16

FACING THE REALITIES IN THE REGION

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Rich cultural traditions exist alongside stark contradictions in Southeast Asia today. We attempt here a concise description of the economic-political situation of the Southeast Asian countries — Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. The Philippines are sketched in the East Asian situation report.

Economic situation

All the countries with the exception of Singapore are rich in natural resources. Singapore is essentially dependent on the skills and brains of her people. Agriculture is the base of the economy in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. The major cash crops of Malaysia are rubber and oil palm and she is the world's chief producer of tin. Thailand is a major producer of rice, and maize is an important cash crop. In the case of Indonesia, in addition to rice, rubber, coconuts and sugar, she is a recent exporter of petroleum.

Despite having rich natural resources, the majority of the people in this sub-region are poor and do not share in the wealth of their countries. The heavy reliance on foreign investment and adoption of capitalistic industrial models are insignificant here. To implement capitalistic policies,

17

these countries borrowed heavily from the developed countries of the West. Such borrowing created dependency on foreign investment, which resulted in an excess of outflow of income produced within these countries over the inflow of income, e.g. in Thailand, for every US$1 that is received by the Thais, US$3 goes into the pockets of foreign investors. The insidious impact of foreign investment can be seen in the patterns of consumption and the life-style and aspirations of the people in the sub-region today. But only 5% of the population, mainly local capitalists are able to realise these materialistic dreams. They control about 80% of the country's wealth. The labour laws of all 4 countries are biased in favour of the employers, especially the foreign capitalists. Workers are not able to articulate their problems. For instance, in Singapore, the labour laws make retrenchment the prerogative of the employer.

The plight of the peasants in Thailand is further compounded by the practice of landlordism. A significant percentage of Malaysian peasants are also victims of this particular form of exploitation by local elites. The emphasis on cash crops in these countries is in direct conflict with the basic material needs of the people and further exposes them to the mercy of alarming fluctuations in the world prices of these cash crops. On the whole the standard of living of the majority of the people is very low. The minimum daily wages are way below subsistence level. In Indonesia, the lowest daily earnings of 60 US cts. is hardly sufficient to keep one person alive.

Politics and the Student Movement

The political structure varies from country to country. Singapore has a one-party-government. Malaysian politics is dominated mainly by the National Front, a coalition of the Alliance Party (UMNO,MCA & MIC)and several erstwhile Opposition parties, having in effect all the powers of a one-party government. Thailand is torn apart by leftist and rightist movements

18

amidst the fears of communist taking over the country. The military is a powerful political force in Thailand. Indonesia is also dominated by the military.

Despite the variance in political structure, political repression exists in all 4 countries. The internal Security Act is a powerful tool in both Singapore and Malaysia. Involved student leaders have been victims of many repressive measures. Historically, students have always been involved in the political affairs of their respective countries. Student involvement in political issues began early in the days of fighting for independence from the colonial masters.

Of significance for us today is the present orientation and concern of the student movement in South-east Asia. All over South-east Asia, students have begun to identify themselves with workers and peasants. This progressive minority are either actively involved in the struggle of the workers and peasants, or else, they take on the role of the "voice" of these people. This has led to the tightening of government control on student activities. Therefore, students have to be more innovative in their tactics. Depending on the situation, students use tactics ranging from demonstration to publications, to study of socio-economic situations, research and social investigation. However, most Christian students remain aloof from student involvement in politics even today.

EAST ASIA

It is well understood that most Asian countries are characterized by neo-colonialism through economic dominations and exploitations by the Multinational Corporations (MNCs). Together with this can be found

19

elements such as traditional cultural customs, landlordism, poverty and unemployment, which have persistently remained very much a part of the Asian reality. Recently, we also see the increasing role played by the military, in suppressing progressive forces of social change, which have arisen from the discontentment of the masses.

Despite the seeming affluence in places such as Japan and Hong Kong, East Asian countries are no exception to the above social phenomena. This could be clearly understood if we look at the social reality in terms of economic, social, cultural and political aspects:

a) Economic aspects — economic power is in the hands of a very small minority. In the Philippines, this minority is composed of local landlords, military leaders and foreign investment groups from USA and Japan, whereas in Hong Kong, the Jockey Club, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp., Jardine and Matheson Co. form the so-called 'economic pillars'. And because of their control over the economy, they are able to exert tremendous influence in the making of policies. As a result, a variety of exploitative measures such as low wages, child labour, inhuman working conditions are employed to extract profits from the working class and the peasantry. These practices were clearly seen during the recent economic crisis. Japan had an unemployment of over 1 million and unorganized labour came up to about 6 million, whereas in Hong Kong, one third of the working force in the factories were either unemployed or semi-employed. In the agricultural sector, the intrusion of industrial economy has led to the collapse of the agricultural economy and the massive drive of rural migrants to urban centres, resulting in the creation of large urban poor and slums. These are particularly true in the Philippines and Japan. The half-hearted efforts in Land Reform in the Philippines only serve to create further difficulties to the landless peasants. The compulsory cooperative scheme modelled in Taiwan has turned out as merely a fee-collection. The supply of fertilizers by the government is another form of exploitation and so is the control over agricultural production. Hence, we see a widening of the gap between the rich and the poor, polarizing on the extremes.

b) Socio-cultural aspects — foreign control of economy brings along cultural domination through the education system and mass media. Since profits come from the sale of products, the whole cultural mechanism is geared to the promotion of consumerism and hedonism among the people, thus resulting in the de-emphasis and disintegration of the indigenous cultural system. The education system has become a vehicle to move up the social ladder, and a 'knowledge' factory for the ruling class. Thus, the masses, remain to a large extent illiterate and the educated has failed to serve the interests of the people.

c) Political aspects — the growth of militarism and political repression go hand in hand, with economic and cultural domination by foreign economic forces. The Philippines became a military regime in 1972 and the budget allocation for national defence in Japan has kept increasing since the late '60s. Korea is well-known for her military dictatorship

20

and suppression. The subtle form of government suppression, in terms of information control and manipulation, is equally prevailing in East-Asian Countries. Discrimination against minority groups could be found in Japan, where over six hundred thousand Koreans have found themselves deprived of any rights of citizenship and any opportunity of sustaining cultural heritages. Some ethnic groups and hill tribes are another type of minority groups which suffer unequal treatment.

Student Movements

Students are a transient social group. Student movements have always been an integral part of social movements. In East Asia, the majority of the students are apathetic and self-concerned. Most of them come from middle-class background and the education they receive is western and bourgeoise which stresses on individualism and liberalism. The richer ones can receive higher education and after graduation, they normally will work for Multinational Corporations.

Only a minority of the students are conscious of the problems of society and they are the main force leading the student movements. They usually begin by widening their knowledge about the society and the world, especially Asia, which belongs to the Third World. Most of these studies are issue-oriented. Some of the students know the reasons for the existing social reality, but they don't know what can be done about •it. The more experienced ones, who form only a minority, understand very well what is to be done, and they have started liberating development programmes in the rural and urban areas. These students realise that the solution to the problems faced by student movements is to ally with workers and peasants. Most of the students, regardless of whether they are progressive, liberals or conservatives, sincerely hope for social change.

In East Asia, most Christian students are more conservative than other students. Their interests very often co-incide with the interests of the institutional Church. The more liberal Christian student groups receive internal and external pressure from the hierarchy of the Church. However, most of them still believe that Christianity is faithful to Christ and faith means love and charity. Love and charity when implemented means to side with the poor and oppressed. Only a few of them have lost their Christian faith. This phenomenon is common in areas in East Asia where student movements are more well developed, with the exception of Taiwan and South Korea.

Role of Christian Faith

The presence of the Church in Asia is mostly seen in its institutionalised form which often fails to identify itself with the poor. There is a minority element in the Church who has joined in the struggle for liberation among the poor, but by and large, the majority are alienated from the masses. This poses a serious challenge to the role of the Church and the relevance of faith to the suffering Asian peoples. Increasing numbers, especially among the youth, are rejecting faith, as they opt for an ideology, in order to arrive at an analysis of society and to sustain their commitment in the struggle. On the other hand, others make a clear ideological option but

21

continue to live a faith which helps them maintain a critical attitude towards their ideology.

The group makes the following observations and questions:

1) The existing Church establishment has been seen resistant to change and non-supportive of the present student movements. It has been suggested that students should organize themselves into an internal pressure group within the Church establishment, to involve other Christians in social issues, on the side of the oppressed, and to push them to reflect on their role as Christians in society.

2) Students are a transient group and most of them have failed to sustain their progressive role after graduation. The problem of continuity is probably due to their middle-class background and the failure of the movement to change their old values and attitudes. Some of the methods used, were found to be ineffective, in instilling this life-long commitment among the students.

3) Many Christians are caught in a dilemma between Christianity and Socialism. They understand that the role of the Christian should be on the side of the oppressed and to work with the workers and peasants. Regarding such a role, there is a great similarity between Socialism and Christian beliefs; however, there are also possible contradictions between the two. It is possible to reconcile these conflicts. Should Christian Movements be turned into outright political force or should it be maintained as a movement within the Church?

4) What is the priority of student movements? Is it to work for the masses or to organize the students within the campus? Should we stress on the development of life-long commitment to social change among the students, or more on the outcome of their participation in social issues?

SOUTH ASIA

All countries in the sub-region have a predominantly capitalistic economic system, side by side with centuries — old traditional economics (meaning landlordism, subsistence economy, etc.). However, as a recent phenomenon Socialism is being embraced by the South Asian Governments. But this concern for Socialism in a way arises out of the inability of the capitalistic planning and models of development to eradicate the worsening conditions of poverty in the respective countries. On the other hand, socialism is proclaimed by everybody, including the right-wing political parties in Sri Lanka, for example, as a means of winning votes within the parliamentary democracy. There are varying degrees of socialization in the area, but in reality, state capitalism, under the leadership of the ruling class (national bourgeoise), is being strengthened under the guise of Socialism.

This means, basically. South Asian countries are increasingly getting

22

entangled in the capitalist process of production and distribution.

Because all the countries are basically primary producers (tin, sugar, coffee, tea, coconut, rubber), they are heavily dependent on the import/export trade between the respective countries and the metropolitan countries. Success of this process of import-export trade is determined by the fluctuations of price mechanism in the International markets. On the other hand, these countries depend very much on foreign capital, which is controlled by interests in the metropolitan countries.

One main characteristic of these countries is a class of local elite (administrators, planners, investors), who are products of the colonial past and the colonial education system, playing a secondary role to the foreign capitalists. In the case of India, these local elites are consciously making an attempt to maintain some degree of independence from the international control of the multinational corporations. However, the economic domination of these countries, through the multinationals, remains a glaring reality. The neo-colonial relationships between these countries and the metropolitan centres, and the lack of political will of the ruling elite nurture and sustain the dominating role of the multinationals. The local investors are mostly involved in producing import substitution for the benefit of the native upper classes. Basic needs of the majority of the people in the area are not taken care of. Institutionalised welfare services are taking the place of human development. The widening gap between the income from primary products and expenditure on importation of capital goods and consumer goods creates heavy deficit in the Balance of Payments. This leads to growing indebtedness to foreign financial institutions, like World Bank, which utilizes the financial needs of these countries as a leverage to influence the policies: of the respective governments.

In this background of political and economic situation, nationalization, cooperatives, land reforms, etc. bring about only marginal impact in improving the living conditions of the people. Very often, these measures have resulted in strengthening the hands of the local elites. The masses are not taken into confidence in the running of nationalized enterprises. These ventures are a very strong factor in the growing apparatus of State Capitalism, for example, in Sri Lanka and India.

Active participation of the community as a whole in the political process is limited to casting the ballot once in 3 or 5 years. People's movements at the moment are not effective, except perhaps in the case of Sri Lanka, in the form of organized trade union action. Activities of the students within the political, social and economic process in most of the places are not very encouraging. In few places, like in Sri Lanka, students are politically involved in the form of party politics of the left. But generally the tendency in the South Asian countries is to enforce more and more political control of Peoples' Organization.

This political, economic and social reality demands an effective political decision, leading to radical political, economic and social change. The only effective political option is to work towards a socialist society, where the people are controlling the means of production and distribution. The experience of the Chinese over the last 25 years and of the recently

23

emerging countries of Indo-China, in dealing effectively with the problems of poverty, foreign domination, internal and external exploitation of the people, etc, is worth emulating. These lessons draw greatly the attention of the South Asians, as they struggle to build a humane and egalitarian society.

Action Leading Towards the Building of a Socialist Society

People should be mobilised to realise their own potential for social change and to bring them to a proper understanding of Socialism, through mass action, i.e. political struggle, trade union action, peasant organization, etc. We ought to start from where the people are. Ideology leading to a Socialist society, should be evolved with the peoples' understanding and participation. Trade union action and peasant organization action should be directed beyond short term goals, of improving the working conditions, pay raises, etc.

But given the difficulties involved in this kind of mass action, small pressure groups should be built up to raise consciousness among the people, on the social, and political reality. Committed and responsible people would take the initiative to build up solidarity among the various scattered groups, who are doing various unrelated things like social action, non-formal education, co-operative groups, etc. Through concerted action, attempts should be made to help the people to identify their enemy, namely people or institutions that hinder the liberation of the people. This has to be done, for a start, at least at the ordinary person's level, leading to profound research, which can be understood by the non-academics.

24

This kind of work would lead, in the long run, to build up a mass movement. Otherwise, things would not work out the way we want. Any small group action, unrelated to long term goals of Socialism and general mass movement, will end up as just a "good turn" without any political change.

IMCS-WSCF

The joint efforts or otherwise of these two movements should be directed in bringing about the liberating impact of the Christ event, in its totality to the mass movement in our respective countries. Justice, love, liberation is the very core of the Christ event. As students committed to this revolutionary tradition of testing and understanding the Christian faith within the struggle for liberation, we have a responsibility to interpret and relate to the signs of our time, which means taking the option of building a Socialist society, with all seriousness.

SOUTH PACIFIC

Pacific

Geophysically and culturally the Pacific Region is very much diversed. This region is further complicated by numerous politico-legal boundaries inherited from colonial influence. For our purposes, we have defined the Pacific to include all those Countries and Islands within the embracement of

25

the various sub-cultural groupings — namely the Polynesians in the Eastern Pacific, Micronesians in the north above the Equator and Melanesia in the West. The Eastern Islands mark the furthermost Pacific Island in the east, Irian Jaya in the west, Hawaii in the north and New Zealand and Australia to the south.

We began by identifying some of the major issues affecting human life in the Pacific today. Of the many problems and forms of dehumanising social and political processes we felt that the following are some of the major ones: 1) Racism. 2) Land. 3) Colonialism.

Racism

Firstly there needs to be a clarification on the concept of racism, and how it becomes a problem. In simplistic terms, race may denote a generalization under which various species of mankind ramify. The physical variations and species of man has no real determinant factor on intelligence and other potentialities of man. Race as a speciecategory becomes racism when one social group — being superior in technology and material well being — begins to think that others are innately inferior and less human. This attitude leads to inequality in human relations and overt domination. Colonialism has been and still is based on attitudes of superiority — having racial overtones.

Although racism, or its elements, may be a common problem in the Pacific region, it is featured or reflected differently in different Pacific countries. In New Zealand and Australia the question of racism is one of a dominant white society having the economic and political privilege, enforcing its own values and systems of laws and economies upon the ethnic minority, i.e. the Australian Aboriginal, the New Zealand Maori.

These two groups are entrenched ethnic minorities in this case whose cultural identity among other things is under the threat of detrimental change in the face of a dominant culture. An example of this dominance is further realised through what government officials would call Social Welfare programmes. In the eyes of the more critical, it is termed "institutionalized racism", where educational opportunities, for example, may be provided, but on the basis of the dominant groups values, further justifying their salient form of human exploitation. In Auckland, New Zealand, which has the largest Polynesian population in the Pacific, the question of Race is often seen through the eyes of exploitation of Pacific Islanders as the source of cheap labour for the many unskilled manufacturing industries. An implication of this is that immigration policies continue to be racist in both selection of short and long term immigration.

In Papua-New Guinea the question of citizenship is a critical issue facing ethnic minorities, e.g. Chinese would become the scapegoats for any political movement. In Fiji the ethnic cleavage is featured by a polarization of the Indian Fijian on the one hand and the indigenous Fijian on the other struggling basically over the question of land ownership. In Fiji, land is a major source of survival in the eyes of both Indian Fijian and indigenous Fijian, and this basic need for security through a secured land tenure finds expression in politics, where political parties are divided along racial lines,

26

with each race seeking superiority over the other. However in terms of population and political potentiality both groups are equal. The question of race is how to maintain stability and cordial relations between hostile factors.

Land

In New Zealand and Australia the mono-cultural legal systems have virtually denied and/or alienated the rights of land ownership by the indigenous peoples of these two countries. An important feature of this issue is that there is a definite value attached to the land and its utilization that is quite different between the dominant white societies and the indigenous peoples.

Land to most Pacific peoples has a deeper spiritual value, embracing and defining community identity and solidarity within their cultural boundaries. Denial of Land rights is basically a denial for one's right of existence. The legal and economic structures and rules of New Zealand and Australia view land purely as an economic commodity.

Another facet is that in some Pacific countries population increase has led to shortage of land, e.g. in Cook Islands and Tonga. Land shortage is usually a factor causing migration which in turn produces problems of adjustment. Further, migrant communities who find themselves in an unwelcoming host country realize too late that immigration and other social policies are not sensitive to the Pacific Islanders needs.

Colonialism — Imperialism — Neo-Colonialism

In the Pacific today there are evidences of colonialism: French Polynesia, New Caledonia, New Hebrides are all examples. Aspects of Neo-colonials are highlighted by political and economic structures based on western capitalism and contrived dependence (i.e. Dependence on Metropolitan Powers).

Imperialism was defined in general terms as economic dependency which leads to political manifestations by super-powers. In this respect militarism could also be associated with this issue with the United States and France using the Pacific as their test ground for their sophisticated weaponry. Colonialism and Imperialism are, in fact, too far entrenched to bring immediate relief to the people of the Pacific region.

And yet through all this there is hope. In an area so vast as the Pacific area which covers more than a third of the earth's surface, (though there are fewer than six million people in the combined regions of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, their distinct languages and cultural groupings total well over 1,200, while their governments number no less than twenty) change, predictable but no less traumatic, is very welcome. Self-determination and independence for instance have replaced the "benign neglect" of alien overseers in at least four former European colonies in the Pacific Islands in the last decade. There is a dynamic rebirth of dignity in these widely scattered islands. And though most Pacific societies are small, and thus quite vulnerable to external forces, their very smallness gives them a better chance to match their own realities to their dreams.

AN ASPECT OF HONG KOMG REALITY

(Reflection on the field trip)

(First Group — Factory in Kowloon)

RANDALL

In Australia, everything is advertised. Here, information on jobs passes through word of mouth — they spread the word among themselves. They don't have any union whatsoever — I suppose it is important to have a union for contract basis. They did not receive much income from my angle but they were satisfied. They could earn as much as they wanted to — depending on the individual.

DENEE

The factory, as far as I could see, produced purely for export — producing ladies undergarment for Germany and Scandinavia. And that was all they produced. It seems to me that the lack of union and several other economic factors give these people a non-stable environment for their job. They are doing purely piece-work (that is all very well) but one can see that that's going to make people work harder than if they were paid by the hour. I am not sure whether this piece-work is such a good idea. This lack of union means that they cannot bargain for wages — everything is purely in the hands of the employer. And the employer very happily told us that if international economic situation got worse, he could automatically reduce the wage. This seems to be true right throughout Hong Kong. It was a modern factory — has been opened about only 2 or 3 months, so maybe what we saw was the best.

(Second Group — Factory in Kwun Tong)

A.K. DAS

This factory was run by an ex-Christian student leader, who was very much committed but has now turned capitalist. Here is a challenge to our Christian students and to the participants of this Assembly — how much are we committed? — whether we are lifelong committed or just for the time-being.

TANG

The factory runs 24 hours a day, the workers work 3 shifts and one person is in charge of 15 looms. The amount of pay is about HK$600/- per

28

month. There are both women and men working together. The conditions of work are quite bad. The factory must have been in operation for quite some time because we can see a lot of fluff from the yam sticking to the top of the factory walls — and the noise was deafening — fantastic noise. In the midst of this the manager has his office, nicely air-conditioned. But the people are very friendly. We approached them and they were quite happy to talk to us — above the noise — shouting to them. We checked with the workers to find out how much they were paid. One lady said that she was paid, when she began 1% years ago about HKS19/- per day, and now she is paid about HK$20/- a day. That wasn't the average. The manager told us that the average was HKS 1,200 per month, so we checked with one of the workers to find out how much they actually received, because averages can be very misleading.

THIAGARAJAH

The factory that we visited was making jeans. One thing that I observed was the health conditions — things floating in the air which I think can be dangerous to health — and noise pollution. However, I cannot say that the workers are very unhappy because they were smiling and ready to talk. After having a chat with the manager, he said that if the profit is more, they will give a bonus but I don't know how true this is. As far as Malaysia is concerned, there are some factories that are running, where the workers don't know what is their annual income because most of them are uneducated. Here (in Hong Kong), maybe the workers don't complain so much because perhaps most of them are not skilled workers. They would be from rural areas who come and work in town and so maybe they think they are not in a position to ask for more. On the home stay: I didn't talk very much to the people who were in the house. One thing that I observed was that one of the girls was doing some part time job in the house — soldering some wires that are used in calculators and electronic computers. This is to earn a little extra. The house was very small. In my life, I haven't been to a dwelling that is so limited in space — such a small kitchen! We have flats in Malaysia but they are about 2 or 2^ times bigger.

(Third Group — Shek Yam Resite Area)

B. KUMAR

People who had been settled there were either affected by the fire or evicted by the government. In this particular place, there were about 3,000 people and the government has promised them temporary houses — of course, very small, very congested but the place is quite neat. The people either work in the factories or as daily wage workers. Their economic condition is not really satisfactory — they said. Their monthly income ranges between HK$400/- to HKS700/- which is not quite sufficient for them. Also they were not very definite about getting new houses. The government has promised them twice, new houses for the last 5 to 10 years. Here, however, the people are more united, they have leaders through whom they can present their problem to the government.

29

About 3 of us went to another area where the government has provided the people with houses. Living conditions is really bad — each family has been given just one room about 10' x 10', where they cook, sleep and do everything. But people said they were contented with the lives they lead. The peoples' senses of community is not very encouraging — there are fights among them. Many of them don't know what to do; they don't get education, they don't get jobs, so they sit idle — this creates a lot of social problems.

Particularly we noticed about the old people who are supposed to be taken care of by the government. A number of them said that the government doesn't take care of them well. They have to go to many officials and many representatives of the people, so in order to avoid all these red tapes they work on their own.

I cannot help but compare the life of these people with that of my own country (India). Of course, these people are at least given a small house and at least they have something to eat. In my country, the situation is really pathetic — many people don't have houses, clothes and food to eat. If you happen to come to our major cities, you would see people just sleeping on the platform, on roads, on streets and for food, they have to beg. In that context, I found the situation in Hong Kong much better than the Indian situation.

NAKINCH

The place was set up in 1974. The government established some buildings for them but most people there built their own houses with whatever materials they could. They set up a peoples' organization with a committee comprising of 17-20 members. Their function was to oversee the network of the organization and also to deal with problems which arise. There were several problems — one was related to the construction of roads ... The people there generally seem to have a good life. There were some home industries, like making shoes and sewing clothes.

30

(Fourth Group — Kowloon Bay Area)

DAWSON

This is a new sort of thing for me — so many people living in a small area. In Australia, most people have large houses, except for some minority groups. People seemed quite happy — I expected them to be angry because we were spectators to their life.

CHENG

The place was divided into 3 estates and in it there were more than 3,000 huts or cubicles. Some people have lived there for more than 10 years — in theory they will be there temporarily. Their houses can be termed as cubicles — 5' x 9' — the each family the total area is around 90 sq. ft. Most of them are factory workers or construction workers earning around HK$40/- per day but they may work only for 20 or fewer days per month. Many families are involved in assembling plastic toys. One lady who assembled plastic flowers told us that she gets HKS1/- for every 12 plastic flowers she arranged. The official we met put the blame on population growth — uncontrollable. People there were unorganized.