[asia-apec 720] Filipino queers jeers Mahathir's sneers

[infonews at info.com.ph]

27 September 1998
PRESS STATEMENT
>From the Progressive Organization of Gays in the Philippines 
(PROGAY-Philippines)
reference: Oscar Atadero, secretary-general
pager 125-1046769
e-mail: oca69 at hotmail.com
          progay at yahoo.com      
          manuelde at pworld.net.ph
snail mail:  PO Box 1764 QCCPO
                1157 Philippines


                WE'RE HERE, WE'RE QUEER, WE SHOULD DUMP MAHATHIR!

The Progressive Organization of Gays in the Philippines (PROGAY-Philippines)
condemns the fascist regime of Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad for
fanning anti-gay hatred in his attacks against Deputy Prime Minister and
Finance Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim.

  Once again, the multitudes of peace-loving gay men, bisexuals, lesbians
and transgenders in Asia and elsewhere are being slandered by both old and
modern fundamentalist extremes. The Malaysian  community of sexual
minorities are crushed between the malevolent mixture of misplaced
nationalist and religious fanatacism on one hand and on the other hand, the
even more harmful fundamentalism of imperialist economic dogma now
destroying the patrimonies of East Asia. 
 
  Filipino gay men are deeply concerned with our Malaysian siblings because
we share a common Malayan heritage of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist
struggles that were brutally suppressed by puppet regimes backed by US,
British, Japanese and other imperialist military forces. We share the same
hardships of opposing governments that attacked the masses of workers and
farmers when these regimes imposed the cruel trade liberalization policies
of the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreements on Tariffs and
Trade - World Trade Organization (GATT-WTO).

  All throughout the region, Dr. Mohamad, his racist-authoritarian
partymates and fascist friends Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Lee Kwan
Yew of Singapore, Suharto of Indonesia, Chiang Kai Chiek of Taiwan and the
military regimes of South Korea imposed on their citizens ambitious programs
of shallow industrialization based on export-orientation and
import-substitution. Dangling promises of development and increased incomes,
these strongman regimes committed massive human rights violations against
poor workers, peasants, women and students demanding more democratic
redistribution of resources. 

  We remember with indignation the mass murders of workers in Kwangju, the
massacres of peasants in the cities of Manila and Bacolod, the bloody coup
in Jakarta, the marginalization of forest dwellers in Sarawak and many other
atrocities that are not addressed until this day. We shudder at the trend of
racial and anti-gay hatred appearing elsewhere in the region such as the
popular One Nation Party in Australia. 

  Alas, these so-called economic miracles benefitted only the oligarchy and
their foreign backers in each country while wages and jobs continued to
drop, farmers went bankrupt from the flood of cheap agricultural imports and
millions of migrants were forced to slave overseas just to prop up their
corrupt governments. The doctrines inspired by the IMF and the full
financial deregulation that the Asian dictators foolishly adopted despite
popular protests have now caused the final destruction of the tiger economies.

  With his dream of converting Malaysians into materialistic robots now
becoming a nightmare in the face of massive civil protests, Mahathir wants
desperately to divert the people's brewing discontent on to Mr. Anwar's
supposed bisexuality. This crude attempt to generate anti-gay hatred has
only served to further Mahathir's political isolation.

  Progay also denounces Mahathir's hypocritical preference for Japanese
hegemony in Asia over US hegemony as a throwback to the days of the Greater
Eastern Co-Prosperity Zone where imperial Japan lorded over puppet Asian
regimes in killing and exploiting Asian citizens. The prime minister's
miscalculations are rightfully giving prestige to the militant citizens'
movement working for the genuine liberation of Malaysia that goes way beyond
the Mahathir's opportunistic patriotism. 

  We demand that Dr. Mahathir and his cronies renounce their anti-gay
machinations, issue an apology to all sexual minorities and victims of
economic and political rights in Malaysia, release all political prisoners,
repeal the Internal Security Act, order the military and police back to the
barracks and dismantle the police state, then simultaneously resign. 

  We Filipino gays and other citizens warmly salute all the democratic
forces in Malaysia which have rejected and denounced the unfair witchhunting
and gaybaiting tactics wielded by the authorities against the political
rights not only of Mr. Anwar but also of all the gays, lesbians, bisexuals
and transgendered people. We ask that you maintain the vigil until a fully
just and democratic society is realized in Malaysia. 

  We call on the Malaysians everywhere to intensify their support for gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people and deepen their understanding of
the imperialist globalization that is really to blame for the problems being
faced by the regional economy. 

  We call on the democratic and anti-imperialist forces from around the
world to join the Malaysian democratic forces in the Asia-Pacific Peoples
Assembly in November this year to resist the growing fascism of the Mahathir
regime and expose and oppose the official ministerial meeting of the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). In the face of Mahathir's increasing
use of violence, homophobia and misinformation, we call on the people
everywhere to boycott products and services of Malaysian state corporations. 

  We are gay and proud, and together with the basic masses of Australasia,
Africa, the Americas and Europe, we will continue to fight for meaningful
social changes even as we promote human rights in action for gays, lesbians,
bisexual and transgendered peoples.

(Progay Philippines is a national federation of gay and bisexual men working
for genuine gay and lesbian rights in the basic context of national and
social liberation of the Filipino people. We are also interested in building
links with other national and international solidarities of sexual minorities.)