WEBVTT - The Gen Z Protestors Challenging Asia’s Ruling Elite 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:07.200 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:14.720 Last week, deadly protests broke out in Nepal. Dozens of 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.680 people were killed and more than two thousand were injured 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:22.200 in clashes with government forces. The demonstrations were triggered by 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:26.920 government decision to ban Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and other social 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:31.040 media platforms. Authority said the band was imposed to tackle 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:35.160 fake news and hate speech. That prompted tens of thousands, 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:37.760 many of them teenagers and young adults, to take to 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:38.360 the streets. 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.239 Now I'm standing right in front of the protest that 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:46.400 is happening in the capital of neppaland hundreds of gen 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:48.560 zs have flooded the stream. 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:51.519 Because of the sheer number of young people involved in 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:54.800 the uprising, they're being called the gen Z protests. 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.440 You know, we saw tens of thousands of protesters staying 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:02.040 on the streets, blocking road They were seen storming government 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.800 buildings and then setting them on fire, including of course 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:07.600 Nepal's parliament building, which we just saw. 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:11.000 The government lifted the social media ban a day later, 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:15.040 but the rallies escalated and morphed into a wider anti 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:26.600 government movement against corruption and youth unemployment. Within days, Nepal's 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:30.080 Prime minister resigned and the army deployed troops to contain 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:34.280 the unrest. A former Supreme Court Chief Justice Shashila Kharki 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:38.720 was appointed as interim prime minister. Parliament was dissolved and 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:42.000 the president has promised the country would hold elections next March. 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:46.119 Nepal is the latest South Asian country to be rocked 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:50.880 by violent anti government street protests, driven largely by young people. 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:54.440 Sri Lanka's covenate has offered to reside en mass following. 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:58.800 Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheik Hasina, has resigned and fled 0:01:58.840 --> 0:01:59.600 the country as. 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:05.320 A whites read outrage and violence for being across Indonesia 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.679 just weeks before protests in Nepal broke out. Violent unrest 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:17.679 in Indonesia resulted in five ministers being replaced. Last year, 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:22.359 demonstrations in Bangladesh led to longtime leader Sheik Hasina being ousted. 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:26.920 Krishima Vesuani is a Bloomberg opinion columnist based in Singapore. 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:31.040 I think young people across Asia are really, really angry. 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:37.000 I think they feel disconnected from their governance structures. I 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:39.960 think they feel that the system is rigged against them, 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.480 and I feel like they feel hopeless, And I think 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:47.160 what's really frightening is that if you don't find the 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:52.239 solution to some of this, you could see these protests 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.760 reoccur and these problems persist. 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.120 This is the Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm Wanha. 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:04.760 Every week we take you inside some of the world's 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:08.840 biggest and most powerful economies and the markets, tycoons and 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.520 businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today in the show, 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:17.560 what's driving gen z across Asia to rise up in 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.840 protest and how likely is it that they'll get the 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:34.920 change they want. The protests in Nepal were triggered by 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.840 a social media ban, but tensions had been simmering for 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:42.600 weeks after videos that appeared to show children of Nepali 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:47.480 political figures flaunting their wealth went viral on social media. Online, 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:51.560 people ranted about their lavish lifestyles being funded by public money, 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:54.520 while many Nepali struggled day to day to make ends 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:58.880 meet Bloomberg Opinions. Karrishima of Vaswani said the government's decision 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:01.920 to ban social media showed just how out of touch 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:06.040 the authorities are with the harsh realities that ordinary Nepali's face. 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.720 The authorities just didn't understand the frustrations of what young 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:14.800 people in Nepal were going through, and particularly this divide 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:18.279 between the haves and the have nots. Right, the statistics 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.719 that I've seen are that in terms of unemployment, it's 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.240 around a fifth of the population. It's also a really 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:29.960 young population, and so you have an environment where young 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.160 people want to get jobs but they're struggling to do that, 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:36.320 and that on top of that, every single day, what 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.520 they're seeing on their phones and on their screens are 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:43.760 images of people who are in positions of power in 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:47.440 their own country, who make up the elite, and they're 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:50.120 living a better life than the ones that these young 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:51.400 people are experiencing. 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:55.960 Chrishma says this disconnect between the government and its people 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.440 isn't confined in Nepal. It was also part of what 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:05.440 drove you young Indonesians to the streets. A few weeks ago. 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:10.400 In late August, outrage erupted after Indonesian lawmakers were awarded 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:15.280 lavish housing allowances nearly ten times the monthly minimum wage. 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:18.640 On national TV as well as on social media, there 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:22.840 are images of these lawmakers dancing in parliament when they 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.760 received these raises and It feels like a bit of 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:28.120 a slap in the face for young people there, because 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.240 it's like, well, hold on, I can't even get a 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:35.640 stable job. Many of these parliamentarians actually have houses. They 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:37.240 didn't need this extra cash. 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:42.279 Anger over the housing allowances boiled over. Days later, after 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.680 a motorcycle delivery driver was run over and killed by 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.680 an armored police car. Young Indonesians, many of them students, 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:53.039 clashed violently with police in Jakarta and other cities. 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:59.279 When this young motorcycle taxi driver died, that changed the game, 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.680 and there was two or three days of looting, buildings 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:08.039 set on fire, the homes of lawmakers looted, things like 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:13.960 bathtubs were taken, handbags, even la bougoos. And when these 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:18.640 protests happened, this particular lawmaker said, oh, the people who 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:21.239 are calling for the dissolution of parliament are the dummiest 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:23.719 in the world. And that went out on social media, 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.000 that went out on television, and you got to ask yourself, right, 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:28.480 like what were you thinking? 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:30.800 Yeah, kind of like Maria antoinettees, you know, let them 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:32.120 eat cake right completely. 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:34.279 That was actually the thought that went through my head 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:36.480 when I first heard that. I thought, oh, my god, 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:38.440 but that's how out of touch they are. 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.880 The death of the delivery driver stoked anger among millions 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:46.320 of Indonesians who hold low paying jobs as so called 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:50.240 gig economy workers. They're often paid poorly and received no 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:54.360 benefits to deliver food and give motorbike rides. More than 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:58.760 half of Indonesia's labors are informal workers, and they're frustrations 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:03.560 over working conditions spilled into the streets. Christma says these 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:08.000 gen Z protests are becoming a growing phenomenon across South Asia, 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:10.880 dating back to the twenty twenty two protests in Sri 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:14.640 Lanka and those in Bangladesh last year. While they've all 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:18.040 happened for different reasons, she says there are parallels. 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:23.160 I think that it is a combination of young people 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:27.640 who are feeling hopeless, looking around them at their governance 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:32.640 structures and seeing corrupt elites in power. The economy is 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.560 not doing well, it's hard for them to find jobs, 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.200 and then you add social media to the mix. They're 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:44.440 digitally connected. They can share their frustrations and they can 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:49.520 also talk about what is the very obvious inequality that 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:53.160 is happening in terms of the ultra rich who appear 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:57.760 to be politically connected. Their lives are great. Right on 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.480 social media, you have a window into the life of 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:04.280 somebody else. You can see how the richie riches are 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:07.680 sort of carrying their erme sandbags with their laboo boos 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:10.680 and going out for lunch and dinner into the fanciest restaurants, 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:12.520 and there you are just trying to get a job, 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:15.360 or you have the life of a motorcycle taxi driver 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:19.160 delivering food across the city for like ten bucks a day. 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:26.440 The four countries Nepal, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:30.640 all dealing with high youth unemployment rates and long standing 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:37.080 issues of inequality and corruption. Nonprofit Transparency International ranked Bangladesh 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:39.600 at one hundred and fifty first out of one hundred 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:43.000 and eighty countries in its Corruption Perceptions Index last year. 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.920 Indonesia stood at ninety ninth place, while Sri Lanka and 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:51.040 Nepal were both ranked beyond that and Karrishma says the 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:55.160 government's inability to deal with these issues effectively, along with 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:59.280 their struggling economies, have made many gen zs feel hopeless 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:00.000 about their future. 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:04.199 Sure now, if you're a gen Z individual, you know 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.040 you're sort of looking around you and thinking, and this 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.480 is not going to be better than what my parents did. 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:11.280 I'm not going to own a home, I'm not going 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:13.640 to be able to secure work. In parts of the 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.679 Western world and developed world, you're looking at issues around 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:20.920 artificial intelligence, taking away that first bottom rung of graduate 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:24.240 level entry jobs. I look at these countries and not 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:27.160 just them, but other places in Asia because the sort 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:32.640 of traditional manufacturing jobs that would have swallowed up these 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:36.800 young people in the past, like making clothes and making furniture, etc. 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.440 Phones Right, all of those jobs have gone somewhere else, 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:43.680 and they're chasing the bottom of the pyramid. You want 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:46.240 things to be cheaper. Now in a world with President 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.040 Donald Trump's tariffs, people aren't going to be buying as 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:53.120 many things either, So the whole consumption economy becomes a 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:54.840 less viable place to work in. 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.400 Kirshma says. Even though these countries are all dealing with 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:02.880 very distinct issues and instances, there's one thing in common. 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.040 These young people are asking. 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:10.080 For agency, the right to have a say in how 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:13.280 their country is run. I think it's really hard to 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:16.920 engage with your government as a young person in Asia. Again, 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.440 just to go back to the Indonesian example, because we've 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.840 seen a lot of protests there recently. In the midst 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.440 of that, government officials sort of dismiss those And when 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.280 you take that sense of agency away from young people, 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:33.560 you feel powerless, you feel hopeless. So what do you do? 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:36.680 Look back to the Arab Spring, what do you do? 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.160 You get out onto the street, you burn things down, 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:42.040 and you try and get people's attention that way, and 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:43.719 that's really dangerous. 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:54.280 Young people across Asia are demanding change. What comes next 0:10:54.440 --> 0:11:11.040 after they unrest and violence? That's after the break in 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.800 Nepal and Indonesia, the streets are showing signs of things 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:19.720 slowly getting back to normal Bloomberg opinions. Karishma Veswani says 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:23.719 what happens next is vital as countries figure out the 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:27.439 way forward. One worry is that the aftermath could mirror 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:31.040 what happened with the Arab Spring around twenty ten, a 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:35.640 series of protests by young people that shook Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:39.800 and Syria. Demonstrators called for democracy then but were met 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:44.080 with violence from their country's security forces. Are we setting 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:46.000 it up for another Arab Spring here? 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:49.640 I hope not. In an Asian spring, I really hope not. 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.040 I think there was some sort of successes in the 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:56.680 Arab spring, but by and Lodge you've seen authoritarianism creep 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:00.959 back in. And my worry is that this plays straight 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:04.400 into the authoritarian's playbook. Right, you have young people who 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:08.199 are causing havoc across the region, and it's the ripe 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:12.280 opportune time for a strong man to come in and say, hey, 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.200 we need to clamp down on this. These young people 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:17.760 are plusing too much trouble. And then you have a 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:22.040 situation where precisely the things that these young people don't 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.200 want happens, and I think that would be really tragic. 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:30.040 So for a lasting political change, what do you think 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.600 should happen following these protests. 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:37.680 Young people representing and being able to be represented at 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:41.079 every level of the political process. I think it's really essential. 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:45.360 You need protests to move off the streets, and you 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:49.400 need to have them turn into policy, and you need 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:53.959 to while you're demonstrating, think about what's the plan the 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.280 day after. Right, Like a lot of this obviously it's 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:01.200 not been that well thought out. For instance, young people 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:05.000 were just really angry and they wanted immediate action, but 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:08.640 what happens the day after and the kinds of things 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:10.680 I would like to see or I think would be 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:14.600 useful would be to think about independent watchdogs in the 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.800 sort of rebuilding phase, right, look at the kinds of 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:20.800 people that you want in the judiciary when you're looking 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.319 at getting rid of corruption, because those are the people 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:27.240 that would adjudicate over these kinds of cases. The tone 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.440 and tenor of your public servant, Like, how do you 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.240 ensure that the people who are being elected or even 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.960 offering themselves up for election are of the caliber that 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:42.199 you want and not just characters from the old god 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:47.239 or connected to cronyism. And that means really looking carefully 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.600 at the election process. How do you ensure that there's 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:55.400 that kind of integrity and independence in the electoral process? 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:59.360 Now, the Arab spring began in Tunisia and then spuild 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:04.080 across for neighboring countries. Is there a possibility this unrest 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.240 among young people here in Asia is growing? Is there 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:11.400 potential for more instability in other countries as well? Well? 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.800 We certainly have the recipe or the ingredients, rather, I 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:19.200 should say, because you do have very large numbers of 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:24.160 young people in places like India Pakistan, you have further 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:30.160 afield issues around corruption and governance as well and high 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:34.680 unemployment rates. And I do think neighbors of these countries 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:39.040 are watching very closely what kind of spillover effect there is, 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:43.080 what kinds of discussions are taking place on social media, 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:47.000 because that's really hard to control. And I think that 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:51.680 instability will worry a lot of policy makers and make 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:55.960 them quite mindful of the possibility of that happening in 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.120 their own countries. Have I seen that happen yet or 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.560 any indication of that, not just as yet, but as 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:05.720 Nepal and Indonesia have shown, it's just one thing that 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:06.640 lights that match. 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:09.720 Yeah, then you've got a forced fire, Yeah, raging out 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:14.600 of control. Are there lessons that current governments in Indonesia 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:17.960 and Nepal could look to as they move forward? Is 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:19.480 there light you think on the horizon? 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:22.840 So I think Bangladesh is a really good case study 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:26.600 for this. Right, you have an INTERN leader Muhammed Units, 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:31.760 widely respected Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and he's talked about 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:35.280 publicly the engagement and involvement of young people in politics. 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:38.840 He is courting them, he is engaging with them and 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:42.160 trying to get them to think about political parties and 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.720 governance structures, and I think that's really sensible, and I 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.440 think that's wise. And you have elections coming up, they're 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.400 expected next year at some point A lot rests on 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:54.880 that on how they go and for Bangladesh to turn 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:59.360 into a sort of functioning democracy with these young people 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:01.920 in Chile at least some of them, And I think 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:04.160 it can't just be young people. You need to also 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:08.800 sort of have multi generational consensus and so co opting 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:13.120 different groups, but bringing them together with young people at 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.040 the heart of that in terms of a sort of 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.760 viable political party. I think that would be a very 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.560 good move in Bangladesh, and I'm watching that quite closely 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:24.640 to see if it can be the template for other 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:28.520 places around the region. You know, I'm an eternal optimist. 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:31.800 I believe in the power of young people. They are 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:36.320 the ones who have consistently brought change, not just in 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:40.560 Asia but around the world. And it's their energy and 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:45.720 their dynamism that can change political structures and the way 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:49.840 that countries are run. But if that energy is not 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:55.440 channeled into something hopeful and optimistic, then it is wasted, 0:16:56.000 --> 0:17:01.240 and worse, it can backfire. Actually, you end up achieving 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:03.440 the opposite of what these young people want. 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:13.160 This is The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.600 wanh to get more from The Big Take and unlimited 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.919 access to all of Bloomberg dot Com, subscribe today at 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:23.920 Bloomberg dot com slash podcast Offer. If you liked the episode, 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.520 make sure to subscribe and review The Big Take Asia 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.640 wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps people find 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.400 the show. Thanks for listening, See you next time.