Why Big Mac is down, and Pepsi has won the ‘cola wars’ in Arabia

The announcement by the "hamburger" chain of McDonald (I frequently misspell Big Mac’s title as "MacDonald’s") that it will shut down 175 outlets in ten countries – most of them in the Middle East – is a sign of the times. The US stock market dipped at the revelation, but there’s a deeper significance to the closures, I suspect.

A major reason McDonald’s is failing in the Middle East and has apparently thrown in the towel there is that Arabs have organized a boycott of the Golden Arches as one of the most prominent symbols of the American cultural and culinary "intrusion" into their countries.

Let’s face it: The Arabic, indeed the Islamic world, is vehemently anti-American. (Now, even Arabs who may enjoy Big Macs, fries, etc. have slunk off, afraid to patronize their favorite junk food at the cost of being tarred as betraying the Muslim cause!)

You can be sure that many of the unfortunate employees facing lay-off in the Middle Eastern lands where McDonald’s is closing shop will be Filipinos. In September, during my travels through Saudi Arabia, Dubai (in the United Arab Emirates), and the Kingdom of Bahrain, I noticed that many of the McDonald’s personnel were Pinoys and Pinays. Now, I suppose, they’ll have to switch to selling kebab, felafel, dates, and sheep’s eyes, instead.

For instance, last September 29, this writer visited the snazzy $25 million "Seef Mall" in Manama, the capital of Bahrain. Opened in 1997, the "Seef" (which means harborside, I reckon) looks like a Moorish palace and houses more than 60 upmarket shops, including the UK department store, Debenham’s, not to mention Miss Selfridges, River Island, Milano, Evans, Etam, Radio Shack, Sock Shop, JC Pennys, Diesel, KMS, Wax Lyrical, Make-up Art Cosmetics, Mango, and other familiar outlets. The "Seef Mall’s" $8.5 million extension was even more interesting. It included parking for 650 cars, and a screen cinema complex. One of the most prominent sections there was a small food circle which featured, among others, McDonald’s along with Kentucky Fried Chicken and Dairy Queen. It was at the latter mall that I met Ms. Mary Anne Bella, who comes from Makati, but has worked in the McDonald’s chain in Bahrain for the past eight years, rising to the rank of Supervisor.

She said that she had seen no sign of a local boycott, but I guess she was only being careful not to spread the bad publicity. I asked her about the special burger on offer, called "Taste of Italy" burger, which I had seen in no other Mac eatery in the world. Mary Anne admitted that only McDonald’s in the Gulf countries offered this treat, which had been created as a marketing gimmick to boost sales and court the Arab palate. (Presumably, they like Italian stuff, more than American?) The Italian Taste burger wasn’t cheap – it cost BD 1.2 per sandwich. When you recall that three US dollars equals 1 Bahraini Dinar, that’s pricey. In any event, I did see several locals eating burgers and fries – though most of the customers seemed to be tourists and ex-pats.

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The boycott in Bahrain, I’m afraid, was to some extent the American ambassador’s fault. I was told by friends there that a few months ago, the US envoy to Bahrain was invited to be guest of honor at a joint meeting of their chamber of commerce and Rotary Club. At the luncheon, one of the Bahraini members rose and asked the participants to stand for a prayer for their Palestinian brothers and sisters who had been killed by Israeli military incursions and attacks in the West Bank and Gaza.

The American ambassador, my informants said, reacted rather badly to this proposal, because he announced that if they were going to pray for the slain Palestinians, they should also stand up and offer a prayer for the Israeli civilians – men, women and children – also killed by suicide-bombers and Palestinian gunmen. What an uproar that provoked.

When the news got to the street, mobs rioted and big demonstrations were mobilized against the US government, the embassy, and the ambassador himself. Sanamagan: We all sympathize with the innocents – Jews and Arabs alike – slain in that terrible confrontation and intifada, but shouldn’t the American diplomat have been more diplomatic – and, beyond that, more sensible? There he was in an Arab, very Muslim country, and yet he called for a prayer for the Israelis. Remember the old saw: Discretion is the better part of valor. For that matter, diplomats are supposed to be the soul of discretion – which, too often, they aren’t.

In any event, what’s done is done.

Another thing that’s obvious in Saudi, UAE, and Bahrain, is the fact that Pepsi Cola has won the cola wars in the Arabian peninsula and the Gulf. Everywhere are immense neon signs, billboards, and dispensers, proclaiming the predominance of Pepsi, even that slogan of theirs "to the Max" which has (blush) nothing to do with me. Where is Coca Cola? It’s available, but the signs concerning Coke are very small, almost sheepish in their modesty.

My inquiries produced the following explanation. Take it or leave it. First, Arabs rejected Coca Cola because they had been "informed" that Coca Cola’s ownership was mainly Jewish. Indeed, I wouldn’t put it beyond those Pepsi propagandists to have propagated the impression that since "Israelis drink Coca Cola, all good Muslims ought to drink Pepsi Cola. All’s fair in love, war, politics, and in the soft-drinks wars!"

Coke owned by Jews? How many Jews are there in Atlanta, Georgia? For goodness' sake: Jesus Christ and Mother Mary were Jews. And the Jews and the Arabs are both Semites, descended from the same father Abraham, or Ibrahim, depending on how you spell it.

No wonder the camel is supposed to be superior to man. Men can be so dumb. You’ve heard of the Arab proverb: God (Allah) has 100 names, but man knows only 99 of them. The camel knows the 100th name of God. Therefore, the camel is superior to man. I tried this proverb out on some of my Saudi friends, but they never heard of it.

Must have come from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, or Egypt, the other Arab nations I’ve covered.

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We’re going to get a new Armed Forces Chief of Staff, it’s been disclosed, next November 18, when the "short-termed" AFP Chief of Staff, General Benjamin Defensor bows out.

This is Lt. Gen. Dionisio Santiago, the present Philippine Army commanding general. However, General Santiago’s tenure of service expires next April, 2003. Will he have only a short term, too?

A great deal of speculation has erupted over who’ll succeed Santiago as Philippine Army commanding general. Whoever gets that post may be, in turn, a future Chief of Staff.

Frankly, I’m less concerned about who’ll be the next Chief after the incoming Lt. Gen. Santiago, than about the quality — or lack of it — of our incoming officer corps. Battles are won or lost at the platoon level, I’ve observed as both an ex-infantry officer and a grizzled old war correspondent. I shudder, unless standards are upgraded, at the preparedness and reflexes of those who’ll be leading future platoons.

In a few months, 103 cadets from the Philippine Military Academy will be graduating (their lean numbers reflecting the attrition suffered by the class from their original complement of 170 four years ago). In the graduating class, immediately to be commissioned in our different armed services, by the way, are five female cadets.

I had a heart-to-heart talk with my old friend, General Edilberto Adan, who took over as PMA Superintendent last March. Ed – who used to be spokesman of the Armed Forces and is one of our most combat-experienced officers, having commanded a brigade in Basilan, Zamboanga, and other "hot" areas – has been feverishly attempting to upgrade and "balance" the Academy’s curriculum so as to produce better officers.

He pointed out that, already, the attrition among new cadets has been worrisome. He had started out with 949 cadets – i.e., those who passed the entrance exams – on April 1, this year. More than 200 of these plebes "washed out" in the intervening months. Now, Adan is left with only 770 first-year cadets.

The reasons plebes fail can be broken down into two parts: lapses of conduct, or failure in academics. Most of the plebes who flunked out, about 80 percent, Ed told me, were very poor in mathematics. Many of them were deficient in English as well.

Can you beat that? Math is vital to a PMA cadet, and future officer. The degree a PMA’er gets on completion is an Engineering degree, for starters – which requires math. Military officers have to deal with modern technology, such as directing artillery fire, calling for air support, map-reading, calculations, azimuths, etc. If they don’t have proficiency in such matters, all requiring mathematical agility, they could get their soldiers killed.

As for English, how can our military conduct joint exercises with units from other countries, like the United States, Thailand, Indonesia etc., without a tongue that unites them and enables them to understand each other – why, English, of course!

Seventy percent of the plebes, moreover, came from public schools. This should give us an indication of the deteriorating standards of education in our public schools – not to mention our entire decrepit educational system.

It’s time we woke up to this.

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THE ROVING EYE . . . Why is it that nobody’s surprised that four vicious suspects belonging to the Pentagon kidnap gang escaped from provincial jail in Kidapawan, North Cotabato yesterday – at the crack of dawn? Although the four men were being held for various offenses from carjacking to gunrunning, they were also well-known to be associated with Pentagon chieftain Tahir Alonto who’s still at large. Salamabit: The "suspects" now on the loose are Mangara Angil, Tonton Saligap, Sayadonna Salandan and Tonin Lidasan. The "story" is that they cut through the bars of their cell windows and got away. Seems we’ve heard that windy before. People have been saying that if the government only shot the jailers and guards involved, we’d have fewer "escapes". That’s an impossible thought. In this country, crooks are called The Honorable, the thieves and robbers become both rich and big shots in government and politics, and those who goof get promoted. And when they speak of a Cabinet "revamp", they really mean a reshuffle, or a Game of Musical Chairs. Nobody gets punished. It’s the innocent who suffer or die. Afterwards, our courts and lawyers are mostly interested in protecting the "human rights" of the killers and criminals, not those of the victims – since the latter are already dead and can’t complain. Forgive me for sounding too cynical for a Sunday. The next time, I’ll choose a weekday.