‘Tom yum’ talk

PINOY KASI

‘Tom yum’ talk
By Michael Tan

Inquirer
Last updated 00:44am (Mla time) 07/06/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- One of my joys in life is having a Southeast Asian "barkada" [group of close friends], and being able to have meetings with them a few times each year. The "barkada" consists of professors from various universities in the region -- the Philippines, Laos, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam -- that have formed a consortium on gender and sexuality.

We greet each year with a "wai," the Thai way, bringing the palms together like the Indian "namaste," or with a handshake followed by a hand brought back to the heart, the Muslim way. We ask about each other’s families and exchange photographs. I’m the late starter with parenting, so I get to boast more about my babies.

Even if we live in a region where honorific terms are important -- Pak (Uncle), Ajan (Professor), for example -- we greet each other by first names. Yes, congratulations were still in order such as when Darwin of Gadja Mada University became a full-fledged Professor Doktor, even as we wait for two more junior colleagues -- Giang of Vietnam and Irwan of Indonesia -- to finish their doctoral studies.

Away from each other, we send greetings for the many holidays of our diverse cultures: the Filipino Christmas, the Muslim Eid Al Fitr, the Thai and Lao Songkran (New Year’s Day in April!). We sent regrets to Pim of Mahidol for not being able to join her wedding on a cruise down the Chao Phrya River.

Then, too, we’d dash off anxious e-mails and phone calls for less auspicious events: the tsunami that hit Thailand and Indonesia, the earthquake in Yogyakarta, Philippine typhoons, the Thai coup, the attempted Philippine coup (led by now-senator Antonio Trillanes IV).

GNP, corruption

Sometimes we sit and compare GNPs (gross national product) growth rates, not actual figures but rough ones. One time, Giang of Vietnam told us about how their newspapers were always comparing the Vietnamese GNP with that of Singapore, and how many decades it would take to catch up. Other times, we’d compare perceived corruption ratings from Transparency International, again kidding each other, hey, has the Philippines overtaken Indonesia yet? We know the rankings are relative. Corruption is corruption, whatever the rank, and the ones who suffer most in all our countries, regardless of ranking, are the poor.

Liberals all, we worry about the rise of fundamentalism in our countries, particularly the Islamic variety in Indonesia and the Christian version in the Philippines. We share common stories of conservatives blocking HIV/AIDS education campaigns, of bars being closed down only to drive sex workers underground and beyond the reach of educators. We worry about how women are once again becoming sequestered with the same kind of “save the family” rhetoric, even as thousands of our women are exported as domestic help, caregivers, entertainers.

In fairness, the Indonesians are impressed with what the Philippines has done for overseas workers. Even with all our problems, we do have more regulations and safety nets in place than the Indonesians, who entered the overseas labor export market much later than we did.

Interestingly, the Thais are worried not about the exported labor but about the illegal migrants who stream into their country, mainly from Burma, and who are always vulnerable to abuse.

Tsunami and fog

At a recent meeting, we remembered the Asian financial crisis that began in Thailand in July 1997, 10 years ago. Dubbed as the Asian flu, the crisis began when foreign investors lost confidence in the region and began to pull out their speculative investments from the stock market and from foreign exchange dealings. The first tremors were in Thailand and then spread like a tsunami to neighboring capitalist countries: Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia.

The Thais called it the "tom yum" crisis, referring to a soup made from galangal ginger, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, fish sauce, chili pepper and various other condiments. The blend is hard to describe: hot but mildly sweet.

Which was how the effects of the financial crisis were characterized. Bangkok’s infamous traffic disappeared overnight as millionaires found themselves laden with debt, trying to get rid of their luxury cars, condos and jewelry at rock-bottom prices, often with no takers. There were bargains to be found everywhere, including five-star hotels offering rooms for as low as $40, cheaper than our three-star establishments, but again there were few takers.

The Philippine peso dropped from about 25 to the dollar to 48 within a year. Inflation and unemployment rose. If it had not been for remittances from overseas workers, our GNP would have turned negative.

The crisis alerted us to how closely interconnected Southeast Asian countries had become. If one country sneezed, we’d all come down shortly with flu.

A few years ago, we did have another kind of experience with that interconnectedness, when Indonesian smog from forest fires reached neighboring countries, causing local outbreaks of asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

Sometimes though we shouldn’t wait for actual physical contagion to learn lessons. During our last consortium meeting, Darwin told me about a disaster in East Java last year, when a company drilling for natural gas somehow triggered mud flow from a nearby volcano. One village ended up covered by six meters of mud. Some 400 hectares of farmlands ended up inundated. The culprit, a company called Lapindo, eventually promised to pay $420 million for reconstruction.

I thought about that mudflow recently, after reading about how a South Korean company was trying to set up a spa by tapping into Taal volcano.

Recovery?

Ten years after the "tom yum" crisis, Thailand has recovered and so have we. Back in the late 1990s, we all wailed about our deteriorating currencies. These days we cry about how the US dollar has become too weak, to the point where I’ve had Manila taxi drivers offering change in US dollars. No one wants the greenback.

Today my Southeast Asian "barkada" sees some similarities with 1997, when foreigners were coming in with hot money to play with our currencies and stocks. When they lose confidence, they can just pull out, and leave us wondering what hit us. One country messing up could mean the entire region suffering.

I try to be optimistic, arguing that reforms have taken place in the banking system, in government regulations, but I know there’s a bit of whistling in the dark there.

Good times and bad, we’re in it together, and the “club” is expanding. China and Vietnam, newcomers to the global market system, are developing almost recklessly. When China’s stock market dipped a few months back, the New York Stock Exchange followed suit, and so did the Philippine Stock Exchange.

One time over lunch and yes, "tom yum," we talked about governance in the region and wondered that maybe we do live now in a post-State era, in which we manage to survive not because of, but in spite of our leaders. "Tom yum" talk, pungent and spicy.