Culture and Privilege in Capitalist Asia - Jurusan Antropologi ...

11
Entrepreneurship, consumption, ethnicity
and national identity in the making of the
Philippines’ new rich
Michael Pinches
INTRODUCTION: A NEW ERA?
Better times have come to the Philippines. After years of poverty and
misrule, Asia’s favorite basket case is proving that democracy isn’t the
enemy of development…. A new era has clearly dawned.
(Time, 15 May 1995)
When the article containing this statement appeared in the cover story of Time
magazine, it aroused much celebration among government officials and sections of
the elite and middle classes in the Philippines, in a similar way to Time’s cover
story on President Corazon Aquino and the restoration of democracy several
years earlier. Outside recognition that the Philippines appeared to be following in
the footsteps of its more celebrated neighbours along the path of economic
development and widening prosperity also came from other sources, and
contributed to a growing sense of confidence among the privileged sectors of
Philippine society. 1
Even as the regional currency crisis of 1997 saw a downturn in economic
growth, the Philippines was buoyed by the imminent conclusion to decades of
dependence on the International Monetary Fund, just at a time when other, once
faster-growing, countries in the region were having to negotiate assistance from the
lending body. Public recognition from internationally respected media sources like
Time magazine is held in high regard in the Philippines, underlining not only the
ongoing influence of the American colonial and neo-colonial experience, but also
the extent to which most Filipinos have increasingly come to identify themselves
and their nation in relation to the success stories of their Southeast Asian
neighbours. In a region of Tigers and Dragons, the Philippines has almost universally
been portrayed as the exceptional failure, and has had to endure the label ‘sick
man of Asia’ as well as the condescending advice of regional leaders like Lee Kuan
Yew (Far Eastern Economic Review, 10 December 1992:4, 29). Just as many
Filipinos speak of their involvement in the popular overthrow of the Marcos regime
as a moment of personal and national pride following a long period of shame, so