Strength
Strength
Updated 00:03am (Mla time) Oct 19, 2004
By Conrado de Quiros
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A10 of the October 19, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
DANA R. Dillon of the Heritage Foundation is right when she says Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo "is the weakest leader in the [Asia-Pacific] region." She is right when she says Ms Arroyo is "an equal opportunity weakling" who would "rather appease than confront." She is right about these things -- but for the wrong reasons.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative American think tank that approved of Ferdinand Marcos for the most part, has always been confused about the meaning of strength. In that respect at least, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye is right to say its assessment is biased, owing mainly to President Arroyo's decision to pull out Philippine troops from Iraq to save a Filipino from a beheading. Dillon expressly shows his bias: "The longer [President Arroyo's] administration makes foreign policy for the Philippines, the more it seems that threats from terrorists and regional bullies influence her more than diplomatic and financial aid from Manila's friends and allies."
His equation is simple and simplistic: Had President Arroyo remained true to her commitment to the "coalition of the willing," she would have been a strong leader. But she did not. Hence, she is a weak one. In fact, her decision to pull out the tiny Philippine contingent from Iraq is the only show of strength she's made in close to four years of rule. But also for the wrong reasons, which in the end reduces it to an act of weakness.
I did say then it wasn't enough to pull out our troops from Iraq. By itself, it smacked of horrendous cowardice, coming as it did especially after her high-profile, gung-ho saber-rattling and strutting before the Iraq invasion. For her decision to represent an act of principle rather than of expedience, it had to go with a rejection of the invasion and an apology to both the Iraqi and Filipino people for dragging them to hell to satisfy the whims of a madman. You can't just pull out your troops and act as though nothing has happened. That may be possible in this country, whose people suffer from perpetual amnesia and who can't remember that the person who rescued Angelo de la Cruz was the same person who drove him to his captors' arms to begin with, but that is not possible elsewhere. Elsewhere, people remember -- and demand explanations.
I warned repeatedly about the consequences of that action without an articulated change of policy, or heart, to go with it. It would be seen as an act of cowardice, it would be seen as a show of weakness. Well, it's a lesson Ms Arroyo should have learned a long time ago: You try to please everybody, you'll please no one.
President Arroyo's support for the US invasion of Iraq, or indeed for George W. Bush's idea of fighting terrorism, was never an act of strength to begin with. It was an act of weakness. It represented the very thing Dillon cites as proof of Ms Arroyo's weakness, which is her penchant for appeasing rather than confronting. Outside looking in, it might have looked like a show of strength, a defiance of the sentiments of most of the world, particularly of the South, as represented by the countries belonging to the Non-Aligned Movement. Inside looking out, it was an act of weakness, a pandering to the biases of this country to drum up support for a second term. No, more than pandering to the biases of this country, exploiting and fanning the worst prejudices of this people, which are our blind love for Americans and blind hatred for “Moros” [Filipino Muslims].
President Arroyo's dubious distinction as the weakest leader in the Asia-Pacific region did not begin when she acceded to the demands of Angelo de la Cruz's captors. It began long before, when she acceded to the demands of this country's captors, the people and institutions who have run it from time immemorial, more and more to the ground. It was a monumental irony from the start that Ms Arroyo would ensue from the loins of the EDSA People Power II uprising, the overthrow of Joseph Estrada, like the overthrow of Marcos, sounding the call for heroic changes. That she would neither be heroic nor change anything was patent from Day One in her inauguration speech when she forgot about the real forces that drove Estrada away and began praising the generals who flocked to the EDSA highway at the 11th hour to pluck victory away from everybody else. That's how Angelo Reyes got as far as he did.
That was patent in the way she bowed down to Estrada after "EDSA III," figuring she couldn't afford to antagonize him and his followers if she wanted to win a second term. That was patent in the way she tried to accommodate the Marcoses and their cronies, figuring she too needed them if she wanted to stay in power. That was patent in the way she banned the movie "Live Show" from public view to please Jaime Cardinal Sin. "Live Show" was a perfectly respectable movie made by a perfectly respectable director, Joey Reyes, who had the added virtue of having fought Estrada when most movie folk tried only to please him. Certainly, he contributed far more to EDSA II than Ms Arroyo.
Indeed, that was patent in the way Ms Arroyo turned herself into an American vassal, single-handedly pushing this country back to commonwealth status, in defense of an idiot of an American president. Can there be a more embarrassing display of vassalage than her speech at the UN last year, where she echoed Bush's line after Kofi Annan, Jacques Chirac, Mahathir Mohamad, and even the Pope had taken turns criticizing the US for its occupation of Iraq? You want to see strong leaders, all you have to do is look at the last four, who are strong not merely because they stand their ground (Bush does the same thing out of stupidity) but because they stand on moral ground.
No, Ms Arroyo's descent into the weakest leader of Asia did not begin when she pulled out troops from Iraq. It began long before -- with no small help from the American government. And groups like the Heritage Foundation.
Updated 00:03am (Mla time) Oct 19, 2004
By Conrado de Quiros
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A10 of the October 19, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
DANA R. Dillon of the Heritage Foundation is right when she says Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo "is the weakest leader in the [Asia-Pacific] region." She is right when she says Ms Arroyo is "an equal opportunity weakling" who would "rather appease than confront." She is right about these things -- but for the wrong reasons.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative American think tank that approved of Ferdinand Marcos for the most part, has always been confused about the meaning of strength. In that respect at least, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye is right to say its assessment is biased, owing mainly to President Arroyo's decision to pull out Philippine troops from Iraq to save a Filipino from a beheading. Dillon expressly shows his bias: "The longer [President Arroyo's] administration makes foreign policy for the Philippines, the more it seems that threats from terrorists and regional bullies influence her more than diplomatic and financial aid from Manila's friends and allies."
His equation is simple and simplistic: Had President Arroyo remained true to her commitment to the "coalition of the willing," she would have been a strong leader. But she did not. Hence, she is a weak one. In fact, her decision to pull out the tiny Philippine contingent from Iraq is the only show of strength she's made in close to four years of rule. But also for the wrong reasons, which in the end reduces it to an act of weakness.
I did say then it wasn't enough to pull out our troops from Iraq. By itself, it smacked of horrendous cowardice, coming as it did especially after her high-profile, gung-ho saber-rattling and strutting before the Iraq invasion. For her decision to represent an act of principle rather than of expedience, it had to go with a rejection of the invasion and an apology to both the Iraqi and Filipino people for dragging them to hell to satisfy the whims of a madman. You can't just pull out your troops and act as though nothing has happened. That may be possible in this country, whose people suffer from perpetual amnesia and who can't remember that the person who rescued Angelo de la Cruz was the same person who drove him to his captors' arms to begin with, but that is not possible elsewhere. Elsewhere, people remember -- and demand explanations.
I warned repeatedly about the consequences of that action without an articulated change of policy, or heart, to go with it. It would be seen as an act of cowardice, it would be seen as a show of weakness. Well, it's a lesson Ms Arroyo should have learned a long time ago: You try to please everybody, you'll please no one.
President Arroyo's support for the US invasion of Iraq, or indeed for George W. Bush's idea of fighting terrorism, was never an act of strength to begin with. It was an act of weakness. It represented the very thing Dillon cites as proof of Ms Arroyo's weakness, which is her penchant for appeasing rather than confronting. Outside looking in, it might have looked like a show of strength, a defiance of the sentiments of most of the world, particularly of the South, as represented by the countries belonging to the Non-Aligned Movement. Inside looking out, it was an act of weakness, a pandering to the biases of this country to drum up support for a second term. No, more than pandering to the biases of this country, exploiting and fanning the worst prejudices of this people, which are our blind love for Americans and blind hatred for “Moros” [Filipino Muslims].
President Arroyo's dubious distinction as the weakest leader in the Asia-Pacific region did not begin when she acceded to the demands of Angelo de la Cruz's captors. It began long before, when she acceded to the demands of this country's captors, the people and institutions who have run it from time immemorial, more and more to the ground. It was a monumental irony from the start that Ms Arroyo would ensue from the loins of the EDSA People Power II uprising, the overthrow of Joseph Estrada, like the overthrow of Marcos, sounding the call for heroic changes. That she would neither be heroic nor change anything was patent from Day One in her inauguration speech when she forgot about the real forces that drove Estrada away and began praising the generals who flocked to the EDSA highway at the 11th hour to pluck victory away from everybody else. That's how Angelo Reyes got as far as he did.
That was patent in the way she bowed down to Estrada after "EDSA III," figuring she couldn't afford to antagonize him and his followers if she wanted to win a second term. That was patent in the way she tried to accommodate the Marcoses and their cronies, figuring she too needed them if she wanted to stay in power. That was patent in the way she banned the movie "Live Show" from public view to please Jaime Cardinal Sin. "Live Show" was a perfectly respectable movie made by a perfectly respectable director, Joey Reyes, who had the added virtue of having fought Estrada when most movie folk tried only to please him. Certainly, he contributed far more to EDSA II than Ms Arroyo.
Indeed, that was patent in the way Ms Arroyo turned herself into an American vassal, single-handedly pushing this country back to commonwealth status, in defense of an idiot of an American president. Can there be a more embarrassing display of vassalage than her speech at the UN last year, where she echoed Bush's line after Kofi Annan, Jacques Chirac, Mahathir Mohamad, and even the Pope had taken turns criticizing the US for its occupation of Iraq? You want to see strong leaders, all you have to do is look at the last four, who are strong not merely because they stand their ground (Bush does the same thing out of stupidity) but because they stand on moral ground.
No, Ms Arroyo's descent into the weakest leader of Asia did not begin when she pulled out troops from Iraq. It began long before -- with no small help from the American government. And groups like the Heritage Foundation.
posted by Dante at 12:03 AM
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