Asian Christmas Impressions

Traveling through Asian countries at the end of December reveals an astonishing success of  Christmas traditions - becoming a kind of a global party institution. As hard as it is to find any kind of typical decoration to buy in Islamabad, to my great surprise a huge Christmas tree, in all imaginable splendor, can be found at the top of the hill of the National Monument honoring the founder of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

In Shanghai a choir of cute Chinese girls dressed as angels greet the guests at the Hotel with waving dancing movements and chanting with a high voice  "Oh Tannenbaum" - in Mandarin! Not to miss the German Lebkuchenhaus that seems to have become a perennial Hotel decoration around the globe.

Bangkok awaits its visitors again with Christmas carols and Lebkuchenhaus - this time the singing and dancing act done by a group of ambitious young ladies in shiny blue silk fabric, more reminiscent of American cheerleaders before a Baseball game than framing Holy Christmas. Early the hour and no audience yet to fully appreciate their tireless effort to bring a festive spirit into the vast lobby of the Hotel Kempinsky, my lonesome clapping to cheer them up seems desperately needed.

One of my friends of the Wild Gang - being on vacation in Vietnam, calls Ho Chi Minh City "Christmas City", with the whole city being Christmas gone crazy, most of the kids and lots of adults being dressed in fancy Santa Claus suits, father Christmas on every street corner handing out presents and Christmas music being played in all bars and restaurants.


Returning home again and landing at Benazir Bhutto International Airport, the first text message on the phone comes from the security officer who strongly recommends to avoid the area around the airport because of violent protests against load shedding - gas and electricity are being delivered with interruptions of long hours. That means no heating or hot water, no hot meals for most of the day and the night. Fortunately, the driver seems to have ignored the threat and is waiting. Again - a big crowd of mostly men waiting outside the gate in the cold, wrapped in thick and heavy woolen blankets, waiting for their family members to come back home, ghostly and tired looking at this hour of the night, three o'clock in the morning.
The next days confirm the seriousness of the problems in the energy sector and the rising unrest among the people. Increasing prices add to the anger and the protests become more frequent and violent. Under the rising pressure the government decides to limit the supply of energy to the public transport sector and the industry in favor of private cars. Early elections are being announced, to be held in October of this year instead of spring 2013. The Memogate controversy continues to haunt the government. The Pakistani Taliban TTP (Therik-i-Taliban Pakistan) deliver "as New Years present" - as they put it - the bodies of 15 tortured and killed border guards as retaliation for an attack by the security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the same group that is being considered as possible partner in a reconciliation effort in the country.

Imran Khan, the rising political star, holds another rally, this time in Karachi with overwhelming success. Hundred thousands attend this public meeting in front of Jinnah's mausoleum peacefully hoping for a change in the near future.

And the focus of politics seems to shift from the permanent scrutiny of the relationship with America to the problems that are homemade and cannot be outsourced.

Delving deep into the source of the problem - the best start to solve it!