Saudization. 13 Indians. 11 dead industrial dreams

A RECENT column,“Saudization? It might be a blessing,” got flogged a lot, the negative reactions coming from here and elsewhere. The main point of the over-the-top criticism was this: that I was a clueless jerk who had no understanding of the level of pain and dislocation the Saudization program would inflict on domestic helpers and other low-skilled Pinoy workers in the KSA.

Some said they don’t know what the point of the column was. So I will lay it out once again, in the simplest English possible.

It is now a period of bending over for the threatened members of the Saudi royal family. If Saudi nationals want something other than a change of regime, the royals will give in to that demand. So, if the Saudi nationals now want the low-skilled jobs now being held by Pinoys/Pinays etc, the royals will see to it that they get their wish. The context? The Arab Spring.

When the Saudi citizens negotiate with the rulers now, it is with power and leverage, unlike before.

Our leaders led by President Aquino are powerless and helpless should Saudization happen. Issuing the two boiler-plate reactions to Saudization – which are to promise local jobs to the dislocated or to issue an appeal to the Saudi leaders with the aim of sparing the Pinoys from massive dislocation – is useless. Saying the two things is a complete waste of presidential time.

What would be the good that can possibly come out of these grim realities?

It will force the Philippine government to train and retrain our manpower exports. This will lead to this: instead of exporting maids and other low-skilled workers, we should export oil industry workers, Porsche mechanics, and possibly Wall Street-based masters of the universe.

There was this call to PNoy to secretly fund the MBA studies of the whiz kids with stratospheric GMAT scores and with letters of acceptance from the Top Ten US business schools.

These two programs, training and education, are easy to provide, easy to fund and easy to execute. They will get support from political leaders of all stripe and causes.

We should be guided on what India did, I have written many times. And train our talented young to conquer the universe. I also added the genesis of India enviable position as an exporter of global talent, whether in the world of technology or in global business.

A leader more known for his anti-colonial struggle than his modernizing ways, Jawaharlal Nehru, initiated the establishment of schools that trained the Indian young on engineering, technology, science and business management. It was this network of highly-acclaimed schools that made India a top exporter of global talent.

How impressive has the pay-off been from that decision of Nehru to build a network of elite schools amid all tumult and chaos of the new republic? And lay down the environment that pushed many of India’s talented young to leave the country and seek education at the best schools possible ?

An article of Time Magazine (August 1, 2011 issue) but already online answers the question. The headline of the article is “India’s leading export: CEOs.”

The article cited the usual names. Vikram Pandit is head of Citigroup. Indra Nooyi is head of PepsiCo. Both got their undergraduate degrees in india, then moved on to the US to get their MBAs. But there are others like the Banga brothers, who trained at India’s management schools.

Ajay Banga is now CEO of MasterCard. His brother Vindi is a partner at the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier and Rice.

A study of the C-Suites of Fortune 500 companies, according to Time, found out 13 Indians in those high positions, with only two coming from Mainland China and four from Canada. There are more Indian CEOs than any other nationality except American, according to the article.

The Indian occupation of the C-Suites is expected to expand in numbers. It was reported that Ajit Jain of Berkshire Hathaway is on the short list of possible successors to Warren Buffet. If that takes place, it would be a crowning glory for India. Don’t even mention Americans of Indian descent. They are too many to be mentioned. The low-key ex Goldman Sachs guy who managed the TARP, we all know, is of Indian ethnicity.

What I said in that column was we are a smart and talented people. We can use the crisis of Saudization and convert it into an opportunity. We can take the cue from India and its awesome gig of exporting masters of the universe.

One of the commenters said that industrialization is a better option than exporting manpower. True. Who can argue against that? But looking at the realities on the ground, on where we stand in comparison to the global manufacturing powers, can we really, really go for the option of industrialization?

The truth is we are more than 100 years behind the major manufacturing powers. We can’t play catch-up in a century.

Our industrial foundry is dead. The five basic manufacturing sectors, from textile to rubber, have long been archived.

What was supposed to be the anchor of our industrialization, the integrated steel mills in Iligan City that the Jacintos put up, failed to take off. The Jacintos were forced to leave the country during martial rule. We had an early start and we built an integrated steel mill ahead of the current industrial powers of the region. But sadly, nothing came out of this pioneering initiative.

During the time of Marcos, there was a grand plan crafted to make 11 basic industries as anchor of a plan to become an industrial power.

Nothing came out of these grand plans. What materialized during the time of Marcos were assembly lines, not honest-to-goodness production/manufacturing plants. Plus the export processing zones, which assembled garments, sneakers and made golf balls.

And who was the man put in charge of the ambitious dream to make the Philippines an industrialized country?

He was Roberto Ongpin, the trade and industry minister of Mr. Marcos.

What is Mr. Ongpin doing today?

He is an extremely wealthy man who buys and sells companies, everything is done on paper. He is out to make money, plain and simple. There is nothing about building an industrial foundry so the country can take the small step toward reviving its dead industrial sector. –MARLEN V. RONQUILLO, Manila Times

mvrong@yahoo.com