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I wonder how many people reading this column have ever heard of John
Frum? For those of you who may not be familiar with Mr. Frum, he is
said to live inside a volcano in Vanuatu (about 2,000 miles south
east from here).
It is believed by those who follow or believe in
Mr. Frum that he will deliver “cargo” from the sky, in the shape
of food, utensils, clothes and other useful stuff. He is the
figurehead of a “cargo cult,” which has a belief that the things
needed for sustainment of life will be delivered by aeroplanes from
the sky; in the case of the followers in Vanuatu on February 15. No
doubt most people would agree that there is a low probability of
this happening.
Cargo cults have existed around the Pacific for
several hundred years, their existence most recently reinforced by
the arrival of US troops and supplies during World War 2 when the
USA was looking for bases in the Pacific. It is not only Americans
who have done this, Europeans have also stimulated cargo cults by
providing materiel to islanders at various points in history. Some
of these “provisions” have been in support of missionary efforts
towards conversion of islanders to Christianity, others in
particular the American provisions were just done because that’s
the way Americans do things.
It can be argued that whether to suddenly deluge
indigenous peoples in remote locations with modern foodstuffs and
appliances is a useful thing to do, or not. What is less debatable
is whether or not giving people something for nothing is a good
idea, particularly when what they are being given is unfamiliar to
them. It creates a dependency. For 60 years, the John Frum followers
on Vanuatu have been expecting lots of free gifts to be delivered by
‘plane to their island; they have even built runways and makeshift
control towers with wooden headsets and instruments to help the
cargo carrying planes to land. They just wait and hope, and think
that one day the ‘planes will land and disgorge massive amounts of
cargo for their use. Whilst they are waiting they probably don’t
do too much else.
The legacy of American governance and use of the
bases in the Philippines must have at some time, have had some
parallels to the cargo cults. The Americans had money and were
generous, whole industries started not only in the Philippines but
also in Thailand to cater for Vietnam War R+R activities. The
Americans were instrumental in rebuilding Manila after it had been
flattened, first by the Japanese then by the Americans themselves,
and, of course, they were for long been the biggest foreign direct
investor in the Philippines. I wonder to what degree this
significant influence has had on Filipino motivation. On one hand
the existence of 12 million Filipino overseas workers would tend to
rebutt this, on the other hand, there is still a mindset issue in
some sectors of society that the puti will provide (particularly
where other Filipinos do not!) or for that matter that the overseas
family member worker will provide. It’s certainly not a cargo cult
but it is a strong and unhealthy dependency. Half the population
depend on remittances from overseas workers, meaning that that same
half of the population does not really either think it necessary to
contribute to the economy at home, can’t be bothered trying or is
insufficiently motivated to make opportunities to go out and earn
some money themselves.
Such dependant attitudes will not help take the
Philippines forward.
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Mike can be contacted at mawootton@gmail.com
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