COMMENTARY
Women leaders changing the face of Asian politics
By Tom Plate
In some Asian countries these days, the big news is that women's veils are coming off. But some of the region's more modern political cultures are doing it one better: They're unveiling new women leaders.
Advertiser library photo • July 23, 2001
Asian cultures have long been typecast (not always incorrectly) as patriarchal — or, as we in the West say less politely and less accurately, "sexist." But while the Asian father may still know best, more and more he seems to be consulting high-powered women, even putting them into No. 1 spots.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is seen here during her first State of the Nation address, Arroyo faces difficult challenges from economic corruption and a Marxist insurgency.
Asia now fields more top-level female leaders (such as prime ministers and presidents) than the United States, notwithstanding such impressive figures as Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton and Dianne Feinstein.
But U.S. democracy, wonderful as it is, still awaits the apotheosis of its first female president. Meanwhile in Asia, yesterday's parade of long-deceased patriarchs has spawned a contemporary parade of daughter politicians upholding — indeed, improving on — their famous patrimonies.
In dynamic but troubled Indonesia, with the world's largest Muslim population, President Megawati Sukarnoputri tries to maintain a delicate balance between die-hard Islamic fundamentalists and cosmopolitan secularists.
The doughty daughter of enigmatic founding president and autocrat Sukarno, she is evolving a subtle style of government that is firm in her father's fashion (though not nearly that firm!), while coping with the volatile ethnic differences in the huge archipelago. Only time will tell whether Islam's deep-rooted sexism will prove too much for her to overcome.
Advertiser library photo • June 6, 2001
In the Philippines — a developing country that on alternating days is either Southeast Asia's best-kept investment secret or its lagging underachiever — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo manages to keep the lid on unrest at home while working the international dinner circuit to bring more development financing to Manila.
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri balances religious die-hards and cosmopolitan secularists.
No one gave this daughter of the late President Diosdado Macapagal much of a chance when she took over last year from her probably corrupt and indisputably inept predecessor, Joseph Estrada. Arroyo, like Megawati, must not only implement a serious program of economic reform but also must display an almost supernatural sense of political balance. She has to stare down Marxist rebels in the country's southern interior, charm fascist generals itching to leap back into the presidential palace and convince international bankers that she's the real deal.
The fact is that the Philippines now sports a national growth rate of nearly 4 percent (better than most others in the region) and fields a leader with the tenacity of a Hillary Clinton and enough persuasiveness to woo foreign investors, if only they would keep an open mind.
Other notable daughters of previous political leaders include presidential candidate Park Geun-hye, whose father, Park Chung-hee, was the toughest strongman ever to occupy South Korea's Blue House.
The late Park, who clubbed his way to power in a 1961 coup and dominated the South Korean political landscape for 18 years, is also the founding father of the modern South Korean economy. Today this industrial power, one of the world's top dozen, would surge further, were it not weighed down with corrupt practices that depress productivity. Park's daughter understands this: "Democratization is not finished," she said, announcing her candidacy last week. "My mission is to accomplish what my father did not, by completing the process." She is now probably South Korea's best prospect for leading true political and economic reform.
Advertiser library photo • Aug. 10, 2001
And of course, who can forget the redoubtable Makiko Tanaka, Japan's foreign minister who was sacked in January by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in a cowardly capitulation to his party's revanchist right guard.
Ex-Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka is the daughter of a former prime minister and was ousted for targeting corruption.
The blunt-talking daughter of late Japanese prime minister and political insider Noboru Tanaka — the best U.S. analogy to him would be the first Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago — put on a tough show trying to establish a fierce high-water mark for ethical standards in government. What cheek!
When she refused to budge from her view that the government should become Singapore-style squeaky clean, especially at the top, the targets of her crusade prevailed on the shaky Koizumi to throw her out. Guess what? The prime minister's public opinion ratings soon fell through the floor. Even in "sexist," patriarchal Asia, it seems, people know an honest man — or woman, in this case — when they see one.
So let's imagine this: In South Korea, Park somehow overtakes her opponents in the fall election and becomes president. In Southeast Asia, Arroyo and Megawati hang on tenaciously. And one day Japan wakes up to see that Tanaka has been appointed by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to a high-level post, in charge of exposing the world's nests of festering political corruption — which would include, of course, Tokyo's ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Asian women rule!
Tom Plate, a columnist with The Honolulu Advertiser and the South China Morning Post, is a professor at UCLA. Reach him at tplate@ucla.edu. He also has a spot on the Web.
