The future is Asia; Eid Mubarak FROM A DISTANCE By Carmen N. Pedrosa (The Philippine Star) | Updated August 10, 2013 I am for Asia. This column is about helping Asia achieve “The Asian Century.” In my opinion Asians must be cautious about nationalist appeals that do not promote unity of the region. This is not easy because sometimes it is not obvious that what is labeled nationalist can weaken region building. As usual, there is a need for balance and caution when we are swamped with misguided Western propaganda that incite to hostility among nations in Asia. That includes war noises that can eventually lead to real war. More than ever we need bold and creative ideas in diplomacy. There is a dearth of such talent in Asia because this is not encouraged by resistant platitudes about “nationalism”. Countries in Asia had fought long and hard wars against colonialism that had lasting effects we are loathe to admit. * * * I was happy to meet again with former Jose P. de Venecia at a dinner given by Belinda Olivares-Cunanan who now writes a blog called polbits. After his last term as a congressman he has turned into a full term internationalist. I am glad that because he is Filipino, his platform is inevitably Asian. Others do not see this readily because some Filipinos have been unable to extricate itself from its colonial mentality. He uses a regional organization called Centrist Asia-Pacific Democrats International (CAPDI) for his international advocacy. He works with some of the most prominent figures in the region among them Jusuf Kalla who is known as the hero of the Aceh Peace Agreement in Indonesia. Kalla is CAPDI chairman and like de Venecia among the co-founders of the Asian group. Kalla opened the mood of the conference with a call to “all parties to prioritize maintaining peace, not war, by involving the government and all non-governmental parties.” CAPDI is a non-profit organization that seeks to play an active role in international political affairs. It was founded by seven political parties in Manila on July 4, 2005. The objective of the group was embodied in the Manila Declaration in January 2006 and reaffirmed in Jakarta in January 2008. Today from that seven political parties CAPDI has been joined by 60 members from 18 countries in Asia Pacific. (You know how smiling Joe is so I am not surprised that he has been able to cajole these usually combative leaders in Asia to come together as one group). Think of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. He is active in the group and makes people wonder. He used to be an ardent member of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. But he has since been devoted to rebuilding Cambodia and presided over the recent disputed elections. In other words, this group would admit even “undesirable elements” if they would now be part of rebuilding the country and work for peace and stability of the region. There would be others who would cringe at the thought that Hun Sen, formerly of Khmer Rouge should become a chairman of CAPDI. But that seems to be the objective of the group. It will admit member countries who keep up the fight against “the numerous threats that disrupt national stability, such as border conflicts, religious conflicts, terrorism, the nuclear disarmament issue, global warming and climate change, natural disaster and human trafficking.” That makes you better understand what happened in the Asean conference when it was said that Cambodia was being partial to China. (CNP: This is only my opinion). At the conference were a long list of other movers and shakers in Asia. Political parties being what they are with differing ideologies included figures like President of China Xi Jinping, President Benigno Aquino III, former President Fidel Ramos and Azerbaijan President Ilham Alitey. (I had to run to my world atlas to see just where Azerbaijan is.) Another major objective of the group is how to find a world consensus on climate change. This advocacy has been beset by competition between developed and developing countries. If climate change is about industrial development then it was good to see the name of Ramon S. Ang as one of the attendees in Makassar dealing with both peace and reconciliation and climate change in Asia. Ang is president of the Asia-wide San Miguel conglomerate, Philippine Airlines, Petron Oil and co-founder of the Asian-Latin American Business Council. Without business and industrial support, government efforts to cope with climate change will be in vain. * * * As we walked out of the dinner, I whispered to my friend, Francis Xavier Manglapus that this group co-founded and led by a Filipino former speaker of the house has a promising future to become another non-aligned movement but with its origins in war-driven Asia. The first non-aligned movement (NAM) was founded in Belgrade in 1961 as a group of states not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. As of 2012, the movement has 120 members and 17 observer countries. The organization was founded in Belgrade in 1961. It began as a movement inspired by India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru; Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno; Egypt’s second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser; Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah and Yugoslavia’s president, Josip Broz Tito. These five leaders came together to formulate a middle course that would insulate developing countries from the Cold War between the Western and Eastern blocs. “The phrase itself was first used to represent the doctrine by Indian diplomat Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon in 1953, at the United Nations. In a speech given during the Havana Declaration of 1979, Fidel Castro said the purpose of the organization is to ensure “the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries” in their “struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics”. The countries of the Non-Aligned Movement represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations’s members and contain 55% of the world population. Membership is particularly concentrated in countries considered to be developing or part of the Third World. “(Wikipedia) In a way, the original NAM founded in Europe has lost its luster because of the end of the Cold War. But with the struggle for hegemony among the superpowers now focused in Asia, the leaders of CAPDI have a template to emulate — the ideas of great men of a previous generation. If it succeeds then can we secure the future of Asia and with that, also the future of the Philippines in Asia. * * * From this column, to all my Muslim friends around the world: EID MUBARAK for peace, joy and prosperity. [That Man]
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 12:21:58 +0000
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