Son of Asia: The odyssey of a Persian-Filipino

First of two parts Modern globalization has given birth to a new breed of humanity that shares the souls, blood, and cultures of different races. I am a product of such an intermingling of nationalities. Like many others, my parents found soul mates from distant lands: my fatherland is Persia (Iran) while my motherland is the Philippines. I share the DNA of two huge, dynamic and developing nations that in their histories have gone through their own share of glory and pain. Naturally, the dilemmas and identity issues that people of my kind share are more complex than a person with a single nationality. Adding to the complexity of my childhood was the fact that my parents had different religions; my father is a Shiite Muslim while my mother is a Catholic. My response to such a fundamental (psychological) challenge has been forthright. What has made me 100% Filipino and 100% Iranian is my consciousness of the history, culture and politico-economic context of my parents’ nations. Instead of simply shelving aside questions of identity by claiming that I am a global citizen (as many bi-nationals tend to do), what I have tried to do was deepen my understanding of and ties to my Filipino and Persian backgrounds. My family stayed in the Philippines until the horrifying earthquake in Baguio City ruined my parents’ fortunes and shattered our sense of security. I was about four years old at the time. As a result, we moved to Iran, where I spent most of my formative years on the southern shores of the beautiful Caspian Sea. My parents decided that I should move to the Philippines for my tertiary education. A strange and sometimes funny experience was that, back in Iran, I often used to be mistaken for an East Asian, but when I came to the Philippines people would think that I am Middle Eastern or Eurasian. Even if the comments were simply on my physiognomy, it took years of reflection and internalizing to grapple with such contrasting views vis-à-vis my identity. I finally made up my mind; I began to see myself as a “son of Asia". I am proud of my heritage, because Asia is the most dynamic region of the 21st century and undoubtedly the future of humanity is going to be decided on this colossal continent. My parent’s heritage: evolving in a diverse environment, converging around common principles The beauty of being a bi-national is that you evolve to become more tolerant and open-minded about human diversity. But more importantly, your horizons tend to be broader than others. Blessed with very supportive parents, I was able to enhance my sense of discipline, which helped me throughout my life in every country, community and environment I visited. My formative years in Iran left a strong impression on me, which I took with me when I attended college at UP Diliman. As difficult as it was to adjust to a new environment, I was able to gradually adopt new values and points of view that shaped my world view. Psycho-emotionally, I am rooted in my formative years in Iran, but intellectually I am a mixture of what I learned during my basic education, as well as my liberal (American-style) tertiary education at UP. Such an intellectual background has deeply influenced my views of Filipino and Iranian national dilemmas and politics. One thing I realized as I shuttled between the Philippines and Iran was that the two have so much in common. Historically, in the first half of the 20th century, both Iran and the Philippines were the beacons of democracy and prosperity in their respective regions. Unfortunately, in the latter half of the 20th century, both countries fell into the traps of dictatorship, until the Iranian revolution (1979) and EDSA People Power (1986) restored the National Spirit and General Will. The 80’s were very special for my parents as they saw their countries join the forces of history. A child of the 90’s, I first encountered politics in the 21st century. Although inactive in campus politics, I always came across people who talked about the struggles of student activists, intellectuals and statesmen against the ‘authoritarian and corrupt’ practices of the current administration. Back in Iran, some people had similar sentiments and that is why the June elections became so competitive. In my opinion, the reason behind the intense nature of the previous presidential elections was mainly because a section of Iranian society – the young urban middle class - perceived the election as a means for ‘change’ and greater deepening of certain liberal democratic principles while another huge section of the society supported the incumbent’s populist and more assertive foreign policies vis-à-vis the US. For many supporters of Mousavi and the opposition as a whole, it was time to emphasize the “Republican" aspects of the state while Ahmadinejad’s supporters somehow espoused the more “Islamic" aspects of the Iranian state. Perceptions of fraud fueled the post-election protests and there is no way to absolutely verify what happened back in Iran, but most likely the conservatives won the first round. Looking at the Philippines, we had a similar controversy over the 2004 elections, where the “Hello Garci" scandal seriously compromised the credibility of the electoral outcome. For better or worse, the Philippines is also grappling with its own political battles now and the action is just beginning to heat up. Back in Iran, millions voted for change as they sought an alternative to President Ahmadinejad’s four years of leadership. In the Philippines, the majority are excited to see President Arroyo out of power and finally welcome a new conscientious president who could restore the nation’s dignity. Whether in Tehran or Manila, I continued to experience this general sense of political excitement; political maturity is emerging in both countries and people are beginning to demand more accountability from their elected leaders. Public expectations are on the rise and underneath lies discontent over a whole spectrum of issues; political change - whatever it might mean for each person – has been the hope of many I encountered, both in Tehran and in Manila. In Iran, I saw a more economically equitable and developed society, but complaints over staggering inflation and unemployment coupled with a craving for more liberal reform fueled the spirit of the opposition. Here in the Philippines, immense poverty, wide economic disparity and growing democratic reversal will most likely continue to serve as rallying points for a growing opposition to the incumbent and her allies as well as to the status quo. The biggest question for me is that, if the elections are stolen – or perceived as such - through mass cheating, irregularities and fraud, will the nation experience what occurred in Iran? Or will people simply deal with it the same way they did back in 2004? That remains to be seen. - HGS, GMANews.TV The author works as a congressional aide to Rep. Walden Bello and writes articles on Middle Eastern affairs. He is a Political Science graduate of the University of the Philippines in Diliman. Part 2: A Persian-Filipino returns to his Fatherland, Iran Being both Filipino and Iranian has given me a unique vantage point from two distant points on the globe to assess the value of elections to a people’s aspirations. But in Iran, I was constantly worried that they would think I was a foreigner or an agent of the “foreign powers."