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

286 MICHAEL PINCHES
the Filipino-Chinese among non-Chinese Filipinos. It is also a common image the
Filipino-Chinese hold of themselves (See 1988; Chua 1988a; See 1990:86—93), as
distinct from Filipinos whom some see as stereotypically lazy, poor, dependent and
wasteful (Chua and Herrin 1988:91; Chua 1988b: 108; Pacho 1986:88).
Today the values of diligence and thrift, and their association with the Chinese,
are celebrated and deferred to in ways that appear quite unprecedented. A number
of non-Chinese businesspeople, academics, journalists and officials I talked with
spoke of the Chinese entrepreneur as offering a role model that Filipinos should
follow in order to bring about national prosperity. 23 Some explicitly invoked the
culture of Confucianism and linked this to the success of Chinese capitalists
elsewhere in the region (see also dela Cruz 1994). According to one rising
entrepreneur:
The Chinese scrimp and save, and live frugally until they have a lot of wealth,
whereas we Filipinos have a tendency to conspicuous consumption. We
could do better in the Philippines if we saved and deferred consumption, that
is if the entrepreneurial class lived like the Chinese.
Clearly the stereotype of the Filipino-Chinese as successful new-rich businesspeople
in possession of some intrinsic ethnic quality that enables them to
accumulate wealth ignores the many Chinese who are materially unsuccessful or
who perform a range of other occupations (See 1990:26—30; von Brevern 1988),
including a growing number which might be described as new middle class. Indeed,
it is ironic that at the same time as Chinese entrepreneurship is being most reified
and celebrated, increasing numbers of young Filipino-Chinese are leaving family
businesses to become salaried professionals. The stereotype also ignores the
historical role that racism has played in containing many Chinese in commerce, as
well as fostering among them relations of mutual trust, which are often seen as
central to their economic success (Omohundro 1983). Nevertheless, according to
one Filipino-Chinese author: ‘Many Filipinos harbour the false notion that the
success of the Chinese must be due to something mysterious and/or mystical in
their culture, hence, they send their children to Chinese schools’ (See 1990:5).
Adopting an apparently more cynical stance, one non-Chinese Filipino business
family is reputed to have taken on a Chinese name because they say it is better for
business.
The popular representation of the new rich as Chinese evidences complex
changes that are taking place in Philippine society and the Asian region. Rather
than reflecting immutable cultural distinctions between Chinese and non-Chinese
Filipinos, the argument that the new rich are Chinese reflects more the fact that the
ethnic and national identities of Filipinos are themselves changing. The Filipino-
Chinese, and the ethnic identity they carry, are becoming enmeshed in Philippine
society in more complex ways than in the past. For most of Philippine history, the
Filipino-Chinese have been seen as having lived a more or less enclave existence,
concentrated in the parian or Chinatown areas of the major cities, in commerce,