Amnesty rhetoric is nothing more than sabre-rattling 31 Aug 2008
It is interesting to see that the global debate on amnesty for corruption has now been taken up in Kenya. Initiatives like the South African Truth and Reconciliation experience are sometimes offered as a rationale for justifying forgiveness for corruption. Accept you’ve committed atrocities against your fellow man, and you are forgiven. If you don’t take advantage of the amnesty within the stipulated period, you shall remain liable and subject to prosecution.
As the South African experience amply demonstrated, this kind of ‘justice’ works well where national healing is at stake and a nation is anxious to shed a prolonged history of evil doing and move on.
Amnesty for corruption can be granted across the board, or to specific individuals as in Pakistan’s offer of amnesty to Benazir Bhutto. For such amnesty to have any meaning, it should be based not merely on acceptance of guilt but restitution as well. Some of those calling for amnesty in Kenya have cited Hong Kong as a precedent. But before jumping to conclusions, it is important to understand the Hong Kong context and what actually happened thirty years ago.
Hong Kong remains an exemplar case study on how to clean up a system and eradicate graft, and it is hardly surprising that many countries, including Kenya have looked to the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) as a model. Corruption in Hong Kong was essentially police-based, while in Kenya the accused tend to be so-called ‘big men’ in public office, the same people who are supposed to pass laws to fight the vice.
Prior to the early seventies, as many as 70% of complaints were made against the police. Top and senior-level British police officers had turned the force into a virtual milch cow. They had carved up the territory into desirable milking districts and sold protection to criminal gangs. Graft was a way of life until the administration woke up and decided to eradicate it once and for all.
Quite apart from the existence of a political will, what made the task relatively easier than in Kenya is the fact that police officers, even senior ones, are not exactly the sacred cows that roam our political landscape with impunity. Cops, big and small, faced the law. Partial amnesty was granted for minor cases rather than the blanket forgiveness some imagine took place in Hong Kong.
Many others were relieved of their duties and the whole exercise amounted to a complete overhaul of the police force. Today, most complaints are in the private sector business.
There are a few lessons there for Kenya, but only a few because the Kenyan corruption jungle is populated by a different species altogether, a political species that has shown itself to be incapable of pleading mea culpa and is much more inclined to fight to protect its name and ill-gotten wealth. The cops in Hong Kong knew their time had come, and most were prepared to accept that the system was indeed rotten and needed major surgery, including their own removal.
It is difficult to imagine the perpetrators of grand corruption in Kenya accepting, first, that they have stolen public funds, and second, making restitution in return for forgiveness. This can only happen if the political will exists to pursue them if they fail to come forward to benefit from the said amnesty. Despite all the rhetoric one hears, I am not persuaded that such political will currently exists. Talk of an amnesty is therefore just another example of sabre-rattling.
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For some time since the skirmishes of 2002, the relative calm offered India and Pakistan an opportunity to work toward resolving the Kashmir question. Now it seems that window of opportunity was merely a lull before the storm. This storm has been raging since May when it was decided to grant land to a trust which runs a Hindu shrine in a largely Muslim area. As expected (although the Indian government curiously didn’t anticipate this) Moslems were not amused, and resorted to protests.
In a further example of amateur political posturing and appeasement, the decision was reversed, this time prompting protests from the Hindus who have always considered themselves marginalized and disenfranchised. With all the tension and violent clashes, a political solution couldn’t be more elusive. It seems they kept the situation under observation, hoping it would heal itself, which now seems futile, because all along, the Kashmir question has been languishing in intensive care.
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Meanwhile in Thailand, the government remains under siege by ordinary citizens who maintain that Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is merely holding brief for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin has of course fled to the UK, to escape prosecution for graft. But this is not enough to pacify the protestors and persuade them that he no longer calls the shots. Samak’s administration was doomed from the word go. He has never succeeded in dispelling the notion that he is a puppet being manipulated by the wealthy and once powerful Thaksin. His position becomes less and less tenable with very passing day. The political intrigues of this country have all the hallmarks of a third world country. One wonders what lessons for graft amnesty they would have for us. Precious few, is the safe bet.
Musharraf’s departure leaves Pakistan at a crossroads 24 Aug 2008
The Pakistani strongman in signature military fatigues has bowed out of the political arena rather than face the wrath of an increasingly belligerent parliament that was getting ready to impeach him. Perhaps even the most battle-hardened warrior knows when it’s time to lay down the spear and run.
Some reviled him as ‘Busharraf’, ‘stooge of the Americans’, and so forth. He’s the soldier who grabbed power and made himself a darling of the West by his uncompromising stand on fundamentalism and militancy, and America’s trusted ally on the so-called war on terror. This enviable position came at a time when Pakistan itself increasingly came to be acknowledged as a breeding ground for terrorists and all manner of militants.
It is an interesting irony, and one which at once cast aspersions on Pakistan’s ability to embrace the war on terror and earned the nation a time-out when the fate such as that which befell Afghanistan and Iraq would have looked more probable. Thus Musharraf succeeded in maintaining a tricky balance, yet one which is inherently unstable. He could only buy America’s patience for so long.
In the meantime, America’s attention has focused on Iran’s obstinacy in developing a nuclear capability, giving rise to an ever increasing threat of military intervention. With Musharraf no longer in the picture, questions will now be asked, can the next administration be relied upon to deliver? There is little to suggest that either of the two in the frame are prepared to toe the American line as Musharraf did.
In the recent past, however, the dynamics in the war on terror have shifted somewhat, away from the previous reliance on charismatic individuals like Musharraf whose own positions are never guaranteed in the face of vociferous demands for democracy, to an emphasis on the widening of the democratic space and the creation of stable institutions. America has taken some useful lessons from the departure of the trusted ally, Tony Blair, and the emergence of a new PM in the UK, Gordon Brown, whose pro-American credentials are not quite as glittering. The situation is repeated across Europe and far away Australia. Individuals are dispensable and cannot be relied on to perpetuate policies fashioned on the American worldview that their own citizens have scant faith in.
For Pakistan, the situation is much more complex because the country is bedeviled by instability. The coalition government seems clueless on how to proceed. Internecine warfare, mutual suspicions and constant bickering have slowed down the quest for a true democracy. The leadership is tainted by accusations of corruption and incompetence, and the imminent risk of a leadership vacuum will in all likelihood embolden the militants and Al-Qaeda units operating in the country, in the process heightening internal insecurity and the instability that already characterizes the Afghan border.
The emergence of a new regime in the post-Musharraf era will put to the test the notion that the war on terror requires strategic alliances within the context of democratic institutions. It will be sometime before anything akin to a stable democracy surfaces in Pakistan. And the danger now is that the threat of increasing political and military instability will bring about more uncertainties on the economic front at a time when the world economy teeters on the verge of a recession.
In a vicious cycle, economic hardships and poverty in turn heighten political tensions and fundamentalism. This is why Pakistan is now at a crossroads. If the incoming administration chooses to maintain the pro-American position by talking tough on fundamentalism and terrorism, they will only alienate voters keen to free themselves from this perceived ‘colonial’ mentality. Yet, to fail to do so will strengthen global perceptions that Pakistan is the country most likely to emerge as the epicenter of terrorism, not because of any deliberate, supportive effort on its part, but because of the risk of its nuclear arsenal falling into rogue hands. Deeply entrenched fundamentalist views and rampant corruption do not make matters any better.
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Thaksin Shinawatra took a gamble when he returned to Thailand to face his accusers, no doubt confident that his henchmen would ensure he and his family were saved the ignominy of prison sentences. The judiciary seemed to have had a mind of its own on this occasion, which prompted Thaksin to construe the whole thing as a vendetta. Not only were they determined not to drop charges, they even had the temerity to hand his wife a three-year jail sentence.
With a number of cases hovering above his head, the risk of he too being found guilty and ending up behind bars became all too real. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the two chose to flee, and where else but to the UK, where Thaksin is the proud owner of Manchester City football club. European cities have long provided refuge for fugitives from justice and leaders past their sell-by-date. If the Thai courts try him in absentia and find him guilty of corruption, his proprietorship of an English football club will be in jeopardy. So far, the feeling is that he is still a fit and proper person, but that could easily change with a conviction, thus creating interesting times for the football fraternity, in particular City fans.
The stories behind the games begin to unravel 17 Aug 2008
With the Olympic games well under way, we’ll now begin to understand the stories, dreams, aspirations, pressures and frustrations that go one behind the scenes.
The Chinese gymnastics team is an interesting case study. Expected to win the gold in Athens four years ago, they humiliated themselves and their country with a bumbling performance for which the local press has never forgiven them. The head coach vowed to leap from a building if his team didn’t bag the gold. There is something disconcerting about the way this commitment goes beyond the spirit of the Olympics and becomes melodramatic.
Unconfirmed reports about a dancer who was paralysed by a fall are only one of many stories that will emerge in the coming weeks about the personal sacrifices made by those who are trying to realize a dream. They include the athletes who have endured grueling training and honed themselves into shape for the ultimate accolade, the coaches and trainers who worked with them. Even the armies of officials and hangers-on coming along for the ride might have a thing or two to say about sacrifice.
We’ll be hearing more about the lives of young children taken away to train for a career in gymnastics when their limbs are still lithe and nimble. The positive results for doping that almost inevitably surface at major sporting events. The stakes are so high that some are willing to risk everything to win a coveted medal and cash in on the resulting global adulation.
China has made an impressive effort to prove it can do things in style. The opening ceremony was spectacular, and will be a tough act to follow for London 2012. However, it is now attracting negative publicity and controversy. The pomp and show made up in militaristic precision what it lacked in creativity. The phantasmagoria of lights, sounds and images that dazzled and enchanted billions hasn’t quite lived up to the billing with the revelations about the computer-generated fireworks and the synch-singing saga. Two weeks ago, I wrote in these columns about the risk of watching the games through the eyes of the censor. With the fingers of some IT expert on a keyboard, it gets even worse.
The most pathetic case is that of the two little girls caught up in the musical performance fakery. The girl with the sweetest voice was deemed too ugly to be shown to the world. According to the director, it would mar China’s image, and you can’t have that. Claiming the order came from above, which wouldn’t surprise anyone who knows how the establishment works, the games had to showcase someone with the perfect smile, body language and demeanour, never mind she couldn’t sing as well as the chubby one with uneven teeth.
Yes, it’s just a show anyway, it’s about pulling off the biggest show on earth. But it is also a lie. It shows the extent to which authorities will go to pull the wool over our eyes. It sets a bad precedent for an event that has been marred throughout its history by doping and all manner of cheating.
When an athlete storms past the finishing line in the way American Marion Jones used to, wowing the world and winning not only glory but adulation, and then it turns out he or she was as high as a kite on performance-enhancing substances, you feel cheated and let down. One gets that same feeling with the singing. The incident won’t mean much for the girls at this stage in their careers yet, but it says a lot for the national, indeed cultural obsession with appearance over substance.
For those in Kenya who don’t know how the entertainment business works in much of Asia, this will be an interesting lesson. For a girl to become a singing or acting sensation, the easiest way is to win a beauty contest, not a talent contest. If you can count on your good looks to dazzle spectators and fill theatres, the entertainment business will find a role for you. Can’t sing, can’t act, no problem.
You’ll be whipped into shape, and your cds will fly off the shelves, guaranteeing both the talentless performer and entertainment supremos a fortune. No one is saying the girl who did the miming has no talent; she certainly didn’t win the singing contest. But because of her looks and image, she’s almost guaranteed a career as a celebrity when she comes of age. The one whose voice we heard will struggle, if she ever wants to pursue a career in showbiz. Unless some image expert decides on a complete face lift. It has been done before, as Hollywood would testify.
Talking of beauty, Nepalese religious figures have begun the search for the next prepubescent ‘virgin goddess’, or ‘Kumari’, who could be as young as 3 years. To serve as Kumari, the chosen one must be physically ‘perfect’, without a single blemish on her. Until she gets dethroned upon menstruation, the poor thing will sit like a doll on a throne, worshiped by both Hindus and Buddhists as the embodiment of Taleju, the goddess of strength. One wonders what the unwitting goddess herself would say, when her friends are out there causing mischief like three-year olds do.
Up the mountains: the ultimate challenge 10 August 2008
Not too long ago, I sat on a reclining seat in the dome-shaped planetarium in the Hong Kong Space Museum. The drama unfolding on the 23 metre screen on the ceiling was a documentary on a group of people who had scaled Mount Kilimanjaro. The group included teenagers. One of the people in that group wanted to mark his seventieth birthday or something.
And then it hit me. What a poignant way to mark a milestone. And so it was that the germ of an idea was planted in my mind: how about climbing Kilimanjaro to mark a half century on this planet? The target is still some years away, but the training has started in earnest: walking up the five flights of stairs at the office. Well, one has to start somewhere, even to the roof of Africa. After all, wasn’t it Mao who said every journey starts with one step? Talk about a giant leap.
The plan to conquer the formidable Kili, as the locals apparently call it, suffered what one hopes is a temporary setback following the news of the tragedy on K2, on the Pakistani-China border. K2 is generally regarded as one the most treacherous mountains out there, with a third of all attempts ending fatally. It is certainly not for the faint-hearted, or those who do their training up and down the stairs or at the gym.
K2 has ended the lives of some of the bravest and most experienced climbers, and this last week proved to be no different. Those who survived or saw the sense in not progressing further when danger signs began to loom blamed everything from poor planning to amateurish errors. But there was one other culprit, summit fever, the overriding and almost pathological urge to get to the top at all costs, even at the risk of not making it back safely.
After climbing for weeks, the summit is finally in sight, then the weather turns, you’re running out of oxygen, but the determination to conquer this beast is overwhelming. You’ll return a hero, perhaps minus a few toes or a limb lost to frostbite. But a hero nevertheless, if you make it. Everything else pales into insignificance against a backdrop of this stupendous challenge. Mind over matter, or sheer lunacy?
We’ll never know. But when a snow storm or avalanche severs the ropes and sends climbers shuttling to their death down a dark gully to a place where their frozen bodies will remain unfound, preserved, an enduring testimony to man’s craving for greatness, one has to ask, is it worth it? Kili isn’t known to be that treacherous, or to yield the same amount of glory. But it isn’t glory that I seek, if that climb does happen.
And it sure would be nice to behold and touch those spectacular glaciers one sees on postcards or on oil paintings by roadside artists. If global warming remains unchecked, and the glaciers melt away into oblivion, with serious repercussions for fauna, flora and livelihoods of many, perhaps that’s how Kilimanjaro and many others will be remembered, as mere snapshots.
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The case of the new-born baby who now lies in legal limbo in India is a major test to the whole practice of ‘renting the womb’. Japanese couple divorce, the wife decides she no longer wants the baby born to a surrogate Indian mother. Husband wants the baby but Indian laws don’t allow single men to ‘adopt’. It sounds bizarre. The very idea that the only way for the would-be parent to take possession of a child in such circumstances is through a process of legal adoption is itself pretty strange.
This case also casts a shadow on the legal and ethical aspects of a practice which can be a nice little earner for many poor Indians. Surrogate mothers can make up to $15,000, which in a poor village in Gujarat can build you a house and a lot more. It became a boom industry in Gujarat when a UK-based woman asked her mother to carry the pregnancy for her because she herself had infertility problems. The surrogate delivered twins – her grandchildren.
Some women have become serial surrogates, boosting family fortunes no end, unbothered by the stigma and quite happy to neutralize the emotional bond between mother and child. In some countries, surrogate mothers have been known to refuse to hand over the baby. In Gujarat, no one so far has kissed the money goodbye.
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I wonder how many people would lay down their lives for another country? In fact, even for one’s country, there’s always the question of how just is this war? It is certainly a question for many serving in the Iraqi wars. And let’s not forget Mohammad Ali who gallantly refused to fight the Vietnamese, convinced the real war that needed to be fought was on American soil.
For Nepalese Gurkas who fight for Britain, it’s strictly business. The new Maoist leaders described it as ‘shameful and humiliating’ and considered banning it. But pragmatism has won the day. They’ve opted to retain a tradition that has served the country’s economic fortunes well, if not controversially, for two hundred years. For unemployed youths with few alternatives, all that matters is the $2000 a month at stake.
Watching the Olympics through the censor’s eyes 3 August 2008
With the Olympic games almost upon us, China finds itself under ever-increasing scrutiny. China is obviously worried about who comes into the country at this most delicate of times. There’s the obvious fear of terrorists minded to strike when the eyes of the entire world are trained on Beijing.
Then you have what the establishment thinks of as the lunatic fringe. The tree-hugging, slogan-chanting, banner-waving motley crew of environmentalists, human rights activists and so-called dissidents with little to do than stage street protests and embarrass the good leaders in Beijing. The solution has been a visa curb. Tourist visas haven’t fared all that well, but the main culprit seems to be the business category. There must be a reason, though I’m not sure how excluding people on bona fide official business is supposed to make the cities safer.
The downside is that hotels can’t fill their rooms and capitalize on what major sporting venues generally see as a once-in-a-lifetime bonanza. Hotels that jacked prices up in anticipation of a month of untold riches are now having to slash tariffs, wondering why the visitors aren’t calling. It’s a pity that the fear of an inability to cope should deprive a city of a chance to welcome the world and boost its fortunes.
The right to report is another worry. It has been a logistical nightmare for media houses just to navigate the bureaucracy, obtain permits, and get a clear understanding as to what they can or cannot report on, where they can or cannot film, especially for non-rights holders who haven’t paid megabucks to cover the venues. I suspect that’s where most of our developing country journalists find themselves. Interviews will be closely watched and monitored, in case some panting, flag-waving athlete decides to throw in some trite comment on Tibet, the Falun Gung or even what China might do for Darfur.
When a senior IOC official admitted that they had inadvertently misled the media for the last seven years about having unfettered access to the internet, he opened a Pandora’s box. While offering apologies, Kevan Gosper maintains they can do nothing if China insists on blocking so called sensitive sites. It’s surprising that the IOC would have operated under the illusion of free flow of information if there’s no evidence that China made specific undertakings in writing. Were they so naïve, or did they suspect all along that it wouldn’t happen but didn’t want to upset Beijing and rock the sponsorship money boat?
Evidently, China remains an enigma for many of these often Western-based entities. IOC officials, including President Jacques Rogge have reiterated the claim that the Beijing games will be good for China, and good for human rights. Chinese officials have reciprocated with similar sentiments. But deliverable specifics are thin on the ground.
Wang Wei, the China Olympic boss, promised that media would be given ‘complete freedom’ to report on the games. This is turning out to be one of those nice platitudes made to clinch a deal but which are ever so difficult to realize when it comes to blue tacks.
Wang Wei claimed that the games would give China the chance to make improvements in environmental protection as well as human rights. They’ve been working hard on the environment, although they appear to have left it a bit late with the short-term plan to rid the streets of traffic and shut down factories. These actions are not sustainable in the long-term. Halting construction work for a couple of weeks might clear the air long enough for athletes to read the scoreboards. Unconvinced, some say they’ll be wearing masks.
After the visitors have left, it will become painfully clear to the authorities that in a seriously status-conscious society, people can’t leave their cars at home forever, and business owners and cash-strapped workers will be demanding that factories and construction projects re-open. When it comes to human rights and freedom of the press, it will be a long wait.
Ironically, local journalists do not necessarily dismiss this whole IOC debacle as a sinister plot. They’re used to tight controls, and have had to devise ways to work around them. In fact, for some of them, there’s a positive side to this: the fact that visiting journalists unaccustomed to censorship and State control will experience first hand what it’s really like to work in a communist country. Then they’ll know how lucky they are to be able to access whatever websites they like, to speak to anyone about anything, and most importantly, to write what they like, not what they’re told to write.
Then maybe they can help the Chinese authorities to understand that there is something inherently bizarre and unreasonable about continuing to stifle freedom of expression. The paranoia and intolerance that feed such tight control are out of sync with the character and trends of information flows today.
Equally tragic is when those who should know better collude with the authorities, inadvertently or otherwise, to deny us access to information in the interest of money, harmony, or whatever excuse the IOC comes up with. China invited the world to participate in this global sporting extravaganza. It is a pity that the world will see and hear what the Chinese Olympic officials believe is good for us.