(Columnist’s note: Part 2 of last week’s “Paciano Rizal: More than just Jose’s ‘kuya,’” will be pushed back to give way to a different piece.)
JAKARTA-based Filipino educator Ferdinand Philip Victoria posted on social media his lamentation that during the regular Asian Food Festival in Jakarta, Filipino food was conspicuously absent. He wrote:
“Tayo lang talaga sa major na bansa sa dakong ito ng Asya Pasipiko ang [hin]di representado sa Indonesian food and beverage industry. Walang Indonesian entrepreneurs ang pumapansin o tumataya sa pagkaing Pinoy.”More importantly, Victoria added:
“Ni ang memorya at ang henerasyon ng mga taong pinangalanang Yose Rizal o Rizal o mga nakakaalala pa na naging inspirasyon ang ‘Huling Paalam’ ni Rizal sa Rebolusyong Indones ay papalipas na. Dati, si Rizal ang naging simbolo ng soft power ng Pilipinas sa Indonesia. Ngayon, nabaon na tayo sa limot…”
It is Victoria’s lamentation of our country’s inability to take advantage of, and cultivate, our soft power in a country that is virtually a twin of the Philippines. Through neglect and indifference, we have essentially wasted the gravitas among Indonesian nationalist giants of Jose Rizal as a colonial who had the courage to stand against the colonizers. The Indonesians were among the first to translate Rizal’s “Mi Ultimo Adios” to a foreign language outside of English.
What happened?
The elite-led Filipino nationalist movement of the 19th century, of which Rizal was the central figure, had always aspired to be recognized as equals by the colonizers. In pursuit of such an objective, the elite endeavored to master the language (i.e., Spanish and English) and culture of the colonizers.
Such was the fervent desire and orientation of these acculturated Filipino nationalists that Rizal’s generation went to Spain for their higher education. This was continued by the pensionados during the American colonial regime who got their education in universities in the United States.
During American colonial rule, Filipinos were classified by the United States as Pacific Islanders, not Asians. These acculturated Filipinos were all too happy to go along with this, shouting to the high heavens that we were not Asians or Orientals, rather we had greater affinity with the Americanos of Latin America, and of course, the United States. Some part of this might have something to do with our heavy dependence on the United States for our post-World War II/post-independence rehabilitation, but it would be incorrect to assume that the Filipino elite were coerced into this mindset.
Such is the influence of our acculturated/Westernized forebears that, as you can see, I am writing — and you, reading — this piece in English.
Postwar Filipinos had an internationally recognized image as American sycophantic lapdogs because of the high-profile “Am-boys” such as Carlos P. Romulo, who served as the president of the 4th session of the United Nations General Assembly from 1949 to 1950 and president of the UN Security Council in 1957, 1980 and 1981, ostensibly with massive support from the United States.
Domestically, President Ramon Magsaysay (1953-1957) was notoriously the Central Intelligence Agency-backed presidential candidate during the 1953 elections. This is not to say that his rival, reelectionist President Elpidio Quirino was not an American bootlicker as well. Every single president of the Philippine pre- and post-war era from Manuel Quezon onward — except for Japanese occupation era President Jose P. Laurel — were American yes-men.
Quirino sent the Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 due to American pressure. President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. also sent the Philippine Civic Action Group to Vietnam in support of the American war effort in that country from 1966 to 1973, in exchange for certain considerations from Uncle Sam. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo also contributed to the American-led Coalition of the Willing after the 9/11 attacks for the same reasons. We really had no business being involved in any of those conflicts.
Our country’s reputation as an American lapdog made other nationalistic/anti-colonial Southeast Asian nations wary of the Philippines. Says historian Constance Mary Turnbull:
“While the Philippines boasted a nationalist movement dating back to the 1870s and was the first Asian colonial territory to gain independence… its ongoing links with the United States made it a spokesman and docile ally of that country rather than an acknowledged pacesetter of regional nationalism… Filipino statements praising the United States at an Asian Relations Conference held in New Delhi in March 1947, only months after the Philippines became independent, shocked other delegates, as did a statement at the Manila Treaty conference in 1954 that Filipinos did not regard themselves as Asians.”
When the Vietnamese pushed for the creation of the Southeast Asian League in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1947, nationalists from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia, Malaya (they were not yet Malaysia at the time) and Thailand attended. We were not invited.
We joined the Association of Southeast Asia together with Malaya and Thailand in 1961, but it was doomed because we clashed with Malaya over Sabah. Maphilindo was later organized in 1963 composed of Malaya, the Philippines and Indonesia but could not progress because Indonesia vehemently opposed the creation of Malaysia in September 1963, resulting in the infamous “Konfrontasi.”
In reality, the Philippines has never really been invested in improving relations with our Southeast Asian neighbors, then and now, wasting a tremendous amount of goodwill and soft power from the days of Jose Rizal. Our leaders have always looked bright-eyed toward the more prosperous West and later, Japan, largely because of a mendicant international relations self-image.
During the dictatorship of Marcos Sr., the charms of the “Iron Butterfly” Imelda Marcos were mobilized to improve relations with the “second world” led by Russia and China. At present, through the efforts of the late President Benigno Aquino III, continued scandalously by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., our country’s ties with China lie in tatters.
Nevertheless, Victoria should know better because he is a highly regarded historian. Our country’s Western-oriented mendicant leaders are not interested in improving ties with Indonesia, in spite of the soft power we already have with our neighbor.
