the philippines doesn't exist?

i recently read something odd in the papers here recently. in one of the shorter articles, the prime minister of malaysia had some comments on the number of deaths caused by road accidents during the holiday season here. he said that he feels that the highly avoidable deaths are a real waste of human capital. he said that so many lives are lost when they could have been working and contributing to economic development. uhm... i don't care if a country is obssessed with development, but i think this one misses the point and is just too darn insensitive.

speaking of holidays, the indian deepavali festival just ended and as i type this the whole islamic world is celebrating the end of ramadhan. salam aidilfitri. in other words, it's as if it's christmas time here! bazaars, people-chaos, tacky office decor and employees on extended leaves all over the place. i realized it was really the festive season here when i was walking to the bus stop one minute and then i find myself in the middle of the entire malaysian-indian community in the midst of a concert cum night market in the next.

i meet so many random people here. from an australian who points at a louis vuitton store ad and says that the model is a good friend to another australian who heads a human rights organization focused on refugees.

i love you cebu pacific. cheaper than air asia and flies straight to manila as opposed to clark. alavit.

i had a really interesting conversation with the australian who heads the human rights org. the guy has degrees in anthropology and asian studies, and he told me that topics on the philippines are skipped all the time. it's as if we weren't really part of the region or that we don't even exist. can you believe it? apparently indonesia, singapore, vietnam, thailand, and cambodia are more interesting countries. after the initial inis, i then come to my senses and attempt to think objectively. what does the philippines have to offer that other countries don't? beaches? culture? food? night life? all these are present in other places and are admittedly better and more interesting in some. he even pointed out that we already have things such as democracy, free press, an educated and english-speaking workforce but still we're not good enough to be covered in an asian studies course. gosh. wala tuloy ako nasabi.