This past month has been very stressful for Malaysia because of the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370. The country was joined late last week by the tragic sinking of the Sewol, a large South Korean ferry bringing pupils and students to the World Heritage Site of Jeju Island.
Two things immediately come to mind in these two tragedies. In the case of the downed Malaysian Airlines plane, we now know that we know very little about the Earth’s ocean floors. As experts have said over and over again, we know more about Mars than we know the bottom of the Indian Ocean. Part of the reason behind this is because oceans are so deep that they require tremendous amounts of logistical and financial resources just to map them.
The other is the issue of transnational security: any country who has mapped the ocean floor can use this to its advantage in times of war where submarine warfare at such depths, if possible, is an important component.
For the moment, the Malaysian Airlines plane remains as elusive as ever even as the theory that the pilot had something to do with its disappearance, in a deliberate manner, continues to be at the back of the minds of everyone. Was he trying to send a message to the world to embarrass Malaysia’s rulers for their persecution of one of their own, Anwar Ibrahim, who would have been prime minister now had he not strayed from the path? Was there a struggle inside the cockpit between pilot and co-pilot or were they both part of a conspiracy to crash the plane and embarrass Malaysia before China and the world?
Until the wreckage is found, all of the above will be nothing but speculation. There are even those who think that aliens have something to do with the plane’s fate!
In the case of the Sewol sinking in South Korea, the immediate question that those from Western countries asked was this: Why did the students gather at the cafeteria and not go out into the deck to eventually jump off the ship?
A country like South Korea still at war with North Korea has been apparently steeped in the rule of obeying authority, a stricture found more among soldiers than civilians in other countries.
Every South Korean goes through compulsory military service for two years during their youth. But many of those who tragically died or remain missing in this sinking have not even reached the mandatory age for military service. What gives?
I do not wish to belittle the behavior of those kids trapped in the sinking ship but if this had happened to a Philippine ferry, the two-hour window in which the ship was still listing gradually would have been enough time for all passengers to wake up, grab their lifejackets and push and shove their way out of the ship, the way many of our kababayans chaotically bulldoze their way to board buses during the Holy Week holidays.
One cannot help but notice the difference in the way the accident has been handled in South Korea. In an orderly fashion complete with tents and ambulances, soldiers flank the way as body bags are carried from the ship to the pier and on to the tents where only immediate relatives are allowed to identify them. In the Philippines, scores if not hundreds of angry and distraught relatives hog the pier and push and shove their way during tragedies.
Therein lies the paradox of human behavior in two kinds of democracies: one exuberant, the other more subdued. One cannot help but wonder if all this chaos and disorder that marks Filipinos in crowds may also be the reason we would have had a better chance at surviving such a mishap or perhaps we would all die in the melee? But then again, was it not also in South Korea a few years back that we were mesmerized by a fistfight among members of their parliament?
The most noteworthy in this tragedy is how legalistic Filipinos are, much like Americans, when it comes to prosecuting the suspected culprits. Swiftly and without the ceremony of a presidential press conference, the captain of the ship and eight crew members were immediately arrested and handcuffed by South Korean authorities. In our case, a retinue of lawyer-spokespersons would have been the ones attending the press conference while the crew was hidden somewhere. Is it really more fun in the Philippines then when justice cannot be served sooner?
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Two events mark the calendar this week. On Friday, Ma’am Erma Cuizon will launch her latest books published by USC Press entitled “Twilight in Misamis: Josefa Borromeo Capistrano’s Guerrila Days” and “Woman: Collected Essays”. The launch will be held at the Cathedral Museum of Cebu at 6 o’clock in the evening. Congratulations!
The following day, Saturday, first class relics of Blessed John Paul II, including the chair he sat on during the open air mass held at Lahug Airport (now IT Park) will be on exhibit at the Virgilio Yap Memorial Gallery, also at the Cathedral Museum, together with photographs of the visit to Cebu in 1981 of Blessed John Paul II.
The exhibit is entitled “A Saint Among Us: Pope John Paul II in Cebu”. The exhibit is jointly curated with USC Museum which is also installing an exhibition of other documents as well as relics of the pope to be opened on Monday, the day after his canonization.
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