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Welcoming President Duterte to the 'old boy network'

Philippine leader is not the first ASEAN strongman to flout Western ideals of what constitute human rights
Welcoming President Duterte to the 'old boy network'

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte arrives in Laos on Sept. 5 to attend an ASEAN leaders meeting. (Photo courtesy of the Presidential Communications Office)

Published: September 07, 2016 03:56 AM GMT
Updated: September 07, 2016 04:41 AM GMT

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is in Vientiane, Laos, for his first appearance on the international stage since becoming head of state in June 2016.

He makes his debut at the ASEAN Summit, where his main agenda, among others, will be to promote his war on drugs and push for a "drug-free ASEAN."

A statement issued on his behalf upon his departure, Sept. 5, from Davao City, southern Philippines, has also underscored "the importance of the rule of law and peaceful settlement of disputes" as a key talking point during the summit.

Will the tough guy, strongman, expletive-loving Philippine leader fit in at the regional organization? Surely, he will.

The Philippine president and most of his ASEAN counterparts see human rights as a very unpopular theme. 

The view that human rights is not universal and that there is an "Asian way," a view put forward by former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohammad and Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, continues to hold sway among governments in the region.

The evolution of human rights principles and practice within the Southeast Asian bloc has taken almost five decades, with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights being formed only in 2009 and the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration being finally adopted in 2012.

Yet the intergovernmental body and the declaration have not necessarily guaranteed the application of human rights, nor peoples benefiting from them — not with the prevailing environment of impunity in ASEAN countries.

The list of environmental activists, rights defenders, indigenous peoples, and political dissidents attacked, harassed, assaulted, imprisoned, and worse, murdered, in ASEAN countries continues to grow. 

Many of these human right violations have either been perceived or evidently seen as state-sanctioned and/or perpetrated. The resolution of these cases has not seen the light of day.

Rights group Focus on the Global South has called attention to cases in the recent past, namely those of: "Gloria Capitan, an anti-coal activist from the Philippines; Kem Ley, a social/political analyst from Cambodia; and Melon Barcia, a peasant leader from the Philippines. All felled by an assassin's gun. 

"Den Kamlae, a land rights activist from Thailand; Sombath Somphone, a development worker from Laos; and Jonas Burgos, a farmer and political activist from the Philippines. All forcibly disappeared.

According to Focus on the Global South executive director, Shalmali Guttal, these cases of human rights violations have become systemic, coming from a long history of violence in countries in the region. 

This history has been witness to states causing the violence or promoting impunity.

President Duterte has also criticized human rights, considering it as an impediment to his war on drugs; for him, drug users have no rights, cannot be rehabilitated, and thus deserve to die.

More than 2,000 have been killed since the Philippine government’s war on drugs started when Duterte assumed office. 

The United Nations has criticized Duterte about the killing of suspects without due process, and in response he slammed the global rights body and threatened to pull the Philippines out of the world body.

Amid rising concern on how it is conducting its campaign against drugs and criminality, the Duterte government has also not addressed the issue of enforced disappearances and murder of indigenous peoples and rights defenders, among other human rights issues.

Another thing he shares with ASEAN leaders, past and present, is his brand of leadership. Duterte is not the first when it comes to being the tough guy with extreme nationalist-populist posturing.  He shares this badge of honor with others who have come before him. 

Southeast Asia’s "strongman" has been a distinct feature of the region’s post-colonial history. The "strongman" is not going to be gone soon, what with the deeply entrenched military leadership in Thailand, the top-down style of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Hun Sen in Cambodia, a government in Laos that scoffs at the tiniest act of resistance or political dissent, among others.

The rule of law shall resonate among ASEAN leaders, but what they will hear is the rule of centralized, authoritarian power.

ASEAN leaders might as well welcome the Philippine president with a vigorous handshake and heavy pat on the back, with a "welcome to the old boy network” greeting.

Clarissa Militante works at Focus on the Global South as communications officer and teaches at De La Salle University’s Communications and Literature departments in Manila.

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