Challenges

As in the 9/11 attacks in the United States, there are three major challenges following the latest terrorist attacks in Paris.

One is to go about our lives as usual, which is the best way to show that we refuse to be terrorized.

The second is to make a convincing case that the war on this scourge will be against extremists rather than Islam. Failure in this aspect can send more people into the arms of groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

The third, for free societies, is how to preserve our freedoms while at the same time keeping the public safe from this kind of violence. The violence is senseless to us, but it makes sense to its perpetrators, and they are waging asymmetrical warfare where no rules of civilized humanity apply.

As we have seen since 9/11, all three are easier said than done.

The first, to go on with business as usual, may be the easiest. It’s not foolhardiness, or daring extremists to make our day. We simply cannot live in fear, canceling trips and altering plans because we worry about where terrorists will strike next. But this attitude must be supported by efficient performance by those tasked to keep the public safe.

The second challenge needs more work, although it’s easier in some societies. In our case, I believe Filipinos generally see extremist violence not as a religious problem but one of poverty, poor education, weak government and exclusion from basic services. (And among the Abu Sayyaf there must be genuine psychopaths and other pathological loonies.)

Separating terrorist violence from religion can be complicated when extremists keep invoking faith before blowing themselves up, murdering satirical cartoonists, opening fire on concert goers or running a knife across a captive’s throat. Among the first reactions I heard as news of the Paris attacks spread was that the Islamic community in Europe is in deep trouble.

There are efforts among non-Muslims and Muslims to reach out to each other in peace, even as states prepare police and military responses to the attacks. It will help if the war on Islamist extremism is done with the support of Islamic governments or groups.

As for the third challenge, we’re still groping our way through constantly evolving security measures to keep the public safe. How much of our privacy and individual freedoms are we willing to give up? There is no sure answer to this.

* * *

I’ve been asked whether the Paris attacks will affect our country’s hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this week.

I don’t think it will keep any other APEC leaders from attending, except for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who canceled their visits before the attacks. The last thing world leaders want is to be seen letting terrorism control their lives.

But the attacks will surely lead to even tighter security. Before the attacks the security preparations were OA enough. The government didn’t want to take chances with incompetence and took the easy way out, which was to suspend everything – classes, work, flights – and hope that we will all just keep ourselves confined at home for four days.

But of course it’s impossible to shut down the National Capital Region. Some of us must work even on Christmas and New Year’s Day, and even more so during an international gathering like APEC.

So even yesterday, a Sunday, people were out in the streets, stewing in traffic as the APEC lanes were put in place along EDSA and Roxas Boulevard. All the time that I was stuck in the streets in the afternoon I didn’t see anyone using the darn lanes. The traffic was even more horrid on Saturday when dry runs were conducted. Dry runs are supposed to be brief, but people seem to think you’re a nobody in this country if you can’t cause maximum public inconvenience.

Unfortunately for us, vehicular traffic in Metro Manila is managed as inefficiently as air traffic at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. I’ve been told many times that London’s Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest (and second in the world after Dubai), is also too small for the flight volume it handles. But efficient management allows the massive number of aircraft to take off, park and land quickly and on time.

Our airport authorities have reportedly hired consultants connected with Heathrow to end the heavy traffic at the NAIA that has caused passengers to wait for up to 10 hours just to disembark. How much are the consultants costing us taxpayers?

Maybe we should have brought in foreign consultants for better traffic management at least during APEC.

* * *

Except for the overkill in traffic plans, we do need tight security for APEC. With Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) in our midst, we can’t disregard terrorist threats during the summit. I imagine security around the venues and hotels where the leaders and delegates are staying are stringent enough.

As the attacks in Paris showed once again, however, terrorists go for easy targets. We saw it recently at the bombing of the shrine in Bangkok. In December 2000, JI and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front bombed a Light Rail Transit train and a park near the US embassy in Manila, a gas station and a bus in Makati, leaving 22 people dead. In 2004 the Abu Sayyaf set off a bomb on a SuperFerry near the mouth of Manila Bay, killing 116 people.

Terrorists don’t go after well-guarded targets. They hit crowded places where security is farthest from people’s minds. They strike when our guard is down.Will we ever be prepared enough?