The sight of mass protests in Nepal and Indonesia resonates deeply across the globe, particularly in countries where the citizenry, particularly the youth, appalled by rampant corruption and the insensitivity of powerful politicians to the plight of ordinary people, have taken to the streets expressing their anger and outrage.
The Philippines, with its own long and fraught history with corruption, is fertile ground for such a movement. The question is not whether the potential for upheaval exists, but whether the unique sociopolitical fabric of the nation will allow such upheaval to unfold in a fashion similar to what has happened in Nepal and Indonesia.
In Nepal, thousands of mainly young people were triggered by the government’s decision to ban 26 social media platforms. Fearing that speech would be restricted for Nepal’s 30 million people and tourism — a major lifeblood for the country — would be hurt, the youth went on a rampage, leaving 34 protesters and three policemen dead and over 1,600 people injured after a clash with the police on Monday.
Provoked by the deaths of the protesters on 8 September, angry young demonstrators burned down several government buildings across the country, including the parliament and supreme court. Several politicians’ residences were also set on fire and the leaders of major political parties went into hiding.
The prime minister and four other ministers resigned and only after Nepal’s Army chief, Gen. Ashok Raj Sigdel, appealed in a video for calm and Army officers began talking to leaders of the protest movement did the violent protests fizzle out.
Social media has been restored and now all eyes are on the Nepali army.
In Indonesia’s case, the protests began on 25 August after 580 members of parliament (MPs) gave themselves — on top of their salaries — a monthly housing allowance of 50 million rupiah (about $3,075) — nearly 10 times the minimum wage in Jakarta — even as President Prabowo Subianto imposed strict austerity measures, including cuts to health, education, and public works budgets.
Demonstrations across Indonesia turned more violent after elite paramilitary police ran over and killed a 21-year-old delivery driver as an armored car was driven through protesters in Jakarta Friday last week.
Government buildings and police headquarters across Indonesia were set ablaze, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati’s house was looted, even as rioters burned buses, the subway, and other infrastructure with losses estimated at $3.3 million after five days of unrest.
Since then, Prabowo has replaced five ministers, including Indrawati who had previously been International Monetary Fund executive director and World Bank managing director. The MPs’ perks and privileges, including the housing allowance and trips abroad, were cut and suspended.
Calm, at least for now, has been restored in Indonesia, but for how long?
Meanwhile, here in the Philippines, some 130 organizations representing multisectoral groups have issued a statement of outrage against “government officials, politicontractors, private sector parties, and their relatives shamelessly flaunting their lavish lifestyles as they steal our hard-earned taxpayer money. We have had enough. We reject the system of corruption that kills Filipinos and erodes our confidence in government.”
This, after rampant corruption was exposed in defective and non-existent flood control projects authorized by the Department of Public Works and Highways and funded by budget allocations of members of Congress whose pockets have been fattened by kickbacks from complicit private contractors.
Such outrage has been concretely expressed with protesters pelting the House of Representatives with wastewater and rotten fruit. The walls of a construction company owned by Sarah and Curlee Discaya, a couple with nine companies, which had secured 345 flood control projects worth P25.2 billion, were splattered with mud and spray-painted with the words “thief” and “corrupt.”
Mass demonstrations have been scheduled, including Black Friday People’s Protect actions at the EDSA Shrine and the UP (Diliman and Manila) yesterday and the Trillion-Peso March at the People Power Monument organized by multisectoral organization Isambayan on 21 September.
Whether or not all these actions will yield results similar to what happened in Nepal and Indonesia remains to be seen but not a few political pundits here and abroad believe the Philippines now seems poised to go down the same path as both those countries.
They also say that, if things remain the same and no one goes to jail with all the sickening corruption that has been exposed, then the situation in the country could very well be akin to a pressure cooker about to blow up in everyone’s face.