A
combination of incompetence and corruption
produces staggeringly poor governance across South
Asia, resulting all too often in political
upheaval that produces cosmetic rather than
comprehensive reforms. While the morass is almost
entirely political, it does extend into other
areas, including sports and even the performing
arts, giving rise to the notion of a broader
cultural malaise.
I believe that the
typical reverence heaped on geriatric has-beens is
an integral part of the problem, so much so that simply
eliminating people from
contention on ageist grounds may well become
necessary if not critical in this environment.
Borat in South Asia In
the 2006 film Borat: Cultural Learnings of
America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of
Kazakhstan, the protagonist lists the problems
of his country as "economic, social and Jew". The
phrase is a post-ironic view of anti-Semitism that
was followed across the Soviet bloc and then
religiously adopted by the independent Central
Asian republics, highlighting the sheer irrelevant
world view used by leaders to stay in power around
the world.
For all the recent shenanigans
on view across Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, the
film could have well been set in the South Asia
region, with "Indian" replacing "Jew". India
itself is no paragon of virtue, as the frequent
cry of an omni-sinister "foreign hand" behind
every terrorist outrage by Indian politicians
over-eager to cover up their own incompetence and
corruption. In the case of other South Asian
nations, the idea of a hegemonistic India wreaking
havoc across their countries for its own selfish
aims is well grounded enough to be considered
factual on the street.
In a previous
article, [1] I wrote how the State of Israel would
have to be invented if it didn't exist, for the
express purpose of keeping unctuous Arab leaders
in power. Parallels to the Pakistani and
Bangladeshi governments are difficult to ignore
from here, with both using the India card to
explain away their own incompetence. The two
recent instances involving the subversion of
democracy in Bangladesh and the judicial system in
Pakistan generated enough protests, but these will
fizzle out once security considerations are aired
more directly: to wit, the view that the regional
hegemon will invariably take advantage of
fractious political behavior at home will likely
dull protests and push back any reforms that might
otherwise have come about from persevering.
Indian conspiracy theorists - and the
country has a particularly large supply of these
folks, perhaps an inevitable result of broad
education and exposure to US media - point to the
role of the ruling Congress party itself in the
recent explosions on the Friendship Express (a
train that runs between India and Pakistan), as
politicians attempted to divert public attention
from the sharp rise in inflation that had put the
government's popularity on a sharp nosedive before
crucial state elections. [2]
Whatever be
the actual facts, shifts in popular opinion that
underpin such mutual distrust highlight the
strongest possible reasons for conflicts never to
be resolved, be it the Kashmir issue or the
sharing of river waters or any other issues that
South Asian neighbors have with one another.
Decline in sports and popular
culture Clues of what really ails the body
politic across South Asia can be found away from
the arena, namely in the areas of sports and
popular culture. South Asian films are notoriously
awful to watch, at once unoriginal, insipid and
predictable. The focus appears overwhelmingly to
be in telling the same story, each time with minor
changes, thereby leaving the focus almost entirely
on how it is told rather than what is.
From the culture that spawned the great
Hindu epics, innovative children's tales, tales of
the Buddha and his descendant seers Bodhisattvas,
the paucity of quality in the performing arts is
clearly representative not so much of cultural
backwardness (by which I mean an inability to
generate the talent required) but rather a
combination of economic and social factors.
In a previous article [3] I wrote about
Hollywood's penchant for stereotyping Muslims as
villains simply because of the ease of selling the
concept to US audiences. The echoes of such
economic forces can be found across South Asian
films, where "leading men are often geriatrics
even as leading ladies are updated with the latest
models", to use a colorful phrase of a Hollywood
producer. The dramatic limitations thus posed end
up creating a vicious circle of awful quality that
is force-fed to the unresisting audience, in turn
generating self-perpetuating economics of
producing such films.
Similarly has-been
stars, throwbacks to a gentle bygone era, dominate
the world of sport. Many Indians I have met have
commented about their chances in the current
cricket World Cup, based on a victory in 1983,
while Pakistanis do the same based on a victory in
1992. Both teams were eliminated in the first
phase of the competition. Similar fates befall the
teams in field hockey, soccer or, even worse,
athletics. The region has recorded no progress in
the world of sport since the mid-1980s, mainly
because of bureaucratic lethargy and a culture of
indifference.
Cultural swamp Much of the blame can be laid at the feet of
the people of South Asia, whose tolerance of
mediocrity knows no bounds. The cultural reverence
for seniority all too often extends to the world
of sports and films, and has been well captured by
politicians for their own benefit. In other words,
someone is appointed a minister or captain because
of his age rather than any particular performance
credentials.
This is why politicians
indicted for corruption claw their way back to the
mainstream in record time, feats that are
impossible in any other part of the world. They
have the company of poorly performing sportsmen
and actors, who are backed by millions of the
faithful even if results are virtually absent for
years at a stretch. Any attempts to reform this
status quo are met with resistance from vested
interests, who use the threat of external factors
to keep their jobs. In any event, respect for
seniority makes meaningful reforms a difficult
task. Thus politicians vested with the task of
running sports pick the teams that they would be
comfortable with, ie, filled with senior,
well-known faces who would be approved by the
public, rather than a combination of talented
youngsters more likely to make a mark.
A
lack of choice is a wonderful thing, be it in
politics, films, music or sports, for it helps to
maintain the status quo admirably for otherwise
hopeless individuals. South Asia cannot hope to
crack through the barrier of growth dividing it
from China unless this comfortable equilibrium is
shattered. An indicator of how soon this will
happen can be found by tracking the progress of
these countries in the sports arena, whether one
counts soccer, field hockey, athletics or even the
more elitist disciplines of cricket, golf and
tennis. Using that metric, China has nothing to
worry about for a while.
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