Lack of awareness dampens anti-APEC protests

Lack of awareness dampens anti-APEC protests

By Lara Parpan

MANILA (AFP): Despite concerns about economic imperialism and the death of local industries, as APEC member economies trudge toward their goal of free trade the protests have been muted and few, analysts say.

With two months to go before Manila hosts the eighth summit of leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, protests by non-government and populist groups have been luke- warm and marked by little understanding about the loose 18-member economic grouping, analysts said.

"Most of the people don't care, in spite of the best efforts of governments to conduct information campaigns," political analyst Alex Magno told AFP.

Even businessmen do not understand what APEC is all about, said Julius Caesar Parrenas of the Philippines' Institute for Strategic and Development Studies, who is also executive secretary of the country's APEC Business Advisory Council.

In the Philippines, leftist groups decry what they see as eventual domination by APEC's developed economies of its members with developing economies, as the organization pursues its goal of open trade by 2020.

"There is a small group opposing APEC based on an ideological principle. But you can expect this," Parrenas said, adding that "they really don't have that much impact."

Some peasant groups also charge that the Philippines government has disregarded human rights by ordering the demolition of shanties along main streets in the capital ahead of the APEC summit.

Meanwhile, in other member countries, a lot of the opposition to APEC's free trade objectives comes from governments -- ones who are reluctant to open up their economies.

An official of Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry noted that in Japan opposition to liberalization of the food sector "is deep-rooted. "

In Malaysia, Minister of International Trade and Industry Rafidah Aziz has described free trade as "a lie."

Indifference and lack of understanding make "general public reaction neutral" in the region, with little interest in public protests, Magno said.

Parallel to the APEC leaders' summit in November, 500 participants from non-government and populist organizations, academic and pressure groups from the region will come to Manila for a conference on "fair trade and sustainable development."

"The gathering is an effort to focus the attention of the international community on the need to reflect such concerns as human rights, gender and social equity, and environmental sustainability in the APEC agenda," said a statement from a group, named the Manila People's Forum on APEC 1996.

But Parrenas said given the sensitivity of human rights issues for some of APEC's member countries -- citing China as an example -- "it would be difficult to include human rights" on the agenda. He also noted APEC's principle of consensus-building among its members.

"It isn't the level of development but the level of openness," he said, citing as examples the United States, Japan and South Korea which have developed status but still have reservations on liberalization.

In Thailand, protest is basically non-existent because "Thailand's dismantling of trade barriers is faster than the APEC commitment," said one Thai economist.

Opposition is clearly absent in Hong Kong and Singapore, bastions of free trade. These two member economies' proposals for free trade and liberalization were hailed as models for other member economies when presented in February 1996.

But Desmond Ch'ng of Malaysia's Southern Johore Securities said developing economies should take time to look into APEC and not forget tariff-reduction schemes under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

"We should not rush into the liberalization of the economy because we have to ensure that all our prime sectors can compete on a level-playing field," Ch'ng said.