The Economist

42 Asia The EconomistAugust 4th 2018

(^2) poverished Mindanao spawned a pletho-
ra of armed groups: some Muslim separat-
ists some communists some simply
violent criminals. Jihadists took advantage
of the general lawlessness to recruit fight-
ers to their cause.
After the peace agreement was signed
Congress shied away from passing the leg-
islation itentailed when current and for-
merMILFfighters killed 44 paramilitary
policemen operating against jihadists.
When Mr Duterte whose power base is in
Davao the largest metropolitan region in
Mindanao became president in 2016 he
said he was determined to complete the
peace process.
Yet Congress was still slow to pass the
legislation fearful lest it turn out to contra-
vene the country’s constitution. In 2008
the Supreme Court had declared a previ-
ous peace agreement unconstitutional so
infuriating one faction of the MILFthat it
broke away. The splinter group the Bang-
samoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF)
later pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
The Bangsamoro Organic Law may yet
be challenged in court. That is one reason
(admittedly of several) why Mr Duterte
has called for the constitution to be rewrit-
ten to turn the Philippines from a unitary
state into a federation.
A bloody attempt last year by groups
including Filipino adherents ofIS to cap-
ture and hold the city of Marawi was
crushed when the army laid siege for
months destroying the city to save it. In
that siege one notable Abu Sayyaf leader
Isnilon Hapilon was killed. YetBIFFguer-
rillas and Abu Sayyaf terrorists remain ac-
tive in the south as the latest bombing in
Basilan showed. Not just the government
but also the MILFchairman Al-Hajj Murad
Ebrahim believe peace and economic de-
velopment in Mindanao will defeat the ji-
hadists bydrying up their sources of re-
cruits. The battle for Marawi and now this
latest bombing are warnings that jihadists
are lurking ready to pounce unless Mr Mu-
rad and Mr Duterte make haste to end the
separatist conflict. 7
PACIFIC
PHILIPPINES OCEAN
INDONESIA
Sulu
Sea
MINDANAO
LUZON
South
China
Sea
MALAYSIA
Manila
Palawan
Davao
Marawi
Maguindanao
Zamboanga
Peninsula
Jolo Basilan
250 km
Proposed Bangsamoro region
Slumming it in South Korea
Fan fare for the common man

“M

Y WIFE can barely contain her

happiness” Park Won-soon the

mayor of Seoul South Korea’s capital

wrote on his Facebookpage on July 27th.

The occasion for her ecstasy was that an

electric fan had arrived in the household.

In the circumstances the excitement

was understandable. Five days earlier the

couple had moved into a rooftop shack in

Samyang-dong a dilapidated neigh-

bourhood on the northern fringes of the

megalopolis. The shack is not air-condi-

tioned and in the sweltering recent

weather—South Korea’s hottest on re-

cord—temperatures inside topped 50°C.

Plus the fan came with a message of

solidarity from the president Moon

Jae-in a political ally.

Mr Park who in June was elected to

his third term as mayor says that by

spending a month in Samyang-dong he

will learn first-hand about the difficulties

that Seoul’s poorer residents face. The

stunt has earned him a fair amount of

mockery. When City Hall workers deliv-

ered ready-made rice porridge to him

over the weekend onlookers questioned

the seriousness of Mr Park’s quest to

experience “ordinary life”. (City Hall said

the porridge was for a breakfast meeting

with neighbours.) Ha Tae-kyung from

the conservative opposition described

the move to the roof as a “comedy”. If the

mayor really wanted to know about

ordinary life he said “he should live in

the neighbourhood for his entire term.”

Locals queue up at all hours outside

the mayor’s temporary home to air their

grievances. Yet some are sympathetic.

“It’s a good thing he’s doing” says one

neighbour playing in the street with her

little grandson. “Why would I complain

about someone trying to understand

more about our lives?”

The mayor’s stint of living like com-

mon folk is a reminder that beyond the

city’s glitzy centre many Seoulites still

live in flimsy barely legal dwellings

similar to Mr Park’s temporary lodging.

These people cannot afford the capital’s

sky-high property prices. In many areas

particularly north of the Han river

houses are poorly equipped for Seoul’s

steamy summers and biting winters.

For a long time the city’s approach

was to raze such quarters and build bru-

tally utilitarian tower blocks in their

place says Rieh Sun-young an architec-

ture professor at the University of Seoul.

Yet such flats are still expensive and do

not always meet the needs of the people

they displace—for instance they are too

big for today’s smaller families couples

or young singles wishing to live alone.

Ms Rieh hopes that the mayor’s time on

the roof will help him develop a more

nuanced approach to urban regener-

ation. Widening streets refurbishing

houses and improving local transport

links libraries and child care would do

much more for deprived areas than

simply razing them to the ground.

Whether he learns any rooftop les-

sons or not Mr Park leaves his Samyang-

dong shack later this month to return to

his air-conditioned apartment.

SEOUL

The mayor of Seoul sleeps in a shack