What it takes is a tough guy to crack down on terror and crime

Okay, so in Davao we’ve got Mayor Rod Duterte. (Some people have been complaining about "human rights" down there, but 99 percent of Davaoeños don’t seem to be too concerned. What they’re happy about is that the former city of the "killing fields" didn’t even have fireworks, much less bombs or grenade attacks last Happy New Year.)

According to yesterday’s International Herald Tribune (Monday, January 6, 2003), the same phenomenon is taking place among the French. The banner headline on page 2 declared: "Law-and-Order Minister is Shaking Up France."

The report by Barry James, datelined Paris, said: "When Nicolas Sarkozy took office as France’s top cop last May, he was given a tough mandate: Stop crime, stop terrorism, stop illegal immigration and prevent the far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen from mounting another strong political challenge.

"So far Sarkozy has performed so effectively that the entire government is benefiting from the glow.

"By putting more police officers on the streets, he has reduced crime. He has stepped up measures against terrorism while seeking to improve understanding between the government and moderate Muslims. He faced down a strike by truckers by threatening to confiscate their driver permits. He closed a refugee center near Calais that had been a major cause of friction with Britain.

"Most surprisingly, Sarkozy has succeeded in getting even a considerable part of the intellectual left to accept and even like his no-nonsense law-and-order program. All this, in the eyes of some political analysts, makes Sarkozy eminently a future prime minister and perhaps even president if he can continue his present winning streak."

The IHT article narrates how Sarkozy, a member of the National Assembly and mayor of a wealthy Paris suburb, was tapped by French President Jacques Chirac to become interior minister in response to the first round success of far-rightist Le Pen and his National Front. Chirac feared Le Pen might gain enough political ground to go for the presidency itself.

When Chirac won the second round last May by a landslide, knocking out the Socialist candidate, former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, for good, and decisively crushing Le Pen, he called on Sarkozy to make the arrangement more permanent. Chirac enticed Sarkozy from the town hall of Neuilly-sur-Seine (a suburb west of Paris) to take over the Interior Ministry, which is just across the street from the President’s own Elysee Palace.

"Since then," reporter James relates, "Sarkozy has amazed the French with his can-do spirit and his whirlwind visits around the country."

Sarkozy believes the former Socialist government lost the presidential election "because they (the Socialists) ignored the concerns of ordinary people over crime, insecurity and illegal immigration..."

To avoid making the same mistake, the Tribune reports, Sarkozy "with TV cameras in tow... frequently visits the gritty suburbs where crime, ethnic tensions and drugs are rife. Whether this actually means anything seems to be secondary to the fact that people feel safer with him in charge, aides say.

"‘Sweet Dreams,’ said a tongue-in-cheek headline in the newspaper Le Parisien recently. ‘Sarko’s watching over you.’ But some fear the French may lose some of their freedoms because of a zero-tolerance crime bill about to take effect."

Perhaps this is what we need in this country of endless debate, open-ended perorating and too many heat-seeking lawyers: A zero-tolerance law against crime, and a tough guy like Sarkozy to enforce it.

* * *

Actually, I wrote about Sarkozy last December 2 in a column headlined: Go for it, GMA...

In the article, I thanked French Interior Minister Sarkozy for the fact that I did not get "stuck in Paris" by a massive transport strike launched by truckers, railways workers, air traffic controllers, and walk-outs by postal workers, bus and subway drivers, hospital workers, electricity and telephone utility staff. The labor unions growled they would tie up the French capital as they did in 1995. (Our STAR copy editor, believing his grammar better than mine, of course, revised my line to say "stucked in Paris." But that’s another type of disaster.)

In any event, that’s the first time I was to hear of this wonder-boy, Interior Minister Sarkozy. In the teeth of the strike, Sarkozy vowed: "The government will not accept that the country be paralyzed. If a geographical center which is important to the daily lives of the French people becomes the object of obstruction and blockades (by strikers) we will have the police and the gendarmes (national constabulary) act immediately."

That’s what he did. When the first strikers attempted to block the highways leading into Paris, Sarkozy’s policemen and their huge bulldozers and other specialized towing equipment were ready. The dozers pushed even the biggest trucks, trailer vans, haulers, and other blockading vehicles off the road. Troublemaking drivers were arrested and their licenses seized. The strike abjectly collapsed. My colleagues and I made it to CDG Roissy airport in good time, to catch our flight to Rome. (I wouldn’t have minded getting "stucked" in Paris, the city of light and non-stop delights, but thanks to Sarkozy, we were able to keep to our schedule.)

I wrote in this corner last December 2: "Perhaps we ought to import this guy Sarkozy to teach us how things should be done. But there’s no such thing as a transfusion of ‘backbone.’ That’s what our leaders need."

They still do – badly.

* * *

Sarkozy, of course, is not without his faults. Nor are the French police and prison system without blame.

Just two weeks ago, one of the Most Wanted Men, a Basque terrorist leader (with a big price on his head in next-door Spain), was captured by the French intelligence and police. Within hours, the man had "escaped" from the maximum detention facility by climbing out, the after-incident report claimed, of a ventilator shaft! Great shades of those fabulous escapes of the Pentagon gang leaders and that Chinese druglord, Henry Tan, from prison in Camp Crame! That celebrated and mysterious getaway in France was the second mystifying escape from a French jail. (As soon as I find my notes on the matter from the mountain of clippings and assorted junk on my office floor – yes, Virginia, I keep a very . . . er, efficient non-filing system – I’ll fill you, dear reader, in on the details.)

In any event, that embarrassing and daring "escape" by the ETA terrorist was a blot on Sarkozy’s eschutcheon and irritated him no end.

* * *

My other favorite newspaper, the Financial Times of London, has not always been so complimentary about my hero, Sarkozy. Last December 23, FT wrote a piece under a column entitled, "OBSERVER in Paris", citing Sarkozy as "the omnipresent interior minister of Hungarian origin".

Sarko, said the FT, "never stops popping up in the most unlikely places, barking orders to prefets, police and gendarmes. Passed over for the premiership, which he presumed was in his pocket, he channels his considerable nervous energy into being France’s ‘First Cop’.

"His high-profile crackdown on crime and illegal immigration has converted this normally thankless job into the most desirable post in the Cabinet. This month, he captivated a TV audience for 100 minutes with sharp answers to all the awkward questions."

In another piece, FT’s OBSERVER notes: "The irrepressible Sarkozy is already testing his chances for the French presidential race in 2007. His main opponent would be (French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre) Haffarin, though for the moment the egg-headed ex-premier Alain Juppé remains the heir apparent to Mr. Chirac."

However, I must point out that Sarko has also raised eyebrows by bringing in Cecilia, his second wife, to frequently share the limelight with him. In French politics, as writer Robert Graham reminds us, "wives (and mistresses) are normally kept out of French politics partly in recognition of the need for privacy of people in the public eye." Defying this dictum, Sarko has installed his wife in the interior ministry as his "adviser". He claims that not only does he value her advice, but pleads that "otherwise they would never see each other".

Watch out, Sarko. In the Philippines, you would be designated as a Yukoza (Yuko sa Asawa), or Takoza (Takot sa Asawa), or USA (Under the Saya Always) – and join the ranks of the majority of macho Pinoy men.

The FT upholds this view: "On occasions, Cecilia is sent to deputize for him (Sarkozy). Just before Christmas she announced that she might enter politics. They would make a formidable husband—and-wife team."

I’ll have to say that the husband-and-wife team concept is not unknown in this country – in fact we’ve got too many of them. This would be a novelty in France, though, it seems. I don’t know whether, in the land of Gallic charm, wit, and le caractère mauvais, that development would be regarded as progress.