I don’t like politics. I hate it. Discussing issues of a political nature makes my blood shoot up. I don’t like experiencing that because hey, I’d like to live a little longer. But well, here I am, pouring my thoughts on an issue that has been flooding our timelines of late – that of the Taiwan hullabaloo.
Let me digress first…
A few year back, there was the hostage situation in Manila that put us on edge with Hong Kong and the general Chinese population there (or maybe somewhere else too, I dunno). Then it was the fiasco with Sabah and the Malaysian government. Now, it’s Taiwan. There could be more in between but I’m not a fan of current events, I’m sure to miss out on a lot. What I know is often limited to what I read on Twitter (which, in fairness to me, I follow through to the full news link) or shoutouts by my FB friends. In more than one instance, we fight fire with fire. We blame the whole for the mistakes of a few.
*sigh*
We made a wrong move. No matter what we believe, or want to believe, there was a wrong move somewhere that we needed to own up to. We could have apologized or at least explained our side. But we didn’t and we got threatened. I didn’t like the threat both for its content (apologize or we will stop hiring Filipino workers) and for the fact that it was directed at a head of state. Maybe our President and our nation isn’t much to reckon with compared with let’s say China, Japan, North Korea or the United States. But a head of state is a head of state, and you don’t threaten a head of state that way.
But then, maybe because he was pressured, PNoy did issue the apology although according to some feedback, many Taiwanese, and especially their government thought we weren’t sincere. And despite and in spite of that, our Filipino countrymen now suffer discrimination and worse, maltreatment. In answer, there is a petition to boycott Taiwan products, and just a few days ago, I saw on FB a photo of a person (I didn’t bother to find out who) burning a flag of Taiwan in front of the National Press Club (so it says on the caption).
You may agree with me or not, but again, this is my blog. And this is my opinion.
Much as I sympathize with the plight our fellow Filipinos are suffering in Taiwan right now, I think burning the Taiwanese flag in public (or some similar act of defiance) only brings attention to the individual and/or group/s responsible for the malicious act. It does not help in either alleviating their plight, Β or in easing tension between our countries.Β Yes, them calling us barbaric is the like the pot calling the kettle black but what? We answer back in the same barbaric way?
This is a civilized time we live in, I believe. People talk. People should talk. And we need to learn to pray again.
On that note, makes me wonder… At times like these, why doesn’t the Catholic Church rally people to prayer for peace and patience and tolerance and discernment to reign in the hearts of the two nations’ leaders’ hearts?
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