Contrasts

Lights are stronger in the contrast”.  Charles Dickens’ line  came to mind when TV footage showed Vice-President Jejomar Binay, clad in starched barong, flinging instructions at  aides, trying  to look, well, presidential.  He did not differ from  the suave  but lagging-in-the-polls  DILG secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II.
See stark contrast in the 7th president-elect of Indonesia: Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, 52.  Binay  is 71 and  has no assurance  he’ll enter  Malacañang  after the  2016 elections. Come October,  Jokowi  will work from the white colonaded  Merdeka Palace.

“Joko  appeals to ordinary Indonesians and international business”, Michael Bachelard wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.  The skinny kid,  whose family lodged in  a bamboo shack and was evicted thrice, “is a breath of fresh air that Indonesian democracy produced to end corruption and cronyism entrenched by a cosy  usually ex-military elite.”

Like Joko, Binay  was a  man of modest means — at the start.  “Back in the mid-1980s,  I covered Binay as a human rights lawyer. He  was anything but wealthy,”  blogged  Raissa Robles, Manila correspondent of South China Morning Post of Hongkong -and Radio Netherlands

Not any more. “When I interviewed Binay shortly before his June 2010 inauguration, I was astounded by his huge, fully air-conditioned dining room  and by the bountiful breakfast there – like a hotel buffet complete with ham, bacon and cake for dessert.   His kitchen is industrial-type

“I know because I was made to pass through the kitchen door  and saw his huge long dining table, fully carved chairs, old religious icons on display, etc.  “The ceiling centerpiece is a lovely Venetian-type chandelier.” So, when Binay displayed his sandwich, at the May 27  Makati Stock Exchange  buffet lunch where he was  guest of honor, the obvious PR  bid boomeranged.

Joko’s wife Irina shies from the public limelight, unsullied by scandal. They shield their five children from publicity.  In contrast, Dr Elenita Binay  is a political  figure on her own.  So is the family. They  battle sleaze to abuse raps.

Mrs. Binay’s lawyers will sue Special Prosecutor of the Ombudsman  “for reviving cases against  alleged overpricing of hospital beds at the Ospital ng Makati when she was mayor.” “That was dismissed with finality three years ago,” she fumes.

Binay’s son has not  tamped down the  “Makatigate” scandal. Subdivision guards told his  convoy the gates were closed at 10 pm  and use the alternate exit five minutes down the road. He spent an hour berating, then arresting the  guards.

Election of Joko  demonstrates  “for the Philippines and Malaysia a break from dynastic politics,” wrote Philip Bowring, Asia commentator for the International Herald Tribune and  former editor of  Far Eastern Economic Review. “For  Myanmar and Cambodia, Indonesia shows genuine elections can produce change without chaos — provided  power holders concede or  institutions are sufficiently responsive to  prevent elections from being hijacked.

“In Thailand,  the military’s solution has been to abolish voting because of the embarrassment of having to nullify the results in the name of a king who appears incapable of speech and a crown prince incapable of being respected.”

President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino was elected because of his name and respect for his parents. For 4  years, he made most of the right decisions. And he  lead “his country to a less corrupt, more dynamic future with social reform as well economic growth.”

But his image is tarnished by disrespect for the constitutional process. Did this come from “an assumption that the Aquino names and his own previous high standing would prevail? “His confrontation with the Supreme Court has had a disastrous impact that  will  hobble his remaining time in office.

“So is there a Philippine Jokowi in sight?” Bowring asks.  “Absolutely not. And yet one is needed at least as badly as Indonesia did.

“As of now the leading contender is Vice President Jejomar Binay. He  lacks the reputation for personal integrity that Noynoy enjoyed; he is ( also) a classic exponent of dynastic politics.” At  the local level, he was succeeded by wife and son as mayor of Makati and at the national level  by a daughter who became a senator despite minimal experience.”

“Then there is the Marcos clan. (They) continue to be re-elected ad infinitum despite the fact that the patriarch, the Ferdinand, stole billions from the treasury and generated a kleptomaniac class that ruined what had been a vibrant economy”. In contrast, “Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong has the good sense to keep his offspring and relatives out of  politics.”

Next up for a desperately needed break from dynastic politics is Malaysia, Najib Tun Razak is the son of one prime minister and an in-law of another. Leaders  in the ruling party include son of one prime minister and grandson of UMNO’s founder. Mukhriz Mahathir is the son  of  former prime minister  Mahathir Mohamad.

“Numerous  offspring of former UMNO bigwigs feed at the great UMNO trough. The opposition too is prone to dynasties as well.  Lim Kit Siang’s son runs  Penang and the DAP and Anwar Ibrahim’s wife and daughter are very active in his support.”

In Bangladesh, democratic politics has for years been undermined by the dynastic appeal of two feuding women and their families.  In Sri Lanka, family rule has replaced both party rule and real democracy with a dangerous and perverted pseudo-democracy.

“The Philippines and Malaysia  need outliers in the mould of Joko: men of unquestioned integrity and  who “spread power to newer groups and individuals.” Tell that to Binay now on the campaign slog.