Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Maguindanao or something like it

As always, the latest report on the status of the election results in Maguindanao talks about it as if it's a distant planet rather than a province in Mindanao.

The province has a population of hundreds of thousands of people, but I have yet to hear a news article that reports from their point of view. It's all about inane accusations of cheating from politicians in Manila, calls for calm and sobriety from the government in Manila, and feeble attempts to paint a picture of competence from bureaucrats in Manila. And today, more than a month after election day, after fact-finding missions and investigations, the most palpable quote from the today's news article is an election lawyer saying "We do have proof now that elections did take place". Hurrah.

Forgive the geeky analogy, but it's like in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace when Queen Amidala goes to the Galactic Senate to seek help after Naboo is invaded by the Trade Federation's droid army, but all the Senate can do is squabble and debate among themselves on whether any invasion actually took place. In the end the best they can do is agree to send a delegation to investigate whether an invasion took place. Sheesh, can't they just make a phone call and ask?

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