Mongolia’s Elite - Lies and a Solution
Most politicians in Mongolia are closely related to Mongolia’s business elite. This relationship between economic and political elite is not unique. It is the norm in many countries. Unfortunately, Mongolia’s elite has not matured beyond the post-communist era to concern themselves with building a strong nation for all.
Three Lies
A famous political quote from the late 1800s says, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” In the spirit of lying, American author Mark Twain attributed this quote to British politician Benjamin Disraeli. In fact, Mr. Twain coined the phrase and foisted it on the politician to give it power.
Mongolians will not be surprised that a famous political quote is a lie because Mongolians are familiar with politicians and fat lies. There are three lies about Mongolia’s society which politicians perpetuate that must stop.
Lie 1: Mongolians are lazy, poorly educated, not hardworking people. Ridiculous. The laziest Mongolians are those who perpetuate the myth that Mongolians are lazy. Mongolians I have met are hard working, have a deep sense of pride about their families and nation, and are tough as nomadic people who had the largest land empire the world has ever seen.
Lie 2: Geographically vulnerable. Placed between Russia and China, politicians play on an historic sense of vulnerability and hate of the Chinese. Japan, South Korea, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom & Kuwait among others want to be Mongolia’s strong allies when Mongolia will accept them, and not use them. It is the political elite’s failings that these countries are not strong allies.
A lack of allies leaves room for fear and rumors about China. This cannot continue.Mongolia’s economy will have trouble without Chinese imports from Mongolia. Thus, Mongolia is in trouble if it fears China due toa lack of strong allies beyond its neighbors. Mongolia’s political class uses fear about China to evade responsibility for development failures.
Lie 3: Outdated. Mongolia is seen as behind the times, a country that cannot develop sufficient infrastructure.
Mongolia’s citizens know what they need when people take the time to speak with them. Mongolia’s politicians must show they care to figure out how to raise the incomes of all people from nomadic herders to teachers, in a manner that keeps pace with the mining boom’s inflation; but without government handouts of cash that increase inflation and put the nation further into debt.
Redirecting 100 People
How Mongolia’s elite became elite between 1991 and 2010 must be acknowledged. In that post-communist period:
• Those with political connections from the communist regime that were not too prominent to be remembered got ahead, particularly those formerly with the secret service.
• Those who were willing to smuggle got ahead as the brothers from Max Group admitted in an article in last year’s Forbes magazine.
• Those who knew the right people to bribe or where to get the right paperwork approved got ahead.
• There was a wild and unregulated way of doing business in this era, and that was the rules of that time.
And now, that time must end.
The ACA’s Role
I believe that the Anti-Corruption Agency in the past months has made a mockery of itself. It has been used as a tool of political corruption. Unable to arrest those sitting in the Grand Khural or other national political offices, it has arrested the competition of those in power during the run-up to elections. In my opinion, this is shameful, undemocratic, and a total failure to arrest those most corrupt.
The 2000 Point Challenge
The ACA should cease arrests based on events prior to January 2010. No one who gained wealth or political power during that era is clean. Acknowledge and move forward.
Now, it is time to modify behavior for Mongolia to move forward. No one should be immune from prosecution, not members of parliament, not the President or Prime Minister.
Smuggling by the rich must end. Blocking infrastructure development must end. Impoverishing Mongolia’s citizens must end.
HERO magazine publishes a list of Mongolia’s 100 richest people. Assign them reverse values: #1 worth 100 points, #2 worth 99 points, and so on, with #65 worth 35 points, to #100 worth 1 point.
Although former President and Prime Minister Enkhbayar was arrested on pre-2010 charges, give the ACA 4 points for arresting him as he was #96 on HERO magazine’s top 100 list. He is the only one among the top 100 list arrested.
While I believe Mongolia’s wealthiest person is not corrupt, many of Mongolia’s 100 richest are known by citizens to be corrupt yet immune from the ACA due to government membership.
The ACA is hereby challenged to clean the country up, arrest and imprison 2,000 points of Mongolia’s richest people (from 5,050 points available) based solely on actions since January 2010. This is not a game, but a way for citizens to track if the ACA is doing its job or merely arresting people for show and political motivation. If the ACA is unable to arrest the most corrupt, it is merely a tool to keep down the competition.
Capitalism will be good to Mongolia, however the crony capitalism practiced now punishes Mongolia’s citizens. The honorable among Mongolia’s 100 richest are great patriarchs and matriarchs to their nation to be admired and respected. They must also admire and respect all the citizens of their great nation, and lift it up.
Jon Springer is a graduate of the London School of Economics. He has visited Mongolia twice and strives to be the most knowledgeable person in the world about investing in Mongolia not living in Mongolia (in lieu of convincing his wife to move to Mongolia). He blogs regularly on SeekingAlpha.com.
Three Lies
A famous political quote from the late 1800s says, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” In the spirit of lying, American author Mark Twain attributed this quote to British politician Benjamin Disraeli. In fact, Mr. Twain coined the phrase and foisted it on the politician to give it power.
Mongolians will not be surprised that a famous political quote is a lie because Mongolians are familiar with politicians and fat lies. There are three lies about Mongolia’s society which politicians perpetuate that must stop.
Lie 1: Mongolians are lazy, poorly educated, not hardworking people. Ridiculous. The laziest Mongolians are those who perpetuate the myth that Mongolians are lazy. Mongolians I have met are hard working, have a deep sense of pride about their families and nation, and are tough as nomadic people who had the largest land empire the world has ever seen.
Lie 2: Geographically vulnerable. Placed between Russia and China, politicians play on an historic sense of vulnerability and hate of the Chinese. Japan, South Korea, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom & Kuwait among others want to be Mongolia’s strong allies when Mongolia will accept them, and not use them. It is the political elite’s failings that these countries are not strong allies.
A lack of allies leaves room for fear and rumors about China. This cannot continue.Mongolia’s economy will have trouble without Chinese imports from Mongolia. Thus, Mongolia is in trouble if it fears China due toa lack of strong allies beyond its neighbors. Mongolia’s political class uses fear about China to evade responsibility for development failures.
Lie 3: Outdated. Mongolia is seen as behind the times, a country that cannot develop sufficient infrastructure.
False. Mongolia had better infrastructure under communism than today. The demographics of where people live changed dramatically partially due to a lack of political will to adapt infrastructure to post-communist needs. If politicians concerned themselves more with citizens’ needs, and less with contracts they (or their business relations) willget or lose from the government, Mongolia would develop with help from those allies waiting to build relationships.
Mongolia’s citizens know what they need when people take the time to speak with them. Mongolia’s politicians must show they care to figure out how to raise the incomes of all people from nomadic herders to teachers, in a manner that keeps pace with the mining boom’s inflation; but without government handouts of cash that increase inflation and put the nation further into debt.
Redirecting 100 People
How Mongolia’s elite became elite between 1991 and 2010 must be acknowledged. In that post-communist period:
• Those with political connections from the communist regime that were not too prominent to be remembered got ahead, particularly those formerly with the secret service.
• Those who were willing to smuggle got ahead as the brothers from Max Group admitted in an article in last year’s Forbes magazine.
• Those who knew the right people to bribe or where to get the right paperwork approved got ahead.
• There was a wild and unregulated way of doing business in this era, and that was the rules of that time.
And now, that time must end.
The ACA’s Role
I believe that the Anti-Corruption Agency in the past months has made a mockery of itself. It has been used as a tool of political corruption. Unable to arrest those sitting in the Grand Khural or other national political offices, it has arrested the competition of those in power during the run-up to elections. In my opinion, this is shameful, undemocratic, and a total failure to arrest those most corrupt.
The 2000 Point Challenge
The ACA should cease arrests based on events prior to January 2010. No one who gained wealth or political power during that era is clean. Acknowledge and move forward.
Now, it is time to modify behavior for Mongolia to move forward. No one should be immune from prosecution, not members of parliament, not the President or Prime Minister.
Smuggling by the rich must end. Blocking infrastructure development must end. Impoverishing Mongolia’s citizens must end.
HERO magazine publishes a list of Mongolia’s 100 richest people. Assign them reverse values: #1 worth 100 points, #2 worth 99 points, and so on, with #65 worth 35 points, to #100 worth 1 point.
Although former President and Prime Minister Enkhbayar was arrested on pre-2010 charges, give the ACA 4 points for arresting him as he was #96 on HERO magazine’s top 100 list. He is the only one among the top 100 list arrested.
While I believe Mongolia’s wealthiest person is not corrupt, many of Mongolia’s 100 richest are known by citizens to be corrupt yet immune from the ACA due to government membership.
The ACA is hereby challenged to clean the country up, arrest and imprison 2,000 points of Mongolia’s richest people (from 5,050 points available) based solely on actions since January 2010. This is not a game, but a way for citizens to track if the ACA is doing its job or merely arresting people for show and political motivation. If the ACA is unable to arrest the most corrupt, it is merely a tool to keep down the competition.
Capitalism will be good to Mongolia, however the crony capitalism practiced now punishes Mongolia’s citizens. The honorable among Mongolia’s 100 richest are great patriarchs and matriarchs to their nation to be admired and respected. They must also admire and respect all the citizens of their great nation, and lift it up.
Jon Springer is a graduate of the London School of Economics. He has visited Mongolia twice and strives to be the most knowledgeable person in the world about investing in Mongolia not living in Mongolia (in lieu of convincing his wife to move to Mongolia). He blogs regularly on SeekingAlpha.com.
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