The Honorable Proletarian

By admin | April 28, 2011

Review of Ka Bel: Mga Liham

“Can you imagine a tricycle driver being able to draft a law?” Commission on Elections Chairman Jose Melo asked the petitioners who wanted to disqualify Mikey Arroyo as a partylist representative. This remark can be dismissed as sheer intellectual elitism but it is a popular thinking among the chattering classes which is why we have to correct this myopic view of the poor and uneducated.

So can the poor really speak for themselves? Can workers excel as legislators? Answer: Crispin Beltran.

Beltran or Ka Bel was a veteran activist and legendary labor leader who became a partylist representative in 2001. His outstanding three-term stint in Congress should have already convinced us that the poor are more than capable of articulating their own beliefs and aspirations.

For those who still need more persuading, though, I highly recommend the new book about Beltran, Ka Bel: Mga Liham, which presents his ideas and political principles through a studied selection of his letters and speeches. It is an impressive follow-up to the first biography about Beltran written by Ina Alleco Silverio which provided readers a glimpse of the remarkable struggles that the ‘Grand Old Man” of Philippine labor fought in his lifetime.

Ka Bel: Mga Liham will shock readers who expected to read a dry collection of political manifestos. Ofcourse, a book about Beltran will have to unavoidably discuss politics and labor issues. (Readers who wanted a fresh perspective on the labor movement will not be disappointed.) However, by including Beltran’s revealing and ‘instructive’ letters to his wife and children, the book offers much more, allowing readers a glimpse into the private (but nonetheless political) life of Ka Bel.

This book will be appreciated too by non-activists, especially students of history, since Beltran’s letters are filled with amusing historical vignettes. For example, Beltran mentioned the cost of sending money through telegraphic transfer in 1969 or that moviegoers can choose to watch movies in the orchestra section of cinema houses (Beltran wrote that he watched Bastards and The Great Catherine).

Beltran’s letters are valuable in helping clarify the decisions made by the labor movement in the past forty-years. For example: Why did it oppose Marcos’ democratic revolution? Why did it reject Franklin Drilon as Labor Secretary? Why did labor unions stage a walkout against the retention of US military bases? What caused the split in the labor sector in the 1990s?

Hopefully, Beltran’s letters will enlighten the public about the meaning of working-class consciousness. What does it really mean to wholly embrace the proletarian viewpoint? The big capitalists and their apologists who liked to denounce Beltran as a heartless communist might be surprised to read what Beltran wrote about his military escort after escaping from prison: “Kaawa-awa naman siya. Kahit siya military, mahirap din siyang tulad natin…at dahil sa pagtakas ko siya rin ay tiyak na makukulong. Ngunit nagkataon lang na siya ang aking guwardiya.”

Beltran is a fine example of a working-class leader who remained loyal to his principles and a militant advocate of democratic politics until his tragic death in 2008. How did he envision the emancipation of the poor? Definitely, he didn’t ask for charity. This passage is worth quoting: “Isa tayo sa angaw-angaw na mahihirap. Tayo rin ang papanday sa kinabukasan natin….Turuan sila na kaya tayo mahirap dahil sa may nagpapahirap sa atin. Hanapin at itakda ang paraan ng pagbaka sa kanila.”

While in detention in 2006, Beltran issued this short handwritten note to media in response to the declaration of a state of national emergency in the country: “The hungry and angry must kill this [PP1017] animal of gluttony and tyranny. The imposition must be swept away by the democratic human tsunami into the dustbin of history. I am committed to partake in this rare lexicon for national freedom and democracy.” A rare lexicon indeed!

Beltran’s entry into Congress didn’t stop him from speaking out what he genuinely feels and thinks about the anti-labor institutions in the country: “Mr. Speaker, namaos na ang kinatawang ito sa kakapaliwanag kaisa ng mga manggagawa tungkol sa pagiging walang hiya at inutil ng mga regional wage boards. Mula nang itayo ang mga taksil na wage boards na yan noong 1989, wala na silang ginawa kundi ipako ang sahod sa sahig at tiyaking hindi ito itaas, ayun na rin sa kagustuhan ng malalaking negosyante at kapitalista.”

This book also pays tribute to Beltran’s family who supported him and embraced his advocacies until the end of his life. His wife, Ka Osang, actively campaigned for his freedom during the Marcos dictatorship (she called the police “komikong tutang tuliro sa sirkus” in an assembly); and many of his children became activists as well.

The ‘public’ Beltran may be the outspoken critic of the bad government conniving with big business but the ‘private’ Beltran is a familiar father figure in a typical Filipino family. He is the head of the family who is constantly worried about money (“Ako’y uuwi kapag mayroon nang sapat na pera”) and the situation of his wife and children. Beltran, who was one of the early settlers in Payatas, remained poor even after becoming a congressman, , a story that is the cause of amazement for many in a country where dipping into the public treasury for personal gain is almost a norm.

It can be gleamed from the letters that the ‘public’ Beltran and ‘private’ Beltran are both political. Beltran consistently reminded his family to live simply and to struggle hard with the masses. Even his New Year’s Resolutions for his family reflected his political standpoint: “Iwasan ninyo ang kayabangan o pagmamalaki. Laging mapagkumbaba at kaisa ng mahihirap – mabangis (ayon sa prinsipyo) sa mga mapang-api at kaaway.”

It is not often that the writings of working-class heroes are compiled and published which makes this book a gem in Philippine political literature. The publisher should be commended since this book can raise awareness and revive interest about the lives and struggles of other working-class icons.

The next book about Beltran should tackle his accomplishments inside the House of Representatives. At one point, Beltran filed the most number of bills and resolutions in Congress. Researchers can access the House journals and official transcript of records to check how Beltran argued his points and debated with other members of Congress.

Hopefully, this book would target the international audience since it is about time that we share and spread the story of the late great Beltran. I am particularly interested too about Beltran’s activities in the 1980s, the most strike prone decade in the history of Philippine labor.

Beltran died almost three years ago but his political legacy continues to be relevant. Traditional politicians have many things to learn from Beltran’s principled life. Remember, for instance, his last shining moment in Congress, when he divulged in a privilege speech an attempt by the Arroyo government to bribe him. A fellow legislator,
ridiculing the attempt, publicly said it was “like bribing the Pope” – a testament to Ka Bel’s record of incorruptibility.

Recall, too, the manner by which Congressman Beltran died, hammer in hand – a working man to the very end; and compare it with how many others who claim to be “public servants” enrich themselves through corruption and greed.

Truly, this country lost a great and honorable leader in 2008. Though future generations of Filipinos will no longer see Ka Bel addressing thousands with a fiery speech in the parliament of the streets, or debating in congress as a representative of the toiling class, his legacy as well as the principles he fought for remains, to be read in his letters.

Related article:

Tribute speech to Ka Bel

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Frustrating Philippines Rice Crisis

By admin | April 26, 2011

Written for The Diplomat

Rice is the staple food in Southeast Asia and in many parts of the world. But it’s not just a food that fulfills hunger. Rice has enriched the cultures of many Asian societies.

In Thailand, asking, ‘Have you eaten rice today?’ is a way of saying, ‘How are you?’ In Vietnam it’s proper to say, ‘please eat rice’ before every meal, even if the meal doesn’t include rice. In Brunei elders remind the children to finish their meal to the last grain of rice because if not, the rice will cry.

Asia has developed rice-flavored ice cream, rice wine, rice cake and rice paper. A small village in central Java Island in Indonesia organizes an annual festival to commemorate the ‘Rice Goddess.’ A colonial ruler of Indochina once remarked: ‘The Vietnamese plant rice, the Cambodians watch it grow and the Lao listen to it grow.’

Indeed, rice is a precious commodity in Southeast Asia. Thailand is the world’s biggest rice exporter while Indonesia is the largest rice consumer. Other Southeast Asian nations like Cambodia, Vietnam and Burma are notable rice exporters too, while the Philippines is the world’s top rice importer.

So it’s not at all surprising that many people in this part of the world are worried over reports that recent floods in many Asian countries have affected the rice output in the region. The reduced rice supplies plus the rising demand for the staple in China and India could affect the price of rice. And the rice problem is in fact being made worse by rice smuggling—a trade in which unscrupulous rice traders collude with politicians and agricultural officials in hoarding rice supplies. This further creates an artificial crisis, which jacks up the price of rice.

Rice is a politically sensitive commodity since price fluctuations in the market could easily undermine the stability of governments in the region. Many people here are ready to blame the recent unrest in the Middle East for the skyrocketing oil prices but rice price increases are unacceptable in societies where planting of rice is a thousand-year-old tradition.

Politicians who can’t adequately explain why consumers must pay more for a cup of rice risk losing public support and governments that fail to address the rice needs of their constituents will definitely incite public indignation. It’s not just empty stomachs that arouse the anger of many people in the region; they become rebellious too if they cannot eat their rice.

Rice actually has the potential to spark an uprising. The August 1945 revolution in Vietnam was led by hungry peasants and urban dwellers, who stormed public halls demanding food, rice and independence. The slogan, ‘Break open the rice stores to avert famine’ mobilized the masses which ended the colonial occupation and paved the way for the establishment of an independent democratic Vietnamese nation.

The threat of a ‘rice revolution’ caused by rice shortages is always present in agricultural societies. A few days ago, a Philippine newspaper leaked a government security report, which warned against the escalation of violent social protests and even riots if the government fails to prevent a rice supply crisis this year. So far the government has denied any such issues.

This scenario could also become familiar to other Southeast Asia nations. It’s why it should embolden policymakers to review their agricultural laws, especially programs on how to boost the productivity of rice farmers. In the Philippine case, something is wrong with an economic policy that prioritizes the planting of cash crops to be exported to other countries over the planting of food crops needed by the people who are suffering from hunger.

The government can also implement emergency measures like arresting rice hoarders and smugglers. Price controls and handing out of subsidies must also be included as options even though economists are sure to reject them.

Persuading the people to reduce their rice intake and change their diet is not enough. Nothing short of a comprehensive overhaul of rice and agricultural policies is needed if governments really want to avert civilian and peasant unrest in the future.

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Giants in a small island

By admin | April 20, 2011

Delivered in Boac, Marinduque. April 16, 2011. Marinduque State College

Maraming bago sa araw na ito: Bagong linis ang inyong mga sapatos, bagong plantsa ang inyong mga damit. Lahat naligo sa araw na ito (Hopefully). Makapal ang make-up ng mga kababaihan, yung iba may kulay ang mata, inubos ang spraynet at gel sa buhok, abot hanggang dito ang amoy ng inyong mga pabango.

Tiyak akong sanay na kayo sa ritwal ng graduation. Mahaba ang martsa ng mga magsisipagtapos, bawat isa aakyat ng entablado. Pero tatapusin natin hanggang dulo ang programa. Kasing tagal ng graduation ang magaganap na picture taking mamaya. At dahil napagod tayo sa hapong ito, bubusugin naman tayo ng mga kainan mamayang gabi. Yung iba nagkatay pa ng baboy.

Bakit spesyal ang mga graduation? Bakit kung graduation lahat masaya? Bakit ginagawa natin ang ritwal na ito?

Kayo na nagsipagtapos ng kinder noong 1996, elementary noong 2003, at hayskul noong 2007 ay alam na ang sagot sa mga tanong na ito. Spesyal dahil minsan lang ito magaganap sa ating buhay at maaaring ito na rin ang huling beses na kayo ay tatawaging bagong graduate; masaya dahil nagtagumpay tayo – naipasa natin ang mga eksam kahit yung ibang sagot ay hula lang, nasulat natin ang thesis kahit walang computer sa bahay, nagawa nating matapos ang OJT kahit boring. Yung iba magna at summa: magna, magnanine years sa kolehiyo; summa, sumampung taon sa kolehiyo.

At kung bakit natin inuulit ang ritwal na ito; at bakit walang nagrereklamo sa matagal na paghihintay na matapos ang programa: dahil gusto nating ialay ang araw na ito, ang spesyal na araw na ito, sa mga spesyal na tao sa ating buhay. Ito talaga ay hindi ninyo araw; ito ay araw ng pagpapasalamat sa inyong mga guro at magulang.

Graduation is more like a Thanksgiving Day. It is our opportunity to thank the people who made it possible for all of you to reach this stage. Not all students who entered Grade One in 1996 or 1997 made it through college. In fact, out of 100 students who enter grade one, only 14 are able to finish college. You are part of the lucky 14, congratulations!

And one of the reasons why you’re here this morning is because of the sacrifices made by your teachers and parents. So thank you teacher for the lectures (we were listening most of the time); thank you teacher for the patience; thank you teacher for the good and not so good memories; thank you for the friendship. Mababa ang sahod ng guro pero walang patid ang kanilang pagtuturo bawat semester. Batch 2011, let us give a round of applause to our teachers.

And for the proud parents; thank you for the tuition payment, thank you for the allowance (although sometimes we use it play dota), thank you for believing in us, and most of all, thanks for all the sacrifice and hardwork (we know that some of you had to leave the country, others were forced to sell properties) just to make sure that we were able finish our studies. Students and soon to be graduates of MSC, clap your hands and honor your parents.

Masaya ang mga teacher natin hindi dahil ang mga pasaway ay aalis na ng campus; masaya sila dahil nagbunga ang kanilang pagod. Sa araw na ito, muli nilang mararamdaman ang dignidad ng propesyon ng pagtuturo. Sapat na para sa kanila na makita ang inyong mga ngiti at ang kaalamang ang mga batang tinuruan nila ng maraming taon ay handa nang sumabak sa mas malaking mundo sa labas ng campus.

Pero pinakamasaya ang mga magulang natin. Mamaya habang naglalakad kayo papunta dito sa stage, kung pwede lang sumigaw ay isisigaw ng inyong mga magulang na “Anak ko yan.” Mamaya pauwi ipapakilala kayo sa lahat ng tao sa daan, kahit hindi nila kilala, at buong pagmamayabang na sasabihin na bagong graduate ang kanilang anak. Umaapaw sa galak ang puso ng inyong magulang dahil ang kanilang anak, na dati rati’y isang inosenteng musmos na walang alam sa mundo, ay kinikilala na ng komunidad bilang isang edukadong indibidwal. Marami sa mga magulang natin hindi nakatapos ng kolehiyo kaya nagsikap sila nang husto para kayo ay makapag-aral at matupad ang inyong mga pangarap. Sa mga minamahal kong magulang, congratulations po!

After school, you have a responsibility to fulfill to the community. You must serve the country which subsidized your education. We expect that you will use your talent and training to improve the lives of others. Think of the farmer, the market vendor, the tricycle driver, your parents – all the taxpayers who contributed to your education. I cannot prevent you from seeking greener pastures in other lands because it is your right; but I am making this appeal: serve the community first, serve your country first.

After school, your first instinct is to look for a job. It is also the expectation of almost everybody. My sympathies are with you dear graduates. Soon, you will realize these “inconvenient truths” about life after college: 1) Good jobs won’t be easy to find; 2) Many companies prefer applicants with job experience and the pay offer is not enticing; 3) Some of you will realize that you are best suited for a career which is different from the job prospect you had been preparing in the past four years. In other words, some of you may want to do something different in your life right after graduation.

The first few years after college are difficult, but exciting. Often your eagerness to apply what you learned in school is rendered irrelevant because of insufficient opportunities available in the country. Failing to secure immediate employment, fresh graduates become disappointed.

Traditionally, those with high paying jobs and those working in prestigious firms are recognized as successful graduates. I believe we should also praise our young graduates who chose to be involved in less popular, low paying but socially relevant causes. We should also encourage the new graduates to pursue their dreams even if these dreams will not give them instant fame and fortune. Civilizations advance not because there are high salaried slave workers but because there are individuals who are bold, daring, and innovative.

While researching on employment issues, I stumbled upon an article written by a young American who defends the idea of working as a community organizer. He recalls this conversation he had with his mother. His mother asked him this: “You’re a bright young man. You went to college, didn’t you? I just cannot understand why a bright young man like you would go to college, get that degree and become a community organizer.”

His mother added: “’Cause the pay is low, the hours is long, and don’t nobody appreciate you.”

What was the reply of the son? He said: “It needs to be done, and not enough folks are doing it.”

Who is this young graduate who decided to become a community organizer right after college? His name is Barack Obama and he is now the president of the United States.

Lesson: Don’t limit your post-college options to what our elders expect you to accomplish. Young people should always strive to challenge conventions and to resist conformity. Ok lang na sa umpisa ay maging bigo sa tradisyunal na career pero huwag huminto dito. Maging mas mapangahas sa pagbubuo ng mga bagong ideya. Ang kumpetisyon ay hindi dapat kung sino sa inyo ang unang kikita ng isang milyong piso o makakabili ng kotse o makakapagpatayo ng mansion; dapat ang labanan ay kung sino ang mag-iiwan ng pangmatagalang impluwensiya sa lipunan. Sino ang susubok ng mga ideyang hindi pa naisip ninuman? Sino ang lilikha ng mga bagong teorya na pakikinabangan ng komunidad?

Yes, education is job preparation but it is more than that. It should be more than that. Yes, formal schooling allows students to absorb the technical knowledge about the world of work but it also teaches them to develop a passion for new learning, the craving to acquire new ideas, the desire to seek new truths. You are an educated person the moment you realize that your education is incomplete.

If your job search is getting you nowhere and if you feel that you have not benefited from your more than a decade of schooling, I hope this will not make you belittle the value of education. Education will never become obsolete. More than your high grades, college is memorable because of the critical thinking and critical skills you develop in school. These skills will prove to be useful to survive in these uncertain times.

Education is needed to harvest the benefits of globalization and to confront its negative aspects. Education is essential to adapt to climate change. Education inspires us to value our culture and tradition. And most importantly, education makes us empowered individuals who are always questioning the old order and actively seeking reforms in society.

Today everybody is overwhelmed by the revolution in Information Technology. But we shouldn’t be too surprised with this phenomenon. We should remember that all societies prospered by adopting technological innovations. While belief in eternal change is an attitude that we should develop, we also have to be alert against the destructive applications of technology. Today our youth are bombarded daily with tons of information in the internet; some of them are knowledge-enhancing but most are trash or spam. Critical thinking or critical education is therefore essential to filter information in the cyberspace.

We should embrace advancements in modern communications and they are now necessary to solve many of our modern problems. But we should not ignore the basic problems in our society requiring basic solutions like solving widespread poverty in the country caused by inequitable sharing of the country’s wealth; like the destruction of the environment caused by greed; like the deteriorating state of health delivery and other social services caused by misplaced prioritization of the government budget.

As young Filipinos, it is our duty to correct these congenital defects in our society. I challenge you to be active agents of good governance.

Marinduque may be a small island but it doesn’t mean it is powerless to influence the future of our society. It may be geographically isolated from other provinces but its strategic links to the rest of the country are not diminished. Marinduque is located near the center of the archipelago and it can be a source of strength. Marinduque should also aim to be the country’s center of innovative thinking, center of environment protection, center of sustainable tourism, center of rural development through efficient and intelligent use of technology.

Public institutions like MSC play a vital role in realizing this vision. MSC graduates should help fulfill these goals. Make Marinduque a small island with big dreams.

Batch 2011 of MSC, you are giants living in a small island. It is not wrong to explore the bigger world but be ready to come back to share your new knowledge with the next generation. Conquer the world, reach for the stars, but don’t forget to remember your roots.

In behalf of the Kabataan Partylist and the Filipino youth, I salute MSC for producing a new batch of talented graduates. I thank the parents and teachers for all the hardwork, sacrifice, and love which inspired these kids to finish their schooling. Congratulations to all iskolar ng bayan. We are proud of you. Make us prouder in the future.

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Secrets of the empire

By admin | April 18, 2011

1. One of our fighting tasks today is to resist and defeat US imperialism. Philosopher Alain Badiou reminds us that the “basic freedom of states and individuals consists in doing everything and thinking everything in order to escape from the commandments, interventions and interference of that imperial power.” This oppressive power, of course, is not invincible and sometimes it is on a self-destruct mode especially if the reigning emperor is someone like George Bush the lesser. In 2003, novelist Arundhati Roy wrote how the US-led invasion of Iraq exposed the evilness of the empire under the leadership of the Dubya: “He has exposed the ducts. He has placed on full public view the working parts, the nuts and bolts of the apocalyptic apparatus of the American empire.” The Dubya was eventually replaced by a charming guy named Obama but the violent imperialist machinery is still operational.

2. In the 1990s, writer Jessica Zafra introduced her theory of world domination which recognized the role of Overseas Filipino Workers, particularly our domestic helpers, in ‘subverting’ the global system. Zafra imagined our Pinoy nannies as ‘secret agents’ around the world indoctrinating the next generation of state leaders and big business moguls. Recently, she updated her theory by assigning a greater role to nannies working for celebrities and finance executives. The world will be our hostage once we order our supermaids to stage a household strike. What will happen if our world-class yayas stop working for a day? Scholar Neferti Tadiar (The Noranian Imaginary) described the scene in a local plush village when maids suddenly abandoned their duties to watch the film shooting of superstar Nora Aunor: “Chaos and crisis suddenly erupt in the peaceful homes of the rich – children are crying, housewives are helplessly stranded, pots are boiling over.” Can the world’s richest and most powerful families survive without their Filipino maids?

3. Zafra’s theory is useful to ‘expose’ imperialism. Our maids can be our whistleblowers against war criminals, gangsters, banksters, fraudsters, and cheating prime ministers. The Filipino nation can blackmail the political and financial gatekeepers of the world order. But we can slightly improve Zafra’s theory by deploying more agents to spy on the activities of the royal families and privileged institutions of the global superpowers. Who will compose this new army? My proposal is to designate our call center agents as our new secret weapon to dominate the world.

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The Philippines has recently dislodged India as the Business Process Outsourcing powerhouse in the world. The country’s advantage, compared to our neighbors in the region, is the large supply of skilled and English-speaking workers. Foreign companies also like the cheap labor cost in the country and the obsession of many Filipinos to mimic American culture (which partly explains why the US is still the local BPO’s biggest market).

More than 600,000 young Filipinos are employed in this sector and most of them are college educated. However, they are unaware of their collective strength since they have no unions or associations. And like many young workers in other industries, they have no job security which makes them the country’s glamorized endos and flashy temp workers.

But they are actually our sophisticated and key link inside the imperialist behemoth. They have convenient access to the best-kept secrets of the developed world. They are guardians and collectors of sensitive bits and bytes of information which the most enterprising journalists and even Wikileaks cannot easily discover.

Our BPO voice agents, whose daily (oops, nightly) duty includes the accepting of calls from clueless and arrogant American consumers, can testify to the disturbing idiotization of American society. (Hey Joe, can’t you read that damn manual?)

And if talking to incredibly racist callers is not torturous enough, our agents also have the thankless job of collecting overdue payments from credit cardholders; and they have to market and sell superfluous products and services to naïve consumers.

BPO work, in many instances, saps the creative, physical, and mental energies of our talented young generation. It threatens to redirect the inherent passion and idealism of the youth in the service of Capital. It isolates the graveyard shift workers from society; it prevents them from developing meaningful ties with public and social institutions. It can reinforce a false and dangerous attitude among the youth that what really matters in the world is their purchasing power, and not their power to change the world.

But what is most infuriating is that after drawing superprofits from the labor of our young workers, BPO companies can always decide to transfer their operations to other places. Like speculative capital investments, BPO firms can instantly abandon the Philippines in search of higher profit returns. If that happens, what will we offer to our ‘nightwalker’ workers, the ‘walking wounded’ of service sector capitalism?

We should prepare for a preemptive strike.

Our agents possess the trade secrets of consumer companies and they have the blueprint of operations of big multinational corporations. Can’t we use them to demand some political and financial gain? Concretely, can’t we ask for better wage and non-wage benefits for our workers?

Our medical transcriptionists can reveal the real state of health of the Western world. They can identify the leaders who are suffering from terminal illnesses. The questionable financial transactions of greedy banks and companies can be divulged to the media. The legal services can threaten to publish some damning documents about their clients. Our animators can embed Filipino symbolisms in their work.

Back-up the servers. Store the data in a safe place. Reset the codes and passwords. We are more powerful than the banks in Cayman Islands and Switzerland. If access to information is the key to rule the world in a Knowledge Economy, then technically speaking the Western world is under our remote control. If our agents refuse to work for one day or if they collectively decide to give wrong tips to consumers, the world as we know it will ground to a halt.

Learn how China, the world’s manufacturing giant, is churning out Chinese versions of Western consumer products. Can’t we build local versions of business products, processes, and services based on the information that our BPO firms currently possess?

Today, privacy trumps innovation in the BPO sector. Our call center agents are bombarded with daily scriptures about efficiency and confidentiality. How about making them conscious agents of innovation, always seeking for opportunities and valuable information which the Philippine nation can use for its leapfrogging development plan?

The Philippines is not a global superpower. We don’t have nuclear arms, Wall Street, Hollywood, and a billion population. But we have our nannies. And we also have our call center workers. Behind every lord of the throne is a loyal servant attending to the needs of the master. Long live the slave workers of the world!

Related articles:

Nannies in HK
Hello Philippines

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Singapore’s Yale Conquest

By admin | April 17, 2011

Last week, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Yale announced their plan to establish Singapore’s first liberal arts college, which will be known as the Yale-NUS College. The new college will initially accept 150 students whose education will be supervised by Yale faculty members.

But students shouldn’t expect to receive a Yale diploma because they won’t receive one. It should be clarified early that Yale-NUS won’t be giving the same kind of Yale education available in the United States. It’s like going to a school that looks like Yale and is named after Yale, but isn’t exactly Yale.

When the Yale-NUS undertaking was first disclosed last year, it wasn’t received enthusiastically by some teachers and students of both schools. Yale scholars, for instance, pointed out that Yale’s liberal tradition isn’t compatible with what they described as Singapore’s ‘authoritarian regime’. The school student paper, Yale Daily News, also raised the perceived lack of academic freedom in Singapore schools to argue against Yale’s expansion in the prosperous city state.

In an editorial published last February, the paper warned that ‘Even if local laws do not explicitly limit campus scholarship, self-censorship by students and faculty certainly will. Who would publish a fiery doctoral thesis in a country that metes out caning for minor offenses? A country that slanders and jails academics and authors for running foul of its government?’

Yale president Richard Levin may have recognized the validity of some of these objections when he mentioned the ‘limitations that Yale has to accept given Singaporean tradition and law.’ But in the end, he still defended the long-term opportunities in establishing a Yale presence in Asia.

The issue of freedom of expression, or lack of it in the case of Singapore, isn’t a trivial matter considering that it was the reason cited by Britain’s University of Warwick when it decided not to set up a branch in Singapore in 2005. Even Johns Hopkins University closed a research facility there when it came into conflict with the local government.

But Singaporean students writing for the popular online site The Kent Ridge Common, reminded the skeptics from Yale that contrary to media reports, politics is freely and openly discussed in Singapore schools. They added that students ‘have the liberty to speak, and professors have the liberty to teach’ in NUS.

Meanwhile, Singapore students who aren’t fully supportive of the Yale-NUS College questioned why NUS has reportedly agreed to shoulder the financing of the project without demanding any corresponding funds from Yale. The agreement even seems to require NUS to reimburse Yale for the salaries of Yale professors who will teach in Singapore.

Some students also reminded the NUS leadership that the school already offers a liberal arts education through its University Scholars Programme, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. They’d prefer that NUS was more aggressive in developing its own brand of education rather than trying to gain instant prestige through a partnership with Yale.

The last point is important because it’s the Yale name that NUS actually bought to improve its reputation as a leading regional education centre. It seems to be the easier and faster (but expensive) route to achieving the status of a global university offering superior ‘Western-style’ quality education. But is it worth it? And will it work?

One more thing – it’s expected that the Yale-NUS venture would inspire other big Asian universities to secure similar partnerships with other cash-hungry Ivy League institutions. Is this really a positive development for higher education in the Asia-Pacific region?

Written for The Diplomat

What’s in a Name?

I wrote last year about the decision by Burma’s junta to change the official name of the country to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. This was the second time the junta had changed the name, having officially changed it from Burma to Myanmar in 1989. I also mentioned that they took the opportunity to create a new flag.

It has had me thinking about the symbolism and reasoning behind name changes, because Burma isn’t alone in Southeast Asia in making some dramatic adjustments.

For many years, Thailand was known as the Kingdom of Siam, before changing its name in the 1940s. Former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos thought about changing the name of the Philippines into the Maharlika Islands in the 1970s (until scholars reminded him that the etymology of the word Maharlika could also mean male genitals).

The official name of Laos, meanwhile, is Lao People’s Democratic Republic or Muang Lao. Laos should be pronounced with a silent ‘s’. It was the French colonial government that added the letter ‘s’ to signify the unity of kingdoms inside the Lao territory. Meanwhile, the names Cambodge, Kâmpŭchea and Srok Khmer have been used in the past to refer to Cambodia.

After the Vietnam War, Saigon City was renamed Hồ Chí Minh City, although it seems many people still prefer to use the name Saigon in the same way that Myanmar is still called Burma by the media and anti-junta groups.

Singapore comes from the Sanskrit word Singapura, which means Lion City (although scientists believe that lions have never actually lived on the island).

Phnom Penh’s original name is Krong Chaktomuk, which is an abbreviation of its ceremonial name Krong Chaktomuk Mongkol Sakal Kampuchea Thipadei Sereythor Inthabot Borei Roth Reach Seima Maha Nokor. The rough translation reads something like: ‘The place of four rivers that gives the happiness and success of Kampuja Kingdom, the highest leader as well as impregnable city of the God Indra of the enormous Kingdom.’

Bangkok is known in Thailand as Krung Thep. Its full name is the second longest place name in the world. Bangkok’s full ceremonial name is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. A rough translation is: ‘The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarma.’

Maybe it’s not such a bad idea to stick to Bangkok or Krung Thep.

Written for The Diplomat

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Philippine politics 1969-2009

By admin | April 6, 2011

The year 1969 – Gloria Diaz was crowned Miss Universe and Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. During the same year, Ferdinand Marcos was reelected as president of the republic and the communist New People’s Army was founded in Tarlac. How did Philippine politics evolve in the past 40 years? What happened to Marcos and the NPA?

After being reelected, Marcos ruled the country as a dictator for the next 17 years until he was ousted by a people’s revolt. He was replaced by Cory Aquino whose chief contribution to politics was her decision to restore the pre-Marcos political power structure.

The revived system provided a semblance of political stability but it lasted for only 15 years when the political crisis during the forgettable Estrada administration became so acute that another extralegal procedure was required to prevent the system from disintegrating. Gloria Arroyo inherited the presidency but quickly mutated into a Marcos-like hate figure when she used iron fist measures to defend her unpopular regime.

Marcos, the supreme politician of the post-war era, was succeeded by “politicking non-politicians” or anti-trapo figures. Cory was the brave housewife of a dissident politician, Ramos was the cunning general who protected Cory, and Erap was a charming actor and self-styled hero of the masses.

But Arroyo, who holds a PhD in economics, turned out to be the real trapo (and not Joe De Venecia, who is considered the quintessential traditional politician) in Philippine modern history. She was first and last a wily politician, and only an incidental economist. Her greatest feat was her surprising electoral victory in 2004. It was the year when the trapos had their revenge against the anti-trapos represented by the much loved Fernando Poe Jr.

There are two heroic figures which emerged in the past 40 years: Cory and her son Noynoy. The mother and son were able to symbolize the ‘good’ who battled the ‘evil’ of politics. Cory challenged THE dictator while Noynoy is nasty to the ‘tin pot’ dictator. Cory was the icon of the People Power movement which delivered the fatal blow to the strongman while Noynoy used the memory of Cory and the residual appeal of People Power to christen himself as the leading voice of the opposition against the Arroyo regime.

But despite the rise of moral leaders, the system has utterly failed to improve the living conditions in the country. The poor are still poor (minus one kidney) while the rich have become, well, filthier. Furthermore, the defeat of the Evil One in 1986 didn’t prevent the formation of another ‘evil’ figure in 2001.

The obvious conclusion which we can draw from this initial review of the disappointing Philippine experiment with parliamentary democracy is to proclaim the impotency of electoral politics. But this is not simply a leftist judgment. Even mainstream leaders have underscored the need for substantial reforms in the system. They themselves have recognized the inadequacy of replacing leaders through a manipulated system of elections.

Ofcourse the moralist conservatives prefer that change should begin with individuals.

But what if reforms are not sufficient to make the system work? What if the system is really bankrupt and rotten to the core? That Marcos-Arroyo evil figures, far from being aberrations in the system, actually embody the authentic essence of the system?

The verdict is out: Political reforms conceptualized and implemented within the inherently limited parameters of parliamentary democracy will always produce conservative political figures a la Marcos-Arroyo and Cory-Noynoy. It is not a coincidence that the pragmatic Gloria, who is not ignorant of democratic politics, had chosen to replicate the political tactics used by Marcos. Even Noynoy, who is surrounded by former progressives, is disturbingly trying to repeat the political decisions of his mother.

The system has no original options to offer anymore. The system’s ‘refresh button’ only enhances the image of the discredited ‘old. ’

Hourglass politics

The political cycle is quite similar to the movement of the sand inside a sand timer or hourglass. The trickling down of the sand from the upper glass bulb to the bottom glass bulb constitutes the only and real mode of action/change inside the hourglass. Once the upper glass bulb is empty, the instrument is inverted to restart the process of measuring time.

Everyday politics is synonymous to the movement of the sand; while the system (liberal democracy at the moment) is like the hourglass instrument. As the political capital of the system runs out or when its democratic façade is finally exposed, the system is ‘overturned’ by heroic figures and even by extraordinary circumstances. The danger lies in the thinking that the banality of everyday politics (trickling down of the sand) stands for the small but constant flow of changes in the political sphere. The greater danger is to equate the inverted hourglass as the beginning of a new political order. “Shaking’ the system does not ruin it. Reversing the ‘flow of the sand’ by ‘inverting’ the system does not invalidate the process since it is assumed that the old elements that compose the sand, and the hourglass structure are still necessary.

What is to be done? Do not merely invert the instrument. Smash the hourglass.

But most of the time we prefer to live in the old and familiar hourglass. We rejoice when the hourglass is inverted since we think it marks the birth of a new system. We praise the expansion of democratic space (whatever that means) in society. Are we then condemned to live this way forever? Always moving like the sand, always in flux, but unable to see and imagine a new life outside the hourglass?

Fortunately, there is a genuine alternative. The left, the left, provides the blueprint in order to smash the system and create a radical beginning. How did the left perform in the past 40 years?

(To be continued)

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Conjugal dictatorships
Edsa 1986, 2001
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Carry the flame of the Cordilleras

By admin | April 3, 2011

*Mountain Province State Polytechnic College graduation speech. The drafting of the speech was a collective effort. Thanks @kabataanpl.

Maimbag nga aldaw. A pleasant day to all of you.

I was told several times this morning that the MPSPC is grateful for my participation in today’s graduation ceremonies. No. It is I who should thank MPSPC for inviting me to deliver a message to our graduating class of 2011. This is the first time in my life and in my capacity as a legislator that I was given the privilege to address the college graduates of a state college. Thank you Madam Nieves, thank you MPSPC.

I congratulate the graduates, the honor students, the outstanding undergraduate students. You made it! The Filipino youth, the Filipino people who funded your education are proud of you. I also congratulate the other magna and summa students – magna, magnanine years in college; and summa, sumampung taon sa kolehiyo.

But this day belongs not to you graduates, although it’s a special day for you. This day is dedicated most especially to the two happiest groups of people gathered this morning: your teachers, and your parents.

Graduation is more like a Thanksgiving Day. It is our opportunity to thank the people who made it possible for all of you to reach this stage. Not all students who entered Grade One in 1996 or 1997 made it through college. In fact, out of 100 students who enter grade one, only 14 are able to finish college. You are part of the lucky 14, congratulations!

And one of the reasons why you’re here this morning is because of the sacrifices made by your teachers and parents. So thank you teacher for the lectures (we were listening most of the time); thank you teacher for the patience; thank you teacher for the good and not so good memories. Let us give a round of applause to our teachers.

And for the proud parents; thank you for the tuition payment, thank you for the allowance (although sometimes we use it play dota), thank you for believing in us, and most of all, thanks for all the sacrifice and hardwork (we know that some of you had to leave the country, others were forced to sell properties) just to make sure that we were able finish our studies. Students and soon to be graduates of MPSPC, clap your hands and honor your parents.

After school, you have a responsibility to fulfill to the community. You must serve the country which subsidized your education. We expect that you will use your talent and training to improve the lives of others. Think of the farmer, the market vendor, the bus driver, your parents – all the taxpayers who contributed to your education.

Public schools exist because they have specific missions to fulfill – equip the youth with knowledge and skills that are most needed by the community. They offer courses, including unpopular courses, which are vital for the survival of the nation.

There are 2,000 colleges and universities in the country, most of them are privately owned. Most of them are offering courses that are popular in the market. But if all students will take up the popular courses, who will study agriculture (young Filipinos do not know how to be a productive farmer anymore; but they are good at playing Farmville)? Who will study marine science, biology, geology, meteorology – courses whose importance became more obvious after the Japan earthquake/tsunami disaster a few weeks ago? Remember that like Japan, we are also located in the Pacific Ring of Fire.

State Universities and Colleges, like MPSPC, are mandated by law to continue developing programs which are deemed crucial for the progress of the country. I hope you will not forget that mandate when you leave this campus.

Soon, you will realize these “inconvenient truths” about life after college: 1) Jobs won’t be easy to find; 2) It’s even more difficult to meet the expectations of others – like if you don’t know the answer to a trivia question or you can’t fix the TV, or if you made a mistake in arithmetic, people will ask you: college graduate ka? 3) Some of you will realize that you are best suited for a career which is different from the job prospect you had been preparing in the past four years. Relax. It’s part of life. Welcome to the real world. 4) But the fun part is only beginning. Because after a few months in the job market and still unemployed, you and the people around you will ask if you just spent 6 years in elementary, 4 years in High School, and another 4 years in college so that you will only earn a diploma paper without a monthly paycheck?

Yes, education is job preparation but it is more than that. It should be more than that. Yes, formal schooling allows students to absorb the technical knowledge about the world of work but it also teaches them to develop a passion for new learning, the craving to acquire new ideas, the desire to seek new truths. You are an educated person the moment you realize that your education is incomplete. After college, the learning never stops.

There is no excuse to be ignorant after college. When I finished my schooling in 2000, there was no broadband internet and our cell phones have limited functions. Pangkaskas ng yelo ang laki ng phone namin, namangha kami nang tinanggal ang antenna ng phone, at bilib na bilib kami sa larong snake. Today, information is accessible. Communication is faster because of advancements in IT.

More than your high grades, college is memorable because of the critical thinking and critical skills you develop in school. These skills are essential to filter information in the cyberspace which you can use to advance your careers.

Critical thinking is also useful to preserve our past, defend our cultures, and assert our future. We are constantly reminded about the coming of the future but what about the preservation of the past? I am mentioning this because I am worried about the ignorance of many people about our history and the diverse cultures of the Filipino nation. How can we be globally competitive if we are ignorant about our identity?

Sadly, there are Filipinos who assume that only Christians and Muslims exist in the Philippines. They are not aware of the 110 ethnolinguistic groups in the country which could reach up to 10-12 million of the population.

Many television shows and movies, and unfortunately, some schools, books and educational materials usually portray and depict our Indigenous Peoples as harmful, and uncivilized who are the lowest form of human life and are incapable of living by themselves.

From our kindergarten up to major universities in the metropolis, not much is said about the cultures of our indigenous peoples. In most cases, they are not spoken of at all. Or if they are, they are often reduced to the “exotic”.

But they were the brave inhabitants of the Philippine islands whose resistance to foreign invaders enabled them to preserve their unique customs.

In an effort to correct prevailing misconceptions and misrepresentations of IPs in the country, Kabataan Partylist has filed House Bill 3963 or the “Indigenous Studies Act of 2010” pushing for the mandatory study of the history, culture and identity of indigenous peoples and cultural communities in all public and private schools.

Through IP education, Filipino students will learn that Igorots are distinguished by their tribes: Ifugao, Kankana-ey, Ibaloi, Kalanguya, Kalinga and Tingguian.They will learn too that the indigenous peoples of Mindanao are called Lumads. And when we refer to Filipino Muslims, we are actually talking of 14 tribes in Mindanao and Palawan.

We will develop an appropriate pedagogy to effectively deliver education in our IP communities. This alternative learning system can be applied throughout the country. I am aware that MPSPC has an outstanding IP program and I hope this can be replicated by other schools.

There is also an urgent need to understand the historical and cultural context upon which IPs exist and ultimately, correct existing economic policies and conditions that continue to push IPs at the brink of survival

Development aggression projects like dams, logging, commercial plantations, and mining not only destroy forestlands, these also displace IP communities. Perhaps the greatest threat to upland tribes is the government’s current obsession to extract super profits from the country’s mineral wealth.

We must fight, we must resist. We must remember how our ancestors defended their ancestral domain against the foreign invaders. We must invoke the memory of Macliing Dulag, a tribal chieftain and protest leader from Kalinga who was martyred for his brave defiance against the dictatorship in the 1980s. The historical importance of Macliing Dulag and the struggle he lived and died for reverberates up to this day.

As you beat your path through various careers, I hope that you will carry within you the flame of the Cordilleras. It is this flame that the heroic peoples of Cordillera have put ablaze. And it is this flame that is sustained by our everyday struggles as peoples fighting for our identity and existence.

Graduating class of 2011, the world outside will tempt you to just think of yourselves, to forget about your community, to forget about collective. I hope that you will not to succumb to this temptation. May you continue to be guided by the memory of your heroic past, a past that is forcing its way to be recognized in the present, to change the present.

Finally, let me say once again that it is my privilege to be invited as your guest of honor and speaker this morning. I hope I will be invited again in the beautiful town of Bontoc – where the weather is cold but the reception of the people is warm. And I hope that Mountain Province State Polytechnic College will be known that day as Mountain Province State University.

Mabuhay ang kabataang Pilipino!

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Myanmar’s Parliament Revelations

By admin | April 2, 2011

Burma’s Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) and Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) have been holding sessions since January 31, but it wasn’t until two weeks ago that members were allowed to question government ministers. The transcript of the meetings published by the state-owned paper New Light of Myanmar provides a peek inside the parliament.

So what have we discovered so far? As expected, the debates were non-antagonistic in a parliament dominated by the junta-backed party. Meanwhile, the minority had to submit questions in advance, which allowed government ministers to prepare well-researched reports on all issues raised by opposition MPs.

But the statistics and other information given by the junta’s ministers also turned out to be unexpectedly useful in determining the true situation in the country. And, rather than improving the image of the new government, they quite surprisingly ended up validating fears about the continuing suffering of Burma’s citizens under the insane and brutal leadership of the junta.

For example, the minister for agriculture and irrigation may have assured the parliament that most of the agricultural dikes and dams that were destroyed by Cyclone Nargis in 2008 and Cyclone Giri last year have already been rehabilitated, but his report also highlighted how the junta’s denial about the scale of destruction was misleading. We also learned that 37 percent of the dikes in Ayeyawady and Yangon regions and in Rakhine state are still damaged, as are 46 percent in An township, and 42 percent in Yanbye township.

Yet despite the slow pace of reconstruction efforts in the Nargis-hit regions, the government had the audacity to boast that ‘rescue and rehabilitation tasks have achieved success’ and that other countries are using Burma as a model for their post-disaster efforts.

This isn’t all. The health minister claimed that Burma is providing free medical services for the poor, while the finance and revenue minister argued that increasing the salaries of government personnel isn’t a priority because wages have already been raised nine times since 1972.

A close examination of the transcript of proceedings also provided a better understanding of the junta’s censorship network. Asked by an MP to explain why a manuscript submitted to the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) hadn’t been approved, the information minister was forced to outline the necessary procedures for manuscripts to be published in Burma. It was made clear that a manuscript first has to be scrutinized by junior PSRD officers before being submitted to the deputy director and then go to the division director for approval. Following this, the relevant division submits the material to the appropriate ministry for comments.

The final decision is made by the information minister. It’s easy to understand now why there are only five newspapers in Burma.

The bicameral parliament may be an institution that’s manipulated by the junta, but so far it has been providing us with junta-sanctioned reports about the deteriorating conditions inside the country which the pro-democracy movement could use to push for more democratic and substantial reforms.

Written for The Diplomat

Thai PM’s Citizenship Woes?

It was always public knowledge that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had had dual Thai and British citizenship since he was born in Newcastle, England and studied in Eton and Oxford before finally returning to work and live in Bangkok. But everybody had simply assumed he’d renounced his British citizenship long ago, especially since becoming a public official in 1992.

That’s why Abhisit surprised many when he admitted in a parliament session last month that he hasn’t yet given up his British citizenship. In a transcript from that session, Abhisit is quoted saying:

‘…You ask have I ever formally renounced my British citizenship, I admit I have not renounced my British citizenship because it is understood legally that if the nationality laws are conflicting, the Thai law must be used.

‘My intention is clear. I was born in England but I consider myself a Thai. I studied in England but I intended to return to work and live in Thailand, to work for the country’s interest and didn’t think of anything else.’

The prime minister’s dual citizenship wasn’t a huge issue in the past since it doesn’t make him ineligible to run for public office. Besides, Thailand’s Nationality Act clearly states that a person is a Thai citizen as long as he is born to a father or a mother of Thai nationality, whether within or outside the Thai Kingdom.

However, as a British national, Abhisit can be brought to trial for allegedly committing crimes against humanity. And now that he’s openly admitted his British citizenship, the opposition is expected to actively pursue its case against the Thai leader.

It was the opposition who first questioned Abhisit’s citizenship because they intend to bring him to the International Criminal Court over the violent dispersal of anti-government Red Shirt protests last year, which resulted in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries. Thailand hasn’t yet ratified the ICC Statute, but the United Kingdom has been a signatory of the treaty since 2001.

Robert Amsterdam, the lawyer for ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra, explained in his blog that he filed the case in the ICC because he distrusts Thailand’s justice system. He wrote: ‘Given Thailand’s long history of granting state officials complete impunity for massacres of this kind, and the ongoing attempt to whitewash this most recent incident, the ICC still represents the best hope to bring Thai generals and politicians to justice.’

There’s no doubt Abhisit’s forced admission of his British citizenship will likely continue to be exploited by his enemies, who want to dominate this year’s elections.

But at least he can rest assured that if his government is ousted in the future, or if his party loses in the polls, he can always leave Thailand and reside in Britain.

Written for The Diplomat

Posted in east asia | Leave a comment

Explanation of vote: Impeachment and ARMM

By admin | March 23, 2011

Delivered on March 22, 2011 in the plenary of the House of Representatives

Bakit po pabor ang Kabataan Partylist sa impeachment?

– Ito po ay para sa mga magsasakang ginamit ang kanilang pangalan para sa malawakang pagnanakaw ng pera noong 2004 elections;

– Ito po ay para sa mga kababayan nating araw-araw pinoproblema ang panggastos para sa pagkain at iba pang bilihin samantalang ang mga opisyal na nagnakaw ng pera ng bayan tulad ng mga Euro Generals at mga nasa likod ng NBN-ZTE ay hindi sinampahan ng kaso ng Ombudsman;

– Ito po ay para sa lahat ng nagtatanong kung bakit wala pa ring nananagot, at wala pa ring kinukulong sa mga opisyal ng Comelec na nasa likod ng ma-anomalyang Mega Pacific deal.

Ang sabi ng iba, dapat igalang ang karapatan ni Ombudsman Guitttierez. Gagawin po natin yan. Pero paano naman po ang karapatan ng mga kababayan nating nilabag ng
Ombudsman dahil sa kanyang desisyong huwag habulin ang mga taong malalapit sa dating administrasyon

Based on the submitted evidence, I believe that the Ombudsman deserves to be impeached. She is not a good role model for our young people, including the new lawyers of the country, who expect our public officials to be honest, efficient, and just in the performance of their work.

Impeachment is our remedy to remove officials who failed to fulfill their sworn duty to protect the interests of the people. It is our best weapon to promote accountability in government.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that impeaching the Ombudsman would serve as a timely reminder to all of us that the reason why we continue to remain in office is because of the support of the ‘bosses’, our people whom we vowed to serve as public officials.

Kanina po Mr. Speaker, lumindol sa Pilipinas. Sana po walang malaking pinasala. Pero ang naisip ko po kanina mas malakas na yanig ang mararamdaman natin sa ating mga kababayan kung hindi natin gagampanan ang ating tungkuling tanggalin sa puwesto ang
mga kurakot at mga opisyal na nagtatanggol sa mga kurakot.

Tuloy ang laban para sa hustisya at katotohanan.

Why I voted no to HB 4146?

Delivered on March 23, 2011 in the plenary of the House of Representatives

Kabataan Partylist votes no to HB 4146.

President Noy Aquino said in his website that there is ‘distortion of ballot’ in ARMM – does this mean he doubts his own electoral victory in ARMM? I believe that we can reform the ARMM elections without postponing it; in fact the best reform is to hold elections and encourage our people to vote for leaders who can bring change in the region.

To invoke the spectacular failure of the previous ARMM leadership to justify the postponement of the elections is an insult to our people in the ARMM. If we continue to use this argument, we might as well postpone elections in all the poorest regions in the country.

This bill, if passed into law, would bastardize the meaning of autonomy. What’s the use of maintaining an autonomous region if its leaders would only be appointed by Malacanang? We should change the meaning of ARMM from Autonomous Region to Aquino Region in Muslim Mindanao. Aquino who hails from Tarlac in Luzon would be the most powerful warlord in Muslim Mindanao.

I am worried that the president is willing to use undemocratic means to pursue democratic reforms. Why should we in Congress allow the president to exercise dictatorial powers in a region which had already earned its right to be autonomous from the national government?

Let the people of ARMM go to the polls and allow them to choose their new leaders. Yes to reforms, no to dictatorship.

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Internet freedom under threat

By admin | March 22, 2011

Written for The Diplomat

Internet freedom is under attack in many countries in Southeast Asia. In Thailand, for example, a webmaster is facing prosecution for comments written by other people in an online forum. In Cambodia, anti-government websites have been inaccessible on numerous occasions since January. In Malaysia, meanwhile, a proposed new law would empower the government to censor Internet content.

Chiranuch Premchaiporn (known to friends as Jiew) is the editor of independent news website Prachatai.com. Jiew is accused of violating the Computer Crimes Act of Thailand, but her situation is somewhat bizarre because her alleged ‘criminal’ act refers only to her failure to moderate ten lese majeste comments that were posted on Prachatai’s public web board. She had already deleted the comments when she received a notice from the government, but this didn’t stop the authorities from arresting her last year. Jiew is facing 50 years in prison if found guilty.

Thailand has strict lese majeste laws and it is aggressive in blocking websites which are deemed insulting to the monarchy. Censorship intensified last year, especially at the height of the anti-government Red Shirt protests. It’s estimated that more than 400,000 web pages are blocked in Thailand.

Meanwhile, Cambodian netizens have been having a difficult time accessing anti-government websites since January. But if the Thai government is admitting that it’s blocking ‘harmful’ sites, Cambodian authorities have continued to deny ordering Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to ban opposition websites.

When major blogging portal Blogspot was banned in Cambodia last January, it generated significant protests from Internet users. Fortunately, access to the website was immediately restored. Service providers blamed it on technical issues, while the government insisted it was ignorant about the reasons behind the incident.

But the issue of web censorship in Cambodia continued to sizzle last month as media groups leaked a letter by government information authorities asking ISPs to censor websites that allegedly harm Cambodian morality and tradition. The letter specifically mentioned the KI-Media, Khmerization and Sacrava websites, all of which are critical of the government.

Naturally, human rights groups bemoaned this blatant censorship of online media in Cambodia. They also lambasted ISPs for cooperating with the undemocratic demands of the government.

Malaysia, on the other hand, is still preparing the legal framework to censor the Internet. Last January, the secretary general of the Home Ministry, Mahmood Adam, said that the government favours the amending of the Printing Presses and Publications Act in order to change the definition of ‘publication’ to include Internet content, which would cover blogs and social network sites like Facebook and YouTube.

Netizens were quick to denounce the proposals as a threat to democracy and freedom of speech. Teresa Kok, a member of parliament, wrote in her blog that the proposed amendment would ‘plunge Malaysia on a downward spiral towards being an authoritarian regime.’ She added that the government is ‘increasingly threatened by the rise and rise of online media as an agent for change and democratization in Malaysia.’

Burma and Vietnam may be the undisputed masters and experts of web censorship in the region, but we shouldn’t ignore the threats posed by rising Internet bullies in Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia, who are happy to implement various forms of media restriction in the name of defending against ‘harmful’ content.

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Posted in east asia | Tagged | 1 Comment