The weekend showed a tumult of fire and water in two giant metropolises in Southeast Asia. Protests erupted in Jakarta, and Manila was submerged in Old Testament-type floods. Both of these are rooted in a massive distrust of government officials due to their familiar and expected capacity for corruption.
Jakarta and other Indonesian cities saw mass protests due to the news that Indonesian MPs, their version of lawmakers, are given a $3,000 monthly housing allowance. This is in contrast to the floundering citizenry amidst growing costs and their paltry salaries.
The Indonesian police made it worse when their armored vehicle ran over and killed a Gojek (their Grab ride) motorcyclist who was on his job. This rampant militarization of the police, coupled with corruption, set off protests from ordinary citizens to register their anger. Their president even dared to tell the citizens to calm down.
Indonesian plunderers and corrupt officials should take note of how their Filipino counterparts can get away with funneling not just billions, but trillions away. Impunity is an Olympic sport in the Philippines, where political families have developed a rigorous and experienced approach to lord over an exhausted people.
Last Saturday, several days’ worth of rainfall swept through Quezon City in just an hour. Some areas in QC were hit with floods that reached the heads of people. This was not a typhoon. This was just a cloudburst. Yet, it paralyzed traffic and caused property damage, despite a string of news reports about dastardly flood-controlling infrastructure.
This comes after recent weeks of people scrutinizing the TikToks of contractors’ children who flaunt their wealth online. Some say these are nepo babies. I prefer to call them plunder brats. And this is not something new to us. A cursory search online and at the library should provide you with some information from Some Are Smarter than Others by Ricardo Manapat, which explores a generational tract of monumental impunity.
I am compelled to compare the two cities. Jakarta is in turmoil for just $3,000. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, billions of dollars have been siphoned by political dynasties and their cronies, and what do Filipinos do with our anger? We post on Facebook, create TikTok parodies, and react with laughter or anger. This is what it’s like to have accepted our fates and let impunity exhaust us to submission.
I believe this is a legacy of the recent administration, which demonized critics and protest actions. Even though there is news of billions being frittered away, people still defend these politicians simply because many Filipinos are more mired in personality politics than in agenda-setting and good governance. This is what the plunderers from above want, for us to bicker with each other and reduce our complaints to nothing more than irritants.
We have been thirsting for a strongman recently, as history has proven that strongmen in power are gateways to massive plunder. But hey, according to the rabid fans of the powerful political families, history is just chismis?
You may reach Chong Ardivilla at kartunistatonto@gmail.com or chonggo.bsky.social
