MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 OPINION A19

government and distorted mar- kets. This reinforces the message that there is a good deal of overlap Cities make between city competitiveness and national competitiveness. My role models are Hong Kong and Singapore. Both regularly top the rankings of the Global Compet- itiveness Report, the World the wealth Bank’s Doing Business Index and the Simon Fraser Institute’s Eco- nomic Freedom of the World In- dex. Government is relatively small, of nations clean and efficient, and markets are relatively competitive and highly globalised. Nowadays, Hong Kong and Singapore are the logistics and services hubs for By RAZEEN SALLY part are intertwined and mutually Asian trade. Modern global supply FOR THE STRAITS TIMES reinforcing. chains plug them into other cities The map of the global economy in Asia and beyond. Singapore (above) and Hong Kong have set the standard for Asian cities to follow, says the writer. They are the logistics DAM Smith called it most of us have in mind is one of These two cities may be excep- and services hubs for Asian trade, and global supply chains plug them into other cities around the world. ST FILE PHOTO the wealth of nations. nation states connected to each tions, but they have set the stand- Two centuries later, other via trade and the movement ard for other Asian cities to fol- A we talk about “nation- of capital, people and technology. ulation) lived in the world’s 600 practice better than nations do. 100 will come from alone. low. al competitiveness”. That is still highly relevant. But most populous cities and account- This is even true of cities and What are the ingredients that To me, free markets and free The World Economic Forum’s an- throughout history, the most in- ed for a GDP of US$30 trillion state governments in the United make cities more productive? trade produce a virtuous trinity: nual Global Competitiveness Re- tensive cross-border economic (S$37.6 trillion) – well over half States at a time when politics in Some vital municipal policies are í They promote growth and pros- port, for example, identifies the transactions have been between the global GDP. The top 100 cit- Washington, DC, remains grid- parochial: urban planning and zon- perity – the economic imperative. policies and institutions that cities – mostly cities located on ies, with a GDP of US$21 trillion, locked. In the EU, national govern- ing, housing, water, sanitation, po- í They expand individual free- boost national productivity, coastlines. accounted for 38 per cent of glo- ments and EU institutions are licing and so on. But the most suc- dom – the moral imperative. which determines competitive- It is therefore useful to think of bal GDP. stuck in sclerotic political cartels cessful cities, like the most suc- í Cities, more than anything else, ness and economic growth. a different map of the global econ- In 2025, McKinsey reckons that with failed policies. Can Europe’s cessful nations, also have stable sustain peaceful international rela- Perhaps we should also focus omy: one of cities connected the top 600 cities will have 25 per cities break out of this straitjacket public finances; low, simple and tions – the geopolitical impera- on cities. More than ever, cities – across land borders, seas and cent of the world’s population and and unleash long-delayed re- competitive taxation; and trans- tive. especially existing and aspiring oceans through the exchange of nearly 60 per cent of global GDP. forms? parent business regulations. They I think of cities in this context. “global cities” – are the lifeblood goods and services, foreign invest- What does this mean for the Perhaps. But this century’s sto- are also characterised by strong They might indeed be the best of the global economy. The com- ment, workers and border-hop- “competitiveness of cities” and ry of cities and the wealth of na- and impartial rule of law, open- available political-economic units petitiveness of cities – what ping technologies. the “wealth of nations”? tions will more likely be scripted ness to trade and foreign invest- to promote prosperity, freedom makes them more productive and Unprecedented levels of urbani- Most productive policy innova- in the emerging world – outside ment, and a welcoming environ- and peace – better perhaps than successful – increasingly deter- sation make this city-based map tion is happening in cities and the West. Asian cities, stretching ment for foreign talent. Other fac- nation states, and certainly better mines the wealth of nations, re- especially relevant. Three years sub-national regions. It is not hap- from India to China and tors include good “hard connectiv- than most mechanisms of global gions and the whole world. ago, for the first time in history, pening at the level of national gov- North-east Asia via South-east ity” – roads, transit systems, governance. But the competitiveness of a over half the world’s population ernments or in international fo- Asia, will be the main players. ports and airports; and good “soft [email protected] city does not stand in isolation. lived in cities. Urban areas also ac- rums like the , the McKinsey’s list of the top 600 cit- connectivity” – education, skills The writer is visiting associate professor Cities are still linked to their im- count for over 80 per cent of glo- European Union and the G-20. ies contains 220 from developing and technology diffusion. at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public mediate hinterlands and embed- bal gross domestic product (GDP). Policymaking is more flexible and countries. But it estimates that, Like nations, cities with limit- Policy, National University of Singapore, ded in their nations. In other According to McKinsey Global In- practical the closer it is to the citi- by 2025, 136 new cities will join ed – but effective – government and chair of the Global Agenda Council words, the competitiveness of a stitute, as of 2007, 1.5 billion peo- zen. Cities often emulate each oth- this list – all from developing and competitive markets do bet- on Competitiveness of the World city and the nation of which it is a ple (22 per cent of the world’s pop- er and adopt best international countries. Of the new entrants, ter than cities with big, inefficient Economic Forum. Are human beings hard-wired for war?

By DAVID P. BARASH self – because they represented such a beguilingly close fit to our AR is in the air. predictions about the likely posi- Sad to say, tive correlation between early hu- there’s nothing man violence and evolutionary fit- new about this. ness. W Nor is there any- In retrospect, even though I thing new about the claim that have no reason to doubt Yanoma- war has always been with us, and mo ferocity, at least under certain always will be. circumstances, I seriously ques- What is new, it seems, is the tion the penchant of observers degree to which this claim is (scientific and lay alike) to general- wrapped in the apparent acquies- ise from small samples of our un- cence of science, especially the questionably diverse species, espe- findings of evolutionary biology cially about something as complex with respect to a war-prone “hu- as war. man nature”. I have little doubt that the per- This year, an article in The Na- spective of many evolutionary tional Interest titled What Our Pri- biologists and some biological an- mate Relatives Say About War thropologists has been distorted answered the question “Why by the seductive drama of “primi- war?” with “Because we are hu- tive human war”. Conflict avoid- man”. In recent years, a piece in ance and reconciliation – al- New Scientist asserted that war- though no less “natural” or impor- fare has “played an integral part tant – are considerably less atten- in our evolution” and an article in tion-grabbing. the journal Science claimed that Yet peacemaking is, if any- “death in warfare is so common in thing, more pronounced and wide- hunter-gatherer societies that it ly distributed, especially among Kopassus members (from left) Kodik, Sugeng Sumaryanto and Ucok Tigor Simbolon were sentenced to six, eight and 11 years in prison respectively, following the was an important evolutionary groups of nomadic foragers who killing of four detainees in a March 9 raid on a prison by Kopassus troops. PHOTO: CIARA SEMBADRA FOR THE STRAITS TIMES pressure on early Homo sapiens”. are probably closest in ecological The emerging popular consen- circumstance to our hominin an- sus about our biological predispo- cestors. The Hadza people of Tan- sition to warfare is troubling. It is zania have interpersonal conflicts, Discipline of Kopassus in question not just scientifically weak; it is get angry and sometimes fight, also morally unfortunate, as it fos- but they assuredly don’t make ters an unjustifiably limited vision war and apparently never have. vice after serving their sentences. taken against the superiors of the military chain of command in of human potential. The Moriori people, original inhab- The punishment handed down vengeful for failing to 1999. Although there is considerable itants of the Chatham Islands off on Sept 5 by the Yogyakarta mili- stop them leaving the training Only weeks before the prison reason to think that at least some the coast of New Zealand, em- tary court was lighter than the ground of Kopassus Group 2, one raid, truckloads of out-of-con- of our hominin ancestors engaged ployed several methods (including minimum term of 20 years’ im- of two Red Beret regiments spe- trol troops burned down a police in warlike activities, there is also social ridicule) that prevented indi- prisonment demanded by prose- cialising in counter-insurgency station in South Sumatra in an comparable evidence that others vidual disputes from escalating cutors, leading to renewed de- and . act of revenge for the shooting did not. While it is plausible that into group-versus-group killings. By JOHN MCBETH mands from groups The promising career of death of a in a street alter- Homo sapiens owed much of its The Batek of peninsular Malaysia SENIOR WRITER that soldiers accused of crimes be Group 2 commander Maruli Si- cation with a traffic policeman. rapid brain evolution to natural consider overt violence and even tried in civil courts. manjuntak, a Boston University New TNI commander Moel- selection’s favouring individuals aggressive coercion to be utterly HE relatively heavy But even civil courts have master’s graduate in finance, was doko indicated in one recent inter- that were smart enough to defeat unacceptable, viewing themselves punishment given to been notoriously inconsistent on saved by the fact that he had view that inter-service rivalry their human rivals in violent com- and their larger social unit as in- three of the 12 special sentencing dictates. Look no fur- been on the job only a few hours. was why soldiers will continue to petition, it is also plausible that herently and necessarily peaceful. forces (Kopassus) ther than the amnesty-shortened The son-in-law of former be tried by military courts, say- we became highly intelligent be- The problem with envisioning T troops accused of exe- 15-year sentence given to Tom- trade minister and ing they were “psychologically cause selection favoured those of Homo sapiens as inherently and ir- cuting four murder suspects, in my , the former presi- veteran Luhut Panjaitan, he took unprepared to be investigated by our ancestors who were especially revocably warlike isn’t simply an audacious March 9 raid on a dent’s youngest son, for ordering full responsibility at a meeting the police”. adroit at communicating and coop- that it is wrong, but also that it Yogyakarta prison, may have the 2002 slaying of a Supreme called by army chief-of-staff Pra- The army still has bitter memo- erating. threatens to constrain our sense gone some way towards erasing Court justice. mono Edhie Wibowo, a career Ko- ries of being blamed by the police Conflict avoidance, reconcilia- of whether peacemaking is possi- the much-criticised culture of im- Both the Central army passus officer himself, to inquire for the ambush-killing of three tion and cooperative problem solv- ble and, accordingly, worth try- punity the Indonesian military commander and the Yogyakarta into the incident. schoolteachers in in 2002, ing could also have been altogeth- ing. has enjoyed for decades. police chief were sacked over the After Gen Wibowo heard how before a Federal Bureau of Investi- er “biological” and positively se- I am counselling neither great- But as open as it was, the prison raid, with media reports long he had been there, he told gation probe proved it was the lected for. er nor lesser involvement in specif- court martial still raises troubling since then referring to alleged him not to worry. work of Papuan separatists. Chimpanzees, we now know, ic wars. But I urge that any such questions about discipline in the wiretapped conversations among He also reportedly exonerated General also engage in something distressingly decisions not be based on a fatalis- Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI), senior officers discussing retalia- Lieutenant- Siman- acknowledged it was time to akin to human warfare, but bono- tic, empirically invalid assump- whether Kopassus officers were tion for the soldier’s murder. juntak’s predecessor, Colonel Su- change a process of dehumanisa- bos, whose evolutionary lineage tion about humanity’s warlike na- complicit in the crime, and why The executed men were all lo- hadi, now the Kopassus inspec- tion in the ranks, with underpaid makes them no more distant from ture. the defendants received such cal gangsters with rap sheets that tor, who offered to share in the soldiers being mistreated by their us than chimps, are justly re- There is a story, believed to be overwhelming public support. included murder, rape and blame as well. superiors during training and nowned for making love instead. of Cherokee origin, in which a girl The three main perpetrators – drug-dealing. Their records and The 5,500-strong Kopassus is forced to live in sub-standard For many anthropologists, “man is troubled by a recurring dream two second-sergeants and a cor- the horrific nature of the murder, the TNI’s most rigidly disciplined conditions. the hunter” remains a potent in which two wolves fight vicious- poral – were given jail terms rang- in which the victim was smashed outfit. It is almost unthinkable Equally disturbing is the way trope, yet at the same time, other ly. Seeking an explanation, she ing from six to 11 years for killing over the head with a bottle, that the soldiers could have taken the trial exposed widespread pub- anthropologists embrace “woman goes to her grandfather who ex- the four detainees, who had been kicked repeatedly and stabbed 17 two vehicles and driven to Cebon- lic dissatisfaction in Yogyakarta the gatherer”, not to mention the plains that there are two forces arrested over the stabbing death times, perhaps explains the gan Prison without the know- over slack law enforcement and cooperator, peacemaker and child within each of us, struggling for of an off-duty Kopassus soldier court’s leniency. ledge of any of the other 30 or so the alleged involvement of police rearer. supremacy, one embodying peace in a Yogyakarta night club three The four assailants were quick- officers. in criminal activities, including When, in the 1960s and 1970s, and the other, war. At this, the days earlier. ly rounded up. A fifth man, who The trial also did little to dis- drug dealing and prostitution. the anthropologist Napoleon Chag- girl is even more distressed, and Nine other soldiers received was not charged, but was identi- pel much deeper issues, many of Given its history, running pro- non began reporting his findings asks her grandfather who wins. jail terms of up to 21 months. But fied in closed-circuit TV footage, them stemming from the tection rackets isn’t new for the concerning the Yanomamo people His answer: “The one you feed.” unlike those involved in the actu- was fatally shot outside his house long-simmering turf wars be- military either. But in any popu- of the Amazon, whom he claimed NEW YORK TIMES al shooting inside one of the pris- five months later while the trial tween the army and the police larity contest with the police, the lived in a state of persistent war- The writer is an evolutionary biologist on’s crowded cells, all were con- was ongoing. which have intensified since the military still wins hands down. fare, his data was eagerly em- and professor of psychology at the troversially allowed to stay in ser- No action seems to have been police were separated from the [email protected] braced by many – including my- University of Washington.