-age population in China will be reduced an estimated 23 percent over the same period. Currently, for each preschool student in the U.S., there are four in India, and the number of elementary education students in India is almost six times larger than in the U.S. How can India cope with such great demand? The Indian government has estimated that it will be necessary to build 1,000 new universities and 50,000 colleges by 2020 in order to accommodate expected demand. Just think about the need to build an average of 125 new universities and 6,250 new colleges per year. Among the many universities being built in India, I will discuss two interesting cases. Top-Down Approach: The Case of Ambedkar University A common practice in creating new higher-education institutions is to evolve bottom-up, first establishing a few undergraduate programs, and eventually, in a second stage, creating related graduate programs using a cautious incremental approach. It is an obvious formula, which, in some […]

How do you build an international university from Scratch?

(Part 2) Cases in India By Francisco Marmolejo Recently, I wrote a column discussing the challenges and opportunities associated with the creation of new higher-education institutions, in which I made reference to the specific case of Albukhary International University in Malaysia. This second article describes interesting experiences of a similar kind in India. School children in India. Poised to become the most populous country in the world by 2030, India is facing tremendous challenges in addressing the educational needs of its citizens. To put into context the magnitude of the educational challenge that confronts India, there are more than 370 million Indian school-age citizens (ages 6-23) representing a cohort larger than the entire population of the U.S. and three times the total population of Mexico. Considering the fertility rates in India, this number will remain unchanged for the next 40 years. By comparison, the college-age population in China will be reduced an estimated 23 percent over the same period. Currently, for each preschool student in the U.S., there are four in India, and the number of elementary education students in India is almost six times larger than in the U.S. How can India cope with such great demand? The Indian government has estimated that it will be necessary to build 1,000 new universities and 50,000 colleges by 2020 in order to accommodate expected demand. Just think about the need to build an average of 125 new universities and 6,250 new colleges per year. Among the many universities being built in India, I will discuss two interesting cases. Top-Down Approach: The Case of Ambedkar University A common practice in creating new higher-education institutions is to evolve bottom-up, first establishing a few undergraduate programs, and eventually, in a second stage, creating related graduate programs using a cautious incremental approach. It is an […]

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You’re known by the company you keep

In the last couple of days, two significant things happened; News Corp recorded a loss of $1.3bn and Standard Chartered a severe depreciation in its value. With News Corp the losses preceded the announcement Ð it was coming with no small help from the hacking scandal which continues to capture the attention of the media world, especially with criminal convictions to be applied to many people. Standard Chartered is being got at by US regulators who are concerned about the company the bank is keeping – and money laundering. Twenty five percent of the bank’s value – its largest ever loss – has been wiped off the books. The truth is no one really knows whom one is dealing with in business; take for example Lehman Brothers, Fanny Mae and Fanny Mac. If we keep our money in a tin under the bed life is probably less complicated. The earnings in interest may not be as great but peace of mind certainly comes with our own regulation. Marks and Spencer’s Mike Barry recently declared “sustainability demands disruption” and that ‘any business that doesn’t radically re-invent itself will not have a business in 20 years time”. So why can’t News Corp and Standard Chartered re-invent themselves? Because they are so totally immersed in their current operating systems. They are probably seeking new ideas every day to make their business model better; however, the festering energy which was the mission statement when those companies began, lingers. Controls the ethics, infiltrates the veins of employees and gives the company the reputation it deserves. And it doesn’t matter how ethical your business is – how many children in Africa you feed or environmental causes you invest in it all comes back – unfortunately – to money. By Doug Green

Asia Microfinance Forum 2010

The Asia Microfinance Forum 2010 gathered more than 450 experts from over 50 countries in October in Colombo, Sri Lanka. ÊConvened by the Banking With the Poor Network (BWTP) and organised byÊthe Foundation for Development Cooperation (FDC), the three day forum brought together industry experts to brainstorm on the role of microfinance in achievingÊfinancial inclusion in Asia. Over the three days period, experts discussed and debated over major issues facing the industry including financial inclusion, portfolio risk management, social performance, regulatory framework, financial literacy, human resource, client protection and investment landscape among others. A special Sri Lanka session also saw high attendance and attracted much interests. The closing session of the Asia Microfinance Forum is traditionally an opportunity to encapsulate the discussions and emerging issues of the week from the perspective of participants and industry leaders. Giving away his concluding remark, Mr. Craig Wilson, Executive Director FDC (The Foundation for Development Corporation) thanked all the participants saying, ÒOver the last three days many interesting ideas and views have emerged and it was a great learning experience for all of us. There was a high level of engagement during the sessions and I must say I havenÕt seen any of you near the swimming pool during the conference *audience laughter*. I hope that we have done justice to all the issues that we discussed and I am happy that today we have the opportunity to come together and set the agenda for achieving AsiaÕs financial inclusion potentialÓ. Giving audience food for thought Mr. Rolando Victoria, Executive Director of ASKI, said, ÒAs we work on microfinance, some things are beyond our control, and now we are thinking of how we can support members during natural calamities and catastrophe. ÊWe have identified challenges in the governance of MFIs and we have to also […]

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