Development, Urbanization, Migration, and Quality of Life - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 100

depend on patronage, paybacks, and similar benefits also
oppose privatization. In light of increasing urbanization,
the provision of shelter and services will continue to
challenge both private and public institutions.

joint venture—Lufthansa T Technik Philippines—
the world' s largest provider of aircraft maintenance
services. PAL, again privatized, is buying more new
planes and expanding its flight coverage around the
world. It even has a flight to Las Vegas! The company
is now controlled by PAL Holdings, which is part of a
conglomerate owned by a Filipino business magnate
who was born in China.
Deregulation encouraged the development of
new airlines such as EV A Airways and Asiana. Geo-
graphers John Bowen and Thomas Leinbach (1995)
note the importance of airlines in the development
trajectories of emerging economies. By increasing
access to places, they open up new domestic and
international markets.
Asian airlines play significant roles in global in-
terchange. Even so, the retention of vested interests
by many governments indicates their reluctance to
relinquish full control over what they perceive to
be a strategic element of infrastructure.

MICROCREDIT
After decades of failure, global aid organizations believe
they have found a solution to poverty in the developing
world. It is called microcredit .
The modern version of microcredit was instituted in
Bangladesh by banker and economist Muhammad
Y unus, who founded the Grameen Bank in 1983. In
1976, Dr. Y unus visited a small village where women
made bamboo furniture. In order to purchase the bam-
boo, the women had taken out a loan from a money-
lender at usurious rates. Consequently , most of their
profits were used to pay the loan, which kept on gather-
ing interest. Dr. Y unus decided to lend the 42 women
US$27.00 at a very low interest rate to buy their bamboo.
As a result, each woman was able to net a profit of
US$.02. This may sound like nothing, but two cents goes
a long way in a Bangladeshi village.
The vast majority (94%) of Grameen' s loans go to
women who are more likely than men to spend their
earnings on their family . Several women are united into a
“solidarity group,” and the group borrows money . Each
woman acts as a co-guarantor to repay the loan and sup-
ports the other members in their efforts toward economic
self-sufficiency .
Grameen has recently expanded into other nonprofit
ventures such as fisheries and irrigation projects.
Grameenphone is the biggest private-sector phone com-
pany in Bangladesh. With its village phone project, it has
facilitated cell-phone ownership to nearly 300,000 rural
poor in more than 50,000 villages. Aside from personal
communication, cell phones are used by farmers to relay
agricultural information and by women to run businesses.
The microcredit concept has spread around the
world. The United Nations declared 2005 the “Interna-
tional Y ear of Microcredit,” and Secretary General Kofi
Annan said that the poor “are the solution, not the prob-
lem.” Muhammad Y unus has been awarded many hon-
ors, including the Nobel Prize in 2006 and America' s
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. In Houston,
T Texas, January 14 is “Muhammad Y unus Day .”

Housing is another sector in which governments have
sought private help. Sites and services programs have
gained significance since the 1970s. Government
agencies install infrastructure and provide essential serv-
ices on cleared land that is sold with low-interest loans.
Poor families contract with private builders or construct
their own dwelling with subsidized materials. In India,
the government registers and assists housing coopera-
tives to purchase land and procure financing for low-cost
housing. In several countries, private corporations are re-
sponsible for the development of complete communities
inclusive of residential, commercial, educational, and
recreational facilities. Despite these ambitious programs,
most shelter for the poor still derives from the informal
sector as squatter or temporary housing.
Privatization is not readily accepted everywhere. In-
dividuals and constituencies with vested interests in
state-controlled enterprises strongly resist privatization
efforts. In Indonesia and Malaysia, for instance, opposi-
tion is voiced by economic nationalists and Muslim fun-
damentalists, who detest Western consumerism and
capitalism. Some people in these countries also fear that
the already economically dominant Chinese will be the
main beneficiaries. In Thailand, opposition comes from
the military , which exercises significant control over
public corporations to ensure employment for high-
ranking retirees. Labor unions and other groups that

REMITTANCES
Another type of income comes from what are called for-
eign remittances . This refers to the transfer of funds by