The United Nations in Sae Ah
I was thrilled by the idea that my Filipino-Korean niece will be wearing Ukraine attire. An unarguably Korean looking girl clad with a different foreign outfit, I supported this idea by exhausting my time in looking out for many possible combinations from my array of costumes and accessories in my closet.
In her school, the annual celebration of the United Nations allows my niece to understand the importance of such observance. Living in a global village, though diverse in many facets, but we also have striking similarities. Beyond differences in physical features, we have parallel histories, aspirations, values, and practices.
Prof. Richard Javad Heydarian who teaches International Political Economy at Ateneo De Manila University has provided a critical essay on some similarities between Philippines and Ukraine.
Ukraine's dual-struggle for independence and democracy -- seems to be the talk of the town. Beyond the fact that the Ukrainian opposition has triumphantly toppled an autocratic leader, Viktor Yanukovych, there seems to be something so captivating with the ongoing revolution in Kiev. Ukraine and the Philippines have had their own share of political struggles in recent decades.
While the 1986 People Power EDSA revolution represented the culmination of our democratic aspirations, the 2004 Orange Revolution marked a seismic event in Ukraine's modern history. Both revolutions were largely non-violent, triggered by autocratic regimes' flagrant manipulation of electoral institutions, sending shockwaves across their respective regions.
Just like how the EDSA revolution inspired similar movements across East Asia and beyond, leading to regime changes in places such as South Korea and Taiwan, Ukraine's Orange revolution, in turn, rekindled hopes of a new wave of democratic transition across the post-Soviet space.
Both countries have also been caught between great powers, continuing to fight a centuries-old battle for national self-determination. The more dramatic aspect of Ukraine's plight, however, is its struggle to balance its relations with a giant neighbor (Russia) and the Western powers. Quite similarly, the Philippines is also caught in an increasingly overt strategic competition between a giant neighbor (China) and the U.S. in the Pacific Theatre.
On the other bilateral relationship, cooperation in cultural and humanitarian sphere between Ukraine and the Republic of Korea has been actively developing. The important element of the cultural and humanitarian bilateral cooperation is the functioning of the Department of Ukrainian Studies in one of the prominent universities of the Republic of Korea - Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. The Department is the only one in the country where students can learn Ukrainian language, literature, culture, economy, and policy.
For South Korea and our country, the relationship is evident. These East Asian neighbors have assumed a very different flavor characterized mainly by an enormous expansion of interactions not related to the formal political or diplomatic level. "The Philippines and Korea are linked by flows and counterflows of people," said Dr. Virginia Miralao of the Philippine Social Science Council in a study on the Korean diaspora in the Philippines. Today, the migratory patterns define the bilateral relations between Seoul and Manila more than diplomatic and possibly even economic relations do.
The geographic proximity may also explain why so many Koreans choose to come to the Philippines. We can easily identify various groups of Koreans coming here with different motivations. While the arrival of European, Japanese, and Taiwanese tourists has been greatly reduced, it is being compensated by the substantial increase in the arrival of South Korean tourists. In many popular tourist areas such as Boracay, Bohol, Cebu, or Palawan the Koreans have become the leading customers.
It is not merely the wearing of a different costume from a different nationality but the essence of representations: customs, culture, traditions-and our relationships. At an early age, my niece has an understanding and realization that we also have brothers and sisters in other parts of the globe whose culture and tradition are worth appreciating for and our united relationships with them are worth keeping.
Raised by a Korean father, living in her mother's homeland, and has never been to Korea, she is made to dress the Ukraine costume. Representing a mixture of three cultural features and aspirations, and the proclamation came-Ms. United Nations 2014 is Sae Ah R. Yang!
- Latest
