Indonesia, Nepal, The Philippines: Common cause

The current political upheavals in three Asian countries cannot be compared to the military mayhem in Gaza and Ukraine, but do present a common thread of the peoples' outrages against corruption and government abuses.  The case of Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines is a milestone in contemporary history of the peoples' struggles for better government.

Indonesia is the world's third largest democracy, biggest ASEAN member-state and the largest Muslim country in the whole world, with an area of 1,904,569 square kilometers in more than 17,000 islands and with a population of 284,438,782. Its GDP of 5.009 trillion US dollars and a per capita income of $17,612 which is much higher than both the Philippines and Nepal. It is a presidential republic with 38 provinces. It has an elected bicameral legislature and an independent judicial system. Its current president is ProbowoSubianto, an ex-military officer.

Indonesia is a member of the UN. the BRICS, WTO, G20, MIKTA, a founding member of ASEAN and the Non-Aligned Nations, East Asia Summit, APEC and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Indonesia commands the largest economy in southeast Asia and is recognized as a newly industrialized country in 2025. In 2019, its total oil and other energy production was 450.70 tons with a total energy supply of 231.14 million tons. Its economy is built on services which provide employment for half of its working class, followed by agriculture and industry. Indonesia has all the potential for greatness and prosperity, if led well and its economy managed better.

The political turbulence and social chaos in Indonesia these last few weeks were fueled by perceived corruption and abuses by the country's politicians and their senseless audacity in legislating gargantuan benefits for legislators while the people suffer in utter poverty and social injustices. Further, there were uproars on alleged corruption at the Pertamina oil industry which resulted in 193.7 trillion Indonesian rupiah. While Indonesia's trajectory as an economy is pointed upward, more than half of its population are living below the poverty line.

Nepal is much more problematic. It is a poor Himalayan country which considers itself a Federal Democratic Republic I is landlocked between two giant nations, China in the north and India in the south, east and west. Nepal has an area of 147.516 square kilometers and a population of 31,122,387 people. Its GDP is 169.120 billion US dollars and a per capita income of 5,348 US dollars. Its recent political and social turbulence were driven by many incidences of socio-economic injustice and recent police brutality. The peoples' revolution resulted in the ouster of its Prime Minister.

The Philippines should have been the wealthiest among the three because of its rich natural resources, the high levels of education and technological savvy of the Filipinos. But its political leaders were mostly corrupt and incompetent and were lacking in vision and nationalism. Our country is a rich nation with very competent and conscientious people but it has a plundered economy and a graft-ridden government.  In the 1960s, the Philippines was second only to Japan in economy. Today, it is one of the poorest economies and with one of the most corrupt governments. 

Our country has an area of 300,000 square kilometers with a population of 112,729,484. Our GDP is 1.488 trillion US dollars (much lower than Indonesia's but a lot higher than that of Nepal). And a per capita income of 12,930 US dollars (much lower than that of Indonesia and again, higher than that of Nepal).  But our biggest headache is our national debt of 17 trillion pesos, more than one third of which went to the pockets of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and their cohorts, the greedy contractors and suppliers.

The common thread that binds Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines is corruption and the common culprits are the greed of its ruling elite who amass wealth, power and control over the life of the whole nation and all the people.