A bit of a laugh: Noynoy likened to Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew
Should Singapore's elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew feel insulted? The latest ululation this time from a bunch of brown-nosing bozos comparing a man with a vision to a man who cannot plan his way out of a paper bag.Newspaper columnist Wilson Lee, one of the founders of the Anvil Business Club, said like the famous leader who transformed Singapore into an economic superpower, he believes Mr. [Benigno "Noynoy"] Aquino [President of the Philippines] could do the same feat to the Philippines.
“President 'Noy' is just like Lee Kuan Yew who is incorruptible and led his country from poverty to prosperity,” he said.
Forgetting for a moment the mounting evidence of nepotism that is hobbling the Second Aquino Administration, being "incorruptible" alone is not enough to make one even remotely comparable to the venerable Singaporean statesman. Just ask Noynoy. Since taking office (or even since he proclaimed himself the silver bullet in the war against Pinoy evil), has he articulated how he envisions what the Philippines might be like come 2016?
Mr. Lee (Wilson, not Kuan Yew) is probably wearing blinders.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, the Pinas is probably the last speck of dust in LKY's mind.
ReplyDeleteQuite unfortunately, "da Pinas" actually does figure heavily in LKY's mind. In his memoirs and other writings, the Philippines often pops up as the example of "what not to be" or "what to avoid emulating."
ReplyDeleteHe's quite intimately informed about the goings-on in and the history of "da Pinas" and even his son Lee Hsien-Loong also mentioned the Philippines several times in his speeches (I watched a lot of them when living in S'pore) once again as the example of "what not to follow."
In Lee Hsien-Loong's case, I vividly recall a "dialogue with students" that was televised on TV where he mentioned how Philippine society is highly stratified according to rich and poor and that for the most part there are very few common spaces where rich and poor get to interact as equals. He mentioned the gated subdivisions where the rich are totally insulated from the plight of the poor who live in crowded slums. (He contrasted that to how Singaporeans, rich and poor, and even highly-paid Western expats all converge at the MRT's, buses, and other quality common spaces that are meant for everyone in Singapore.)
While "da Pinoy" can actually imagine that he has a certain anonymity in obscurity in countries like the USA, unfortunately, the rest of ASEAN (esp. Singapore and Malaysia) are extremely well-informed about us. They study and learn about us in school (they have 12 years of basic education and one social-studies subject they take up deals specifically with ASEAN countries including us).
Many Pinoys are often surprised to find out how well-informed Singaporeans and Malaysians are about the Philippines (as well as what's wrong with us), and often can't reciprocate because back home in "da Pinas", we're either too focused only on Pinoy showbiz, Pinoy issues, or US-based issues. ASEAN is treated like another planet.
I thought the people in the Anvil Business Club were smarter than that. Actually, I know they are, so let me rephrase that: I thought the people in the Anvil Business Club were not such a bunch of slobbering kiss-asses as that.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Also, Da Pinas with its population of 100 million strong is a country hard to ignore. We pose an immense imminent humanitarian crisis risk and potential flood of economic refugees to small prosperous countries like Singapore and specially Malaysia which has a frontier that is just a pumpboat ride away from Pinoy territory. A continued slide in standards of living, a blip in world rice/corn prices, or a crash in demand for OFWs could send hundreds of thousands impoverished Pinoys pouring into Singapore and Malaysia.
ReplyDeleteincorruptible? so much romanticizing. well, the catholic pope is infallible. noynoy choosing to live alone with an attendant away from malacanang only to be late for various functions (making the soldiers wait for 40 minutes in a ceremony) -- this is not corruption? there was obviously an evidence of lack of integrity at the onset of his presidency. noynoy inciting social chaos in the streets during the presidential campaign via bloomberg if he did not the election. that's not corruption? there was certainly moral depravity for one's gain there. wilson lee must explain why he thinks that way.
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