It's about sharing and trust, according to Visiting Scholar Ming-Yu Cheng. Cheng was granted a Fulbright Visiting Scholar award in September 2004 to research her project on The Qualitative-Cum-Quantitative Institutional, Social Economic and Technological Growth Model. "My study here is more about the importance of social capital," Cheng said. "If you have that type of civic engagement, if you trust each other or you can establish a trust, then you can help the economy develop."

Cheng specializes in economics and ASEAN studies. She believes one of the challenges of ASEAN is how 10 countries in varying economic stages can develop and grow stronger as a group. Cheng hopes the data that she has collected in the U.S. will help her understand the reasons behind successful economic growth. Understanding this may help ASEAN continue its economic growth. "I want to see different countries and learn why some can grow so fast and why some remain poor. I want to see what causes the problem," she said. What Cheng found was, in addition to all the technological and economic factors, social factors play an important role in economic development. "Countries with very high social capital can develop very fast," she said.

For example, the economic and social systems are very good. "The system is well developed and well implemented," she said. "This is a country that is very systematic, very disciplined. People here are more civic minded, they respect each other and they respect the laws too." In this way, Cheng believes Malaysia can learn from the U.S. in making economic systems more transparent.

Cheng, while conducting her research, was extremely pleased with the resources made available to her by Fulbright and Washington State University, her host institution. "The U.S. is very established. It has a long history in economic research, so there is an advantage to that," she said. "If I didn't come here, I don't think I could have finished my project because my project needed data that I don't have in Malaysia. Many of the articles and journals are not available in Malaysia."

Cheng's field of economic development has allowed her the opportunity to travel to many countries, something she enjoys very much. She has held a fellowship in Japan, lectured in Australia, conducted research in Taiwan and visited countries including Germany, Khazastan, Ubekestan and South Africa.

One of the benefits of traveling and international exchange is that it is a great tool for developing social trust. "I think it is a good way for people to understand each other better." For example, Cheng said before she came to the U.S., she did not think that people here would be friendly. "But when I came here, I found people to be really quite friendly and very helpful."

Learning about a culture through articles or other third-party means is different from understanding a culture through experience. "If you just listen to people, and you form your perception, it might cause misunderstanding and that can lead to quite a disaster," said Cheng. "I think that is the purpose for Fulbright, to allow us to come here and to have a professor go to other countries to have an exchange. This exchange allows us to understand other cultures and to understand other people."

"You should go out and see the world because for you to change the world, you need to understand the world first," said Cheng. "People who travel a lot see things from many perspectives. When you go to different countries or different parts of the world, you see that things are really different, so you can accept new things more easily because you know there is the possibility of these things happening."

For Cheng, the international culture of the U.S. was a comfort. "I don't feel like I'm a foreigner here because there is a mixture of people from all over the world and that's great. I feel like I'm at home."

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