|
No Respect
By Michael Alan Hamlin
July 22, 2003
The Philippines was back in the headlines
this week, and for all the wrong reasons, as usual. For what some
say are mysterious and others say obvious reasons, admitted Jemaah
Islamiya (JI) operative and convicted bomber Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi
slipped out of a maximum security cell at the notoriously porous
headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP) last week along
with two somewhat less infamous members of the Abu Sayyaf.
As irony would have it, the break
came during a state visit by Australian prime minister John Howard,
who came with financial and training commitments to aid the Philippines
in its effort to combat terrorism. Too bad he didn't get here earlier.
However, problems like the al-Ghozi
escape aren't matters of funding and expertise, they're matters
of honesty and integrity, and the quality of people in the PNP.
At a higher level, they're a matter of command authority, and the
failure to hold senior police officers accountable for the poor
performance - and even poorer reputation - of the PNP. And there
is a high price to pay for that failure that go far beyond even
the alarming escape of an international terrorist who takes pleasure
in murdering young children and other innocents.
This latest PNP atrocity will confirm
in many minds, for instance, that the Philippines deserves all the
positive attention it's not getting. To give you an idea of what
that means in practical terms, consider an article under the headline
"Philippines Stock Market Gets No Respect" in the July
17 issue of The Asian Wall Street Journal. The article reports
that while the Philippine stock market is "one of the highest-flying"
in Asia for the year, "the country's shares remain off the
radar screens of many international fund investors."
What's "keeping investors at
bay," author Rita Raagas De Ramos continued, "are concerns
about political instability, threats to security, and a ballooning
budget deficit, as well as a dearth of good-quality stocks."
That view sends investors heading for stock markets in Indonesia,
Thailand, and Malaysia with the result, according to Reginold Tan
as reported by de Ramos, that "the Philippines is simply irrelevant."
Tan is research head at Crédit Agricole Asset Management
in Singapore.
As I observed in this space two weeks
ago, uncertainty about the 2004 elections exacerbates these already
highly exacerbated circumstances. "There are concerns over
who will run and win," Sheree Tan, chief investment officer
at Morley-Fund Management, told de Ramos. Former president Joseph
Estrada "didn't turn out great. If we get another disappointment,
that will hurt sentiment further."
Within the Philippines, range over
chronic corruption, indifference, and incompetence within government
is building, as demonstrated by the growing popularity of once marginal
presidential candidates like senator Panfilo ("Ping")
Lacson, who promises to get tough with corrupt officials and exert
determined leadership. In large measure, Lacson's popularity is
a function of the ruling administration's own angst. Its crude attempts
to discredit Lacson - who may deserve to be legitimately discredited
for all I know - have backfired in classic function, and instead
have served to legitimize his candidacy, making him a potent contender
next year. But his long-term appeal evolves from his record for
dealing with kidnap gangs and other gangsters in a terminal fashion,
or at least that's the legend.
ANC New's Business Sentiments host
Ricky Carandang asked me last week how al-Ghozi's escape affected
the local business community. Although I can't claim to speak for
the Philippines' splintered business community, my impression is
that we've grown immune from these kinds of developments. We're
like those funeral directors in Six Feet Under. Dead bodies just
don't seem very out of the ordinary, anymore.
Rather than being surprised, shocked,
and dismayed, we've accepted our fate. As the unhappy investment
banker played by Nicolas Cage in The Family Man tells his colleagues
about making a Christmas Day business trip, "This is my life.
This is what I do." And that's what we do here, essentially
accepting that it may really be impossible to change government,
to reform the bureaucracy, or to expect our police officers to do
their duty to us, rather than to themselves.
That's why we get no respect.
(Michael Alan Hamlin is the managing
director of consultancy TeamAsia and the author of three books on
Asian economies and companies. His latest book is Marketing Asian
Places, of which he is a co-author (Wiley, 2001), and he is
currently at work on High Visibility: The Making and Marketing
of Asian Professionals into Celebrities. Write him at mahamlin@teamasia.com.).
Copyright © 2003 Michael Alan
Hamlin. All Rights Reserved.
(###)
|
