Remembering 9/11

It is undisputed that the world changed after 9/11. The very spectacle of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon burning after airplanes had been hijacked and rammed through the buildings, flashed on television worldwide, was awesome. The event became a fulcrum through which nations of the world would relate to each other as we entered the new millenium. It is not easy to answer questions it unleashed. The debate is still on. A whole set of assumptions went down with the twin towers which symbolized trade and business in the modern world.

One question that keeps coming up is whether hardline policies, by the US or Russia or by governments anywhere in the world, can stop terrorism. This is not to say that it should not be dealt with. It should be dealt with but the use of armed strength against armed strength isn’t the answer. Indeed, it only means raising more questions, most of them unanswerable.

We do not have a lack of those who have answers. William Pfaff, the noted columnist in International Herald Tribune recently wrote "Nationalism has been the most important force in modern history, resisting and outlasting all totalitarianisms. It easily merges with religious fundamentalism, which is another way to affirm identity. It makes use of terrorism because this is the weapon of the weak. But nationalism is what it is all about. After all, what has driven U.S. policy since Sept. 11, 2001, if not outraged nationalism? "

Perhaps this word of caution is relevant: It is well also for the man in the street to realise that there is no power on earth that can protect him from from being bombed. Whatever people may tell him, the bomber will always get through. Who said that? Libya’s Gaddafi? Or maybe Osama bin Ladin? No, it was Stanley Baldwin, British prime minister in a speech to the British Parliament in 1947.

What we face is the principle of uncertainty, of things we do not and cannot know on how the world works or why human beings are what they are at all. Yet we have to face it everyday of our lives and come up with solutions. That is the dilemma of the human condition. It is my way of remembering 9/11 and now having to cope with the Beslan school tragedy and the bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta. These are the visible parts of the picture, the rest is dark and shadow. If we are to find more meaningful reasons and act more effectively we must also deal with the shadow and that will take time, if at all.

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It will be good to keep in mind that whatever else governs our foreign policy relations, we have to put the presence of Filipinos, especially workers all over the world at the top of the list of concerns. That is why President Macapagal was dead right on Angelo de la Cruz. When figures are cited that there are more than a million Filipinos in the Middle East, that is only partly true. The million Filipinos are in Saudi Arabia, not the Middle East and it is with this country where efforts for better relations and understanding should be focused. The relation is not one way. It is mutually beneficial and this is recognized by the Saudis, Filipinos are an essential part of their development and nation-building. But now Filipinos are anxious that with the Saudis themselves learning at a fast pace, soon jobs that used to be available to guest workers may not be as readily available.

At the top of these efforts for Saudi modernization and development is Minister Ghazi A. Algosaibi, former Saudi ambassador to the Court of St. James whom I personally met in London through my close friend, Baria Alamuddin. She is foreign editor of prestigious Al-Hayat. He is now Minister for Labor and it is good to have a sympathetic friend to be prepared for Saudi policies as they will affect Filipinos.

For example, Saudi Ambassador Mohammed Wali sent this column an article that Crown Prince Abdullah has confirmed a budget surplus of about SRA41 billion from the unexpected rise in oil prices. This will be earmarked for development projects and a reserve fund against future fluctuations on world oil prices. The lion’s share of the welfare allocation would be spent on projects in five sectors – water and sewage, road and expressways, primary health care, school buildings and technical and vocational education. Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi said this will also fund the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training to help train more young Saudis and cut short the country’s unemployment rate. "Opening more vocational and technical training centers in various parts of the country is the best way to help our youngsters to get jobs," the minister said and urged Saudis to make use of the training facilities.

It is important we know that Minister Algosaibi is perhaps one of the most loved Saudi officials of the kingdom. He is forward-looking and although western-schooled he is passionate about his identity as a Saudi. He was former Minister of Industry and Electricity and Minister of Health. Not many are aware especially in our part of the world that his leading role in Saudi Arabia’s rapid modernization began as early as the 1970s and 1980s. He would have made an excellent Director General for the UNESCO. I sometimes wonder how it would have been had he won the UNESCO post then. I have no doubt that he would have tried hard to breach the cultural divide between Muslims and Christians through UNESCO. It is helpful that we cultivate his friendship as Minister of Labor in these rapidly changing times that could affect the fate of our Filipino workers there. By the way, it would be good to invite him to the Philippines. There is a story that one of the Algosaibis settled in the Philippines in the early days of Mindanao.

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It is always a treat to be meet with Indian Ambassador Navrekha Sharma at the embassy residence. She is an articulate and knowledgeable diplomat apart from the delicious Indian food (best in the country!) she serves from her kitchen. We had a lot to talk about what with my daughter, CNN anchor Veronica broadcasting from New Delhi for a week on a series of reports on CNN’s Eye on India.

One of the more sensitive questions that have come up is the effect of outsourcing, particularly by the United States where companies are now resorting to call centers abroad as part of their economies. India has taken a lion’s share of outsourcing, with the Philippines, coming up from behind. So we’re competitors, I asked her. Not necessarily she said. There is plenty of room for both countries if we can get our acts together. I was surprised to know that some cooperation is already taking place between Filipinos and Indians on the business level but with the potential of outsourcing industry – some US$650 billion – she thinks the time has come for government cooperation so both countries can make maximum use of it. That would be a worthwhile reason for President GMA to visit to New Delhi.

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