Disaffected

What happens when a legitimately installed leader disaffected his own people?

Muhamad Morsi has made his mark, to be sure. He is the first leader of a 5,000-year-old civilization to be installed by popular vote. That happened exactly a year ago, when Morsi squeaked past his pro-Mubarak rival in a runoff election.

It was a win secured by the patently uncharismatic leader by promising everything to everybody. Twelve months after accessing the presidency, however, Morsi can only boast of a long list of unfulfilled promises, a sea of disappointment.

Utter lack of charisma is not Morsi’s only weakness. The government he formed proved to be incompetent. With neither intellectual depth nor eloquence nor political finesse, Morsi’s leadership failed to be inclusive. His simpleton responses to the complex issues of the day aroused fears of autocracy, the hijacking of what was such a fecund revolution.

When Morsi crafted a constitution, he failed to include liberals, Christians and other minorities among the drafters. The resulting document, ratified more out of urgent necessity like our own 1987 Charter, unveiled an imperfection with each passing day. It did not properly protect the rights of women nor guarantee freedom of the press.

One year after Morsi became Egypt’s first democratically installed leader, the most articulate of this nation’s citizens are convinced he should not stay a day longer in power. They want him out — today — even if this be at the expense of an interregnum of military rule. Such is the depth of despair for a man who promised much and delivered very little, a leader who plunged into political waters way beyond his depth.

Today, Morsi sits precariously at the precipice. Six of his ministers, including foreign minister Kamel Amr and the president’s own spokesman, have resigned. Millions of Egyptians are in the streets, demanding he steps down. The military issued a 48-hour ultimatum and then leaked a draft “roadmap” for Egypt’s future, including a new constitution and then new elections.

Morsi, in his most recent statement, rejected the military’s ultimatum, claiming he is the duly elected leader. That sounds somehow hollow, considering the matter is not so much about the fact that he was elected but the fact that he has proven so unfit for the post.

Democratic practice has one annoying vice: it is a process tending to install ill-suited leaders at the most crucial junctures.

Muhamad Morsi personifies what could go wrong in newfound democracies. Where the situation demands audacious leadership, he supplies only incompetence. Where a people desperately thirsts for hope, he supplies only tired promises. Where complex political currents demand the most tolerant inclusiveness, only arrogance and pig-headedness trickles from the top.

Muhamad Morsi is profoundly clueless about where his nation is and where it must go. From the folds of a backward-looking movement, he could not possibly understand the future nor possibly imagine the possibilities of the present. He is a sorry accident of history, this fool at the top of the hill.

Something has to give in Egypt this week. That will have to be Morsi. Only his inglorious exit from the scene will save this nation from imploding political tensions. Only military intervention will, ironic as that might seem, save the promise of the democratic revolution in Egypt.

Morsi cannot understand that, of course. He will have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, from the palace he does not deserve.

Consistency

The award handed out by the UP Alumni Association for distinguished graduates of the state university is a much coveted one. Among those awarded this year is Senator Loren Legarda for all the work she put in protecting the environment and mitigating the perils posed by global warming.

Legarda graduated cum laude from the UP in 1981 with a degree in broadcast communications. After a few years working in the broadcast media, she tried her hand in politics, winning a seat in the Senate on her first run. Now starting out on her third term in the upper chamber, she demonstrated great consistency in her advocacies.

She worked for the enactment of a number of key legislation related to her green advocacy. Among these are: the Clean Air Act, the Solid Waste Management Act, the Renewable Energy Act and the Environmental Awareness Education Act. She authored the Climate Change Act and the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Act, both recognized by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) as exemplary pieces of legislation addressing this looming global concern.

Legarda pursued her advocacy beyond the arena of legislation. She worked with various agencies to produce the Disaster Preparedness and Aid Handbook. To help build public awareness of the threats posed by climate change, she produced a number of documentaries now used in most schools, such as: “Ulan sa Tag-Araw: Isang Doku-drama Ukol sa Pagbabago ng Klima,” “Ligtas Likas,” “Now is the Time” and “Ligtas.” These films are now available for all our local government units and public schools.

Presently, she is working with non-government organizations, academe and community groups to institutionalize disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation at community level. She is pushing for more detailed geohazard mapping and risk assessment for all communities so that they may integrate disaster preparation in all their plans.

Loren has taken to her advocacies with admirable passion and focus. These are the qualities the UP Alumni Association would want emulated by all graduates of the state university, giving real substance to the honorific “Iskolar ng Bayan.”