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By EU Ambassador to the Philippines Alistair MacDonald

Editors’s Note: “Address by the Honorary Patron of the
Manila St. Andrews Society, Ambassador Alistair MacDonald,
on the occasion of the annual St. Andrews Ball, Manila Polo Club, 21 November
2009″ is what the ambassador wanted for this blog’s title.

Our Chieftain asked me to say a few
words tonight, before we move on to more important things. I asked him if he
wanted a 20-minute speech, a 30-minute speech, or something more substantial. He
told me that about 2 minutes would be closer to the mark, because the haggis
would be getting cold. 

Nevertheless, within these
constraints, I would like to say a word about the links between the Philippines, our host country, and Scotland,
our native land. A couple of years back, Peter Beckingham* spoke at length (and
for rather longer than 2 minutes) about Scots in the Philippines. I’d like to look at
the other side of the coin–the growing number of Filipinos who have chosen to
study or work in Scotland. 

I did a quick Google on Scotland and the Philippines,
Scotland and Filipinos, Scotland
and Filipinas. And there were two main themes that I found there. 

One was about fishermen–I hadn’t
realised myself that there were perhaps 500 Filipinos working on Scottish
fishing vessels–enjoying the sun in Fraserburgh or Ullapool, and learning to
send text-messages like “Fit like, mun?” I thought at first that this was a
question of relative cost–and I was confirmed in that view by comments that the
Filipino fishermen were earning the glorious sums of between £250 and £600 a
month–not a lot, particularly if you think what the conditions are like on
fishing-boats, out in the North Sea or the Minch. But I also found an article
which suggested that salaries were a secondary consideration, and that the main
attraction of employing Filipino fishermen was that they are simply good guys–they
work hard, are easy to get on with, and as one skipper said, “They’re great
workers, but most of all ye can trust them. They dinna come home drunk or off
their faces on drugs.” Maybe this says more about Fraserburgh than it does
about OFWs, but it was clear that the Filipino fishermen were generally very
much welcomed by their hosts in the North-East.

The second main theme that I found
in Google was about the desire of the growing number of Filipinos in Scotland
to integrate with their host community. For example, I saw that the United
Filipino Communities of Scotland, in Pollokshaws, was carrying out a search for
Mrs. Philippines Scotland 2009. Perhaps more interestingly (particularly if one
imagines all those beauties bundled up in their anoraks, scarves, and hot-water
bottles), I also found an explanation for why the Filipinos prefer Scotland to England. 

This was also from the United
Filipino Communities of Scotland, where on their website I found a paper
explaining that the first members of the Filipino community in the UK arrived
in London in the late 1940’s and early 50’s and discovered the exotic pleasures
of a ride on a double-decker bus, or a night of Latin rhythms with Edmundo Ros.
But something was missing. And it wasn’t until they went on to visit Scotland that
they realised just what it was. London,
they said, was missing any signs of ethnicity or roots. And in Scotland,
we’ve got more ethnicity than you can shake a stick at.

There was even a suggestion that
Filipinos and Scots must in fact, centuries or millenia back, share a common
ancestry. The proof? Consider the strange similarity between Hoy, Ay Nako, and
Och Aye the Noo. Consider also our joint preference, and I quote, “for strange
songs and dances involving animal sounds and the possibility of severe personal
injury.” Not to mention our joint preference for truly appetising if unusual
foodstuffs–balut, or haggis. 

And with that mention of haggis
(and of course of balut, though I don’t think that this is on the menu
tonight), I will leave you with the thought that Filipinos truly appreciate
Scotland–just as Scots, and particularly those of us here tonight, very much
appreciate our cheerful and generous hosts.

* Former British Ambassador to the Philippines
Peter Beckingham.

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By Ko Ko Thett

Editor’s note: Ko Ko Thett is a Burma
analyst based in Helsinki.
This article was initially available at http://www.irrawaddy.org/opinion_story.php?art_id=17863.

HELSINKI,
Finland–For
Burma politicians, policy advocates, activists, watchers, sympathizers,
scholars, do-gooders, and donors, frustration is a fact of life since potential
for change into a democratic society has eluded everyone for more than 20
years.

Mass movements and revolutions, informed and inspired by the
1988 overthrow of the Burma Socialist Program Party, have made no headway since
1988. While each failed mass movement has had tragic human costs to the lives
of individuals involved in it, the regime’s weathering of each storm seems to
have prepared them better for the next.

The new Burmese capital of Naypyidaw is now conveniently
located at least 300 kilometers from each of the most populous cities, Rangoon
in the South and Mandalay in the North, so people power cannot come near the
government’s seat of power.

The country’s economy in real terms has worsened for the
bottom 50 million, and the increased polarization of wealth offers little hope
for those who argue “economy precedes politics.”

The hardship for the people was so great even the sangha,
who are supposed to be above the mundane world, came out en masse in late 2007,
in what would be known as the Saffron Revolution.

The recent series of sit-ins for higher wages by Rangoon garment industry
workers, most of whom are ladies carrying for extensive families, is just
another indication of the dire straits of the common people. In Burma, one
employed person may be supporting five unemployed persons–social protection by
the state is non-existent save a measly pension scheme for veterans and former
government employees.

Whereas the Burmese regime has made the best of its
geopolitics and regionalization vis-à-vis the Asean countries, China and India, globalization and all its
purported glories have passed over the country. If anything the global thirst
for energy and the global security paranoia have favored the Burmese generals.
As such, other factors indicative of democracy, such as the emergence of an
enlightened middle class, the existence of a strong and independent civil
society, the rescue of the country by a disillusioned political leadership
within the government remain far-fetched.

The staunch opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi has been the
“voice of hope” for the politically minded section of the society and their
Western supporters, but they have not shaken the regime since government
functionaries at large remain unaffected. It can be argued that the
“unaffectedness” has been caused by the regime’s systematic persecution that is
designed to isolate charismatic dissidents from the people. Inevitably, the
Burmese opposition, as well as their Western supporters, are handy scapegoats
that the regime can blame for its own failures.

The entrenched and institutionalized conflict between the
ethnic autonomy groups and the central regime has also served as a way for the
Burmese military to justify its militarist expansionist policies. Even natural
and man-made calamities of great magnitude, such as Cyclone Nargis and the
famine in Chin State, which would have huge potential
for change in other societies appear to have only hardened the regime’s
callousness toward the suffering of the people.

Make no mistake. The regime’s initiative, the “Road Map to
Democracy,” does not offer a glimmer of hope. All institutions advocated by the
author Robert Dahl as vital for any large-scale democracy: elected officials,
free fair and frequent elections, freedom of expressions, alternative sources
of information, associational autonomy, inclusive citizenship, are nowhere to
be found on the Road Map, except for “elected officials” who are widely
anticipated to be elected in a controlled, regime-friendly parliament. In
addition, the threat of another military coup always lurks beneath the current
Constitution. Another putsch means going back to the late 1980s, if not the
early 1960s.

Yet no matter how well prepared the regime is, the 2010
elections, and all the elections thereafter, will not be foolproof. Inasmuch as
the looming elections have cornered the opposition into a “double bind,” the
regime is also acutely aware that it is walking a tight rope holding a
balancing pole they call the 2008 Constitution. The regime has to balance
between two inherently contradictory quests: one for national and international
legitimacy and the other for the top generals’ need to remain as sole
arbitrators of state power, which is essential for them to be able to avoid the
fate of fallen dictators.

If the elections are free, fair, and inclusive, as the
international community insists, the regime risks losing a bigger-than-expected
slide of their power–even within the current constitutional context. If the
elections are not free and fair, the regime will be met with continued
international condemnation and local resistance, a continuation of the status
quo.

It would not be surprising if the generals in Naypyidaw are
as apprehensive about the 2010 elections as the opposition itself. Perhaps, the
opposition should treat the 2010 elections as an opportunity for change,
including much desired constitutional change.

If history is any guide, elections all over the world have
undermined colonial and authoritarian systems, rather than entrenched them.
Elections, even defined and sponsored by repressive regimes for their own sake,
usually backfire since they tend to arouse political debate, increase political
awareness, and promote people’s participation in politics.

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