The National Teachers College

329 J. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

S.Y 2020-2021

College of Education

A Concept Paper

The Political, Economic and Social Inequality in Asia

Presented to Prof. Romeo Jr. N. Robiño

The National Teachers College

In Partial Fulfilment

Of the Requirements for the Subject

Asian Studies

Presented by:

Gajultos, Ross Ma. Success B.

2.2BSEDSST-CY2-AM
 The National Teachers College

329 J. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

S.Y 2020-2021

College of Education

Introduction

Asia is the largest and most populated continent on Earth; it has

4,672,063,185 people as of Wednesday, April 14, 2021, based on the latest

United Nations Estimates. Many Asian countries are not prosperous and over

populated, other countries are now suffering from poverty like Nepal, Tajikistan,

Yemen, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Syria, Pakistan and India.

Long before, countries in Middle East are having conflicts and issues

regarding there ideologist. Currently, Myanmar are having political issues like

fraud, corruptions and violation of human rights because of these. Assistance

Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) stated that more than 700 people have

been killed by security forces since Myanmar's military grabbed power in a coup

on 1 February.

Years passed, but the problem of poverty in Asia is not yet solved by the

government, one of the main reason of this is because population growth. Some

of governments can't sustain the rising population of their countries. Asia is the

largest-continent on earth and the 60% of population in the world is coming

from Asia. This is why some of countries in Asia are poor.

 The National Teachers College

329 J. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

S.Y 2020-2021

College of Education

Another issue that comprises the Asians are hate crimes, the reason why

this crimes were committed is because; the Europeans believed that Asians

specifically the Chinese brought out this mess that makes the world turn into

chaos. Even the government of each country doesn't know what to do.

Discussion

The chaos in the Middle East is a camouflage for the real ideological

conflicts, which are not religious but rather political and economic interests. In

agreement with the statement, Hamra (2018) also explained that ideological

conflicts started to be ignited by ideologies due to imprecise and erroneous

media coverage. According to Ibrahim (2020), ideology destroys the political

system which causes social inequality, thus accelerating the outbreak of conflict

in the Middle East. The author raised Syria and Libya as examples to prove the

factors driving the conflict. The author further argued that the main cause of the

Middle East conflict is the influence of Western ideology that has not been

accepted by both the holders of power and society, which has led to divisions

and even wars. The Middle East was in turmoil, with civil wars raging in Syria, Iraq,

Yemen, and Libya. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed last year alone,

and the number of children forced to fight as soldiers has doubled (Mulroy, et
 The National Teachers College

329 J. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

S.Y 2020-2021

College of Education

al., 2021). Terrorist attacks have been on the rise in Syria and Iraq, even in the

midst of the current health crisis. In conclusion, stabilization efforts are vital to

concluding many of the on-going conflicts in the Middle East, thus allowing

people to return to their homes and resume life with some normalcy.

With the on-going economic crisis due to the pandemic, Mulroy, et al.

(2021) stated that effects of the deadly COVID-19 highlight the need for more

robust international stabilization efforts to achieve long-term peace and self-

sufficiency in the Middle East. Northeast Syria, where more than 3 million people

are currently living in refugee camps, reported its first case of COVID-19 on July

2020. There are reports that the virus has been spreading rapidly through camps

in the country’s northwest regions. Given that testing is not yet widely available

there, the real number is expected to be even higher. In addition, Yemen is also

witnessing a deteriorating humanitarian situation due to a prolonged civil war,

fueled by Iran and terrorist organizations, and made worse by the COVID-19

pandemic. The same situation is also evident in Libya as its health system is also

fragile after years of conflict and is consequently at high risk of being

overwhelmed by the COVID-19 crisis. In accordance with Yousseff (2021), the

COVID-19 pandemic has proven a challenge even for wealthy countries with

the most robust health care systems. For the Middle East—a region with no
 The National Teachers College

329 J. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

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College of Education

shortage of dangerous pre-existing conditions—it could be far worse. So now,

more than ever, solidarity and cooperation are needed to mitigate the impact

of a COVID-19 outbreak in the region.

Myanmar's military began a coup on the morning of February 1, 2021

when democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the

National League for Democracy or NLD were deposed by the Tatmadaw

Myanmar's military which then vested a power in a stratocracy. The Tatmadaw

declared a yearlong state of emergency and declared Commander in Chief of

Defense Services Min Aung Hlaing took a place to govern Myanmar. It declared

the results of the November 2020 general election was invalid and state its intent

to hold a new election at the end of the state of emergency even though most

of Myanmar's people are satisfied with the results of the election. But then,

protests that has been happening in Myanmar, known as the Spring Revolution

that began in early 2021 in opposition to the coup on February 1 that was

staged by Min Aung Hlaing, the Commander in Chief of the country's armed

forces. Protestants conducted their protest as peaceful and non-violent forms of

protest, these include acts of disobedience, labour strikes, military boycott

campaign, pot banging movement, red ribbon campaign, public protests and

formal recognition of the election results by elected representatives. In response

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329 J. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

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to the growing protest movement, the military leaders of the coup enacted a

number of countermeasures and it includes internet and social media

blackouts, media blackout, pursuit of arrests and criminal sentences against

protesters, the spread of disinformation, political overtures to competing political

parties to participate in the self-appointed State Administration Council,

deployment of pro-military protesters and instigators, and the violent use of

force to suppress protests. And because of these as of March 31, 2021 at least

520 civilians, including children, have been killed by military or police forces and

at least 3,070 people detained. Three prominent NLD members also died while in

police custody in March 2021. (BBC News, 2021)

Many countries in Asia are rich and prosperous when it comes to economy,

but when the Covid-19 pandemic spreads ouy, various countries in Asia also

collapsed economically like:

Second on the list is Nepal's that has $718 dollars per capita GDP and next,

with a GDP per capita just above Nepal's at $729, Tajikistan is the third-poorest

country in Asia. While in Yemen that has $851 GDP per capita. With a GDP of

$1,004, Kyrgyzstan is the fifth-poorest country in Asia. Sixth on the list is

Cambodia's GDP per capita is $1,197. Myanmar is Asia's seventh-poorest

 The National Teachers College

329 J. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

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country. Myanmar's per capita GDP is $1,207, just above Cambodia's. With a per

capita GDP of $1,266, Syria is the eighth-poorest Asian country. Pakistan is the

ninth-poorest country in Asia. With a per capita GDP just above Syria's of $1,279,

about 40% of Pakistan's population lives in extreme poverty. Finishing the list of

the ten poorest countries in Asia is India, which has a per capita GDP of $1,637.

(World Population Review, 2021). North Korea tops the Asia's poorest country but

North Korea is an independent country. Press release reports that they are not

affected by this Covid-19 pandemic and their economy is booming, though

nobody's helping them, except China and Russia, they're allies. Researchers not

include them because they are affected by this virus spreading.

But when it comes to the economic status according to their GDP, China

tops the list with a GDP of $14.86 trillion. Even though China was the epicenter

and the cause this of Covid-19 pandemic. Their industry and construction

account for almost 47% of China's total GDP. The primary industries include

mining and ore processing, textiles, machinery, automobiles, steel, aluminum,

coal, and more. Another large economic sector is agriculture. China is the

largest agriculture producer in the world. There are about 300 million Chinese

farmers. China is followed by Japan with $4.91 trillion, India with $2.29 trillion and

South Korea with $1.59 trillion. (World Population Review, 2021).

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329 J. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

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College of Education

Researchers says that Asian hate crimes occurs not only because most of

people believed that Asians are the main reason why Covid-19 exist but

because of many factors that people specially Europeans hate towards Asian

peoples. In adding more details, Stop AAPI Hate revealed nearly 3,800 incidents

happened during the Covid-19 pandemic. It's a significantly higher number than

previous year's count of 2,600 hate incidents nationwide over the span of five

months. Women made up a far higher share of the reports at 68% compared to

men who made 29% of respondents. On March 16, 2021, a mass shooting

occurred at three spas in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

Eight people died and majority of the victims were specifically Asian American

Women and according to South Korea's Foreign Ministry that four of those

victims are women of Korean Descent. The Center for the Study of Hate and

Extremism at California State University released findings in early March that

showed hate crimes against Asian Americans spiked 149% between 2019 and

2020, even though hate crimes overall declined. Russell Jeung Ph.D (2021)states

that covers this report, as of March 19, 2020 to February 28, 2021, 3,795 incidents

have received by the Stop AAPI or Asian American and Pacific Islander

community. The number of hate incidents reported to our center represents only

a fraction of the number of hate incidents that actually occur, but it does show
 The National Teachers College

329 J. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

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how vulnerable Asian Americans are to discrimination, and the types of

discrimination they face.

Types of discrimination:

• Verbal harassment (68.1%) and shunning (20.5%) (i.e., the deliberate

avoidance of Asian Americans) make up the two largest proportions of

the total incidents reported.

• Physical assault (11.1%) comprises the third largest category of the total

incidents.

• Civil rights violations — e.g., workplace discrimination, refusal of service,

and being barred from transportation — account for 8.5% of the total

incidents.

• Civil rights violations — e.g., workplace discrimination, refusal of service,

and being barred from transportation — account for 8.5% of the total

incidents.

• Online harassment makes up 6.8% of the total incidents.

National Trends:
 The National Teachers College

329 J. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

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• Women report hate incidents 2.3 times more than men.

• Youths (0 to 17 years old) report 12.6% of incidents and seniors (60 years

old and older) report 6.2% of the total incidents.

• Chinese are the largest ethnic group (42.2%) that report experiencing

hate, followed by Koreans (14.8%), Vietnamese (8.5%), and Filipinos (7.9%).

• Incident reports come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

• Businesses are the primary site of discrimination (35.4%), followed by public

streets (25.3%), and public parks (9.8%). Online incidents account for 10.8%

of the total incidents.

Conclusion

It is clear that truly this global pandemics affects the world, it cannot be denied

that this virus were the humans abuse of mankind. The government of each

country were caught by surprise when this virus spread dramatically all over the

world. Political issues such as human rights violations, Asian haters ,corruption are

some of the problems that Asians are trying to resolve but off course this will only

be answered by the people and their government as long as there is a unity

among themselves. Once the political issues resolve if not completely resolve at

least minimize the problems, progression in economy will automatically emerge

 The National Teachers College

329 J. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

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College of Education

and stability of the country achieve. Other countries are now making steps to

fight and they are hand in hand helping those countries that are insufficient in

their resources. Only God can tell when this will be stop.
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329 J. Nepomuceno St., Quiapo, Manila

S.Y 2020-2021

College of Education

Reference/s:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-

56636345

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/richest-asian-countries

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/poorest-asian-countries

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Myanmar_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat#:~:text=

Ultimately%2C%20the%20elections%20resulted%20in,placed%20her%20under%20

house%20arrest.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-

56636345

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Myanmar_protestshttps://www.poynter.org

/fact-checking/2021/hate-crimes-against-asian-americans-what-the-numbers-

show-and-dont/

http://ijsoc.goacademica.com/index.php/ijsoc/article/view/208

https://www.mei.edu/publications/covid-19-conflict-middle-east

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/ideological-struggle-in-the-middle-east/