The Malays have a saying which inter alia means that when you lose your way, go back to the beginning and start again. I believe that everyone has lost their way in handling the current financial crisis. The west in particular needs to rethink some essentials.

The world is still Eurocentric: how Europe handles the financial crisis is of universal importance. But I have serious doubts about Europeans’ “infallibility”. I particularly dislike their double standards. Centuries of hegemony have convinced them they know best what is good for the world: their values are to be accepted as universal; Asian values are deemed irrelevant.

This explains the simplistic solutions offered to east Asian states when currency traders impoverished them. Malaysia was told to raise interest rates, have a surplus budget, allow distressed banks and businesses to go bankrupt, etc. This was the formula for all. Yet when America and Europe faced their financial crisis, they did everything they told Malaysia and east Asia not to do. While this worked for Asia, it will not work for the west.