US changes its tune

Recently I had dinner with some Myanmar friends and they talked on success stories in their country from the efforts of NGOs. Unfortunately, Filipinos only get to hear about the military government and Western criticism that paints a one-dimensional picture. Naturally it can only be a black picture.

I have gone to Myanmar and talked to ordinary people. The range of opinions is as varied as one might find in a democracy. The country has political and economic difficulties, the most important of them stems from its colonial days under the British and its make-up of a nation with more than a dozen ethnic groups that have spawned 17 rebellions.

The ordinary people of Myanmar would rather get on with their lives and Western sanctions have not helped. It has brought only hardships to the country. Business continues with other countries including the US. “There is a double standard,” my Myanmar friend told me.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Jakarta said her country “vows to deepen partnership in Southeast Asia to jointly face crisis, security challenges”. Ironically, she criticized Myanmar, a major bone of contention between Asean countries and the West.

The US wants Asean to be more harsh to Myanmar but it is not succeeding. Asean countries are bent on strengthening regional cooperation.

 One wonders what exactly Clinton means when she says “the United States was reviewing its policy of economic sanctions against the military junta that runs the country, formerly known as Burma.” If sanctions have not worked, I wonder what the next step will be to make the military junta bend to its will? My guess is that Muslim-dominated Indonesia will be part of this new strategy. Let’s wait and see.

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When the World Bank briefs the senators on the public works bid rigging, there will be one item that will not be in the agenda — corruption in its own bureaucracy and there are plenty. Indeed, in most country investigations, the collusion goes as far as to the bank’s own bureaucracy leading some concerned financial analysts to ask whether the institution itself needs to be changed. Some have even advised more drastic action, not just a revamp, and that we start with a new, more transparent institution. What appears to be true is that the collusion is not limited to contractors and country governments but endemic in the structure and policies of World Bank itself. If it has chosen to be involved in the mess of local politics, then it must also be more forthright about its own corruption. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad when accused of corruption just sent them out, not because there was no local corruption but because World Bank is hardly the institution that should preside over transparency in Malaysia’s government. He had a country to govern and an economy to stabilize, he had no time for lectures from World Bank bureaucrats who are just as guilty. In the end his priorities paid off. World Bank now praises policies that sprung from his dedication to his country.

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Speaking on prioritizing, it was good to meet with two Muslim women, one from Saudi Arabia, journalist Samar Fatany and the other, Norma M. Sharief, a Filipina educator from ARMM at a dinner tendered by Ambassador Wali at his residence recently. Both women typified Muslim women taking an active part in nation building through their own careers.

Norma, our kababayan is an educator and she has been working on a high quality education for Muslims in the region. She is the managing commissioner for the Commission on Higher Education for ARMM. Interestingly, the work for higher education begins in the madrasah that is often criticized as a breeding ground for terrorists. One dinner conversation was not enough to cover the work both women were doing for their societies.

Samar Fatamy was with husband Khaled Almaeena, editor-in-chief of Arab News, a widely circulated English newspaper in the Arab world. It turned out that we had mutual friends. Although Samar and Norma came from different disciplines, both represented a growing breed among Muslim women, about whom we know little about. Samar gave me a small booklet “Saudi Perceptions and Western Misconceptions”.

More Filipinos should read it especially because we have many kababayans there and many more are applying, many of them women. Ambassador Wali says the embassy processes a thousand visas per day and these have not abated or stopped even with the crisis.

Local media has not kept track of many changes taking place among Saudi women. We should. As Samar said many of them have shared in the progress and development of their country, thanks to the enlightened policies of King Abdullah.

The enlightenment and uplifting of women in Saudi Arabia has been going on for sometime. That was true when I was invited to visit Riyadh and Jeddah a few years ago. Even then, I had already met Saudi women who did not conform to their Western media image even if they wore veils. Far from it. They knew their rights and King Abdullah’s policies have accelerated the changes faster than they would have thought several years ago.

Samar and Norma would not meekly accept Western misconceptions of women of Islam.

Both women work hard to earn the respect of their society and the recognition of the global community. We certainly should help them in this noble task because empowered women is the certain route to emancipated society. All the while that Samar was talking, her husband, Khaled was nodding his head in agreement, which means that the women have the support of their men. The world is changing not because superpowers will it but because the men and women in their own societies work for it, even if they achieve it in their own pace and time.