The Davao bombings today obviously make it look like Duterte is not going to get HIS authoritarian gang up, unchallenged. This is all SO reminiscent of Thaksin. But – of course – the Philippines has no King.
Do not be naive Vichai, Philippines are about 92% catholic, but do not believe in the practice of Christianity, my wife before marriage had been a nun in the church and you do not get closer to the church than that. The Filipinos are the nicest people on the planet but a large percentage only to go to the church to ask forgiveness and once they feel God has forgiven them they go out from the church and kill again and again. My wife had had many affairs with priests before we met so I know a thing or two or three. By the way the Byrds were great! Mr Tambourine Man and all that ?
Don’t be naive Hugh Cameron. Look at The Philippines, a 90% Catholic nation I think. And yet they voted in Duterte whose election slogan is ‘To Shoot to Kill any suspect who moves’.
And I don’t know much about the bible either. I was actually googling for ‘The Byrds’ song ‘Turn, Turn,Turn’ and the Ecclesiastes just popped up too, so I quoted the latter to impress.
Vichai, if you are going to quote the Bible why not include the Ten Commandments. That is the basis for the laws of the majority of countries in the World, Christian and non Christian, just to refresh you anyway: Commandment no. 7 ” Thou shalt not kill”
Well Art good luck to you with all that. Na may isang taon ay walang pagkakaiba. Na walang.
In 1960s and 70s Philippines was the bright star of the East. Then Duterte’s hero Marcos arrived, martial law, extra judicial killings, corruption on a World record scale , wars against NPA and Muslims, all that destroyed the country’s image and its economy. Millions of people were forced to take to the streets to remove the disastrous dictator. A country does not progress by simply shooting people you do not like, Pol Pot proved that.
Now there is an important part Duterte is overlooking when he tells the world to F… off. Because my family are Filipino, I have been involved in fund raising internationally after numerous disasters. Ormoc, Tacloban, Baguio, Mt Pinutobo, Tacloban again Samar again and so on. Philippines has a huge number of natural disasters, the most typhoon prone region in the World, there will be typhoons and resultant destruction again and again, it will not be possible to raise money abroad so easily because Duterte has already told us plus the Pope to F… off. As luck would have it I have got all my family out of Philippines over the years and we have already f…ed off. Happy to come back after the killing has stopped and a patriotic leader has been installed, a leader that is prepared to stand up to China as most Filipinos are prepared to do. Having lived and survived the Marcos regime, so sad to see it all coming around again. Thailand’s Thaksin executed thousands of supposed ” Drug people” did not make the slightest difference to the original root problem except it did make the bereaved families very sad, many of whom had never touched a drug.
I’ve never heard or read of an Indonesian leader mistakenly calling Australia “Austria”. That – sadly- about sums up the relative level of sophistication between their leaders and ours, at times.
I understand where you are coming from. You are ill equipped with information or you are simply misinformed. Before coming up with strong words against our President, come and visit our country so you can have a better grasp of what you are talking about. Our President is doing what others can’t or won’t do…..give a new beginning to our country that has become a narco-political state because of the ineptness of our past leaders. It is a purging process and although there are some collateral damage, the people at threat now are the criminals unlike before where the peace loving people that are in danger.
Chris Beale is right to suggest that Soeharto stayed away from Australia out of reluctance to be the object of demonstrations. Soeharto seemed to have a morbid fear of being demonstrated against. It was probably deep-rooted, but must have been reinforced by the humiliation of having Jakarta rocked by demonstrations in January 1974 when he was playing host to visiting Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei. This caused an extraordinary loss of face for the would-be strong ruler.
But I in turn had presented this reluctance of his as a sign of lack of coziness in the bilateral relationship in general, not specifically the inter-governmental relationship. This is perhaps simply a matter of definition. A relationship in which one country’s leader doesn’t visit for the other country for the last twenty-three years can’t be described as ‘cozy’.
On a different note, readers may be interested to know that when Soeharto visited Australia for the first time in 1972 not long before Whitlam’s victory, our gormless prime minister, Billy McMahon, welcomed him as ‘the President of India’. I heard him say this on ABC radio.
Your reference to Thaksin is very apt Vichai. He killed 1,000s without denting the problem which is complex.
Marcos bombed the crap out of the Southern Muslims, it only made them angry.
Shooting, bombing does not work in the modern world and is is widely publicised that the unfortunate Filipino victims are amongst the poorest of the poor.
Your take on the Philippines ‘progress’ was going so well until that ‘…kept the country in a rut till now’. Till now Nep? You really believe that because Duterte carries. that ‘extra-judicial murderous bent’ a-la Thaksin that the Pinoys are on an economic/social renaissance?
Max Walden provides an interesting update and backgrounder for a former Bahasa student such as myself, though Ken Ward’s corrective is necessary also. However, on the point of Suharto not visiting Australia after 1975, it needs to be said that this was mostly NOT the result of lack of “coziness” between the Australian and Indonesian governments. Rather it was the certainty of being roasted, rather than mildly toasted, by Australian media and demonstrators over the East Timor issue, especially the deaths of those Balibo Five journalists, which kept Suharto away. Indeed the only MAJOR periods when there was not such inter-governmental “coziness” during the entire New Order era, was 1) when David Jenkins broke the “Suharto’s Billions” story, and 2) in the wake of Dili’s Santa Cruz massacre.
We established our business in Philippines in the last days of Marcos because foreign investement had dried up and everything was so cheap. You could stay at a 5 star hotel for peanuts, no one was going there. Gradually, after the massive looting and wars against NPA and Muslims decreased the business has picked up to the point that at the time of Duterte’s election RP is the brightest star of Asean for econmic growth. If he can find a way to tackle the issue of too many children per family with out shooting them then I will praise him.
The same “brave” spirit that kept the country in a rut till now? Is that the spirit you are talking about? The same rut that the US military has kept the Philippinos, while exploiting their deep water bay for the US military bases?
In the 1960s, the Philippines was way ahead of the rest of Asean in terms of development and standard of living BUT now? have to be blind to say that the Philippines is doing well!
The Chinese will exploit this visibly weak leader whose only policy is to shoot the poor and defenseless.He has no foreign policy, just a string of abuse to everyone from the Pope onwards. The Chinese will see him for what he is and Filipino fishermen will no longer be allowed to fish Philippine waters without China’s permission, which will surely be withheld. Without the backing of US and her Allies, Duterte will become a disgraced nobody and will need to be removed which I am sure the Filipino people are capable of achieving.
The same brave Filipino spirit that toppled Marcos will need to be dusted off and brought back into action, that was the most uplifting World event I have ever witnessed.
1. Good to see that Philippines is now getting significantly greater coverage in New Mandala – thank you Digong
2. Looking forward to seeing the conclusions of the experts gathering in Canberra in the next two days on the NM site shortly
Can the so called ‘war on drugs’ better be understood as a purge of public officials and politicians engaged in criminality? That would be more comprehensible in the context of his overall political agenda
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The Duterte paradox
BREAKING NEWS.
Bombing in Davao night market kills 12, injures dozens, very sad to see that.
If you insist on living by the sword you will certainly die by bombings
A storm of bullets, a wave of apathy
The Davao bombings today obviously make it look like Duterte is not going to get HIS authoritarian gang up, unchallenged. This is all SO reminiscent of Thaksin. But – of course – the Philippines has no King.
The Duterte paradox
VichaiN – are you sure you were not googling “turn-coat” ?
The Duterte paradox
Do not be naive Vichai, Philippines are about 92% catholic, but do not believe in the practice of Christianity, my wife before marriage had been a nun in the church and you do not get closer to the church than that. The Filipinos are the nicest people on the planet but a large percentage only to go to the church to ask forgiveness and once they feel God has forgiven them they go out from the church and kill again and again. My wife had had many affairs with priests before we met so I know a thing or two or three. By the way the Byrds were great! Mr Tambourine Man and all that ?
The Duterte paradox
Don’t be naive Hugh Cameron. Look at The Philippines, a 90% Catholic nation I think. And yet they voted in Duterte whose election slogan is ‘To Shoot to Kill any suspect who moves’.
And I don’t know much about the bible either. I was actually googling for ‘The Byrds’ song ‘Turn, Turn,Turn’ and the Ecclesiastes just popped up too, so I quoted the latter to impress.
The Duterte paradox
Some call it PARADOX, others just politics…
The Duterte paradox
Vichai, if you are going to quote the Bible why not include the Ten Commandments. That is the basis for the laws of the majority of countries in the World, Christian and non Christian, just to refresh you anyway: Commandment no. 7 ” Thou shalt not kill”
The Duterte paradox
Well Art good luck to you with all that. Na may isang taon ay walang pagkakaiba. Na walang.
In 1960s and 70s Philippines was the bright star of the East. Then Duterte’s hero Marcos arrived, martial law, extra judicial killings, corruption on a World record scale , wars against NPA and Muslims, all that destroyed the country’s image and its economy. Millions of people were forced to take to the streets to remove the disastrous dictator. A country does not progress by simply shooting people you do not like, Pol Pot proved that.
Now there is an important part Duterte is overlooking when he tells the world to F… off. Because my family are Filipino, I have been involved in fund raising internationally after numerous disasters. Ormoc, Tacloban, Baguio, Mt Pinutobo, Tacloban again Samar again and so on. Philippines has a huge number of natural disasters, the most typhoon prone region in the World, there will be typhoons and resultant destruction again and again, it will not be possible to raise money abroad so easily because Duterte has already told us plus the Pope to F… off. As luck would have it I have got all my family out of Philippines over the years and we have already f…ed off. Happy to come back after the killing has stopped and a patriotic leader has been installed, a leader that is prepared to stand up to China as most Filipinos are prepared to do. Having lived and survived the Marcos regime, so sad to see it all coming around again. Thailand’s Thaksin executed thousands of supposed ” Drug people” did not make the slightest difference to the original root problem except it did make the bereaved families very sad, many of whom had never touched a drug.
Past friends need to work on their future
I’ve never heard or read of an Indonesian leader mistakenly calling Australia “Austria”. That – sadly- about sums up the relative level of sophistication between their leaders and ours, at times.
The Duterte paradox
I understand where you are coming from. You are ill equipped with information or you are simply misinformed. Before coming up with strong words against our President, come and visit our country so you can have a better grasp of what you are talking about. Our President is doing what others can’t or won’t do…..give a new beginning to our country that has become a narco-political state because of the ineptness of our past leaders. It is a purging process and although there are some collateral damage, the people at threat now are the criminals unlike before where the peace loving people that are in danger.
The Duterte paradox
Am not sure about that ” shooting and bombing does not work ….” though Hugh.
Ecclesiastes 3: ” … For every reason, there is a season …. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to ….”
That’s the way the world is Hugh.
Past friends need to work on their future
Chris Beale is right to suggest that Soeharto stayed away from Australia out of reluctance to be the object of demonstrations. Soeharto seemed to have a morbid fear of being demonstrated against. It was probably deep-rooted, but must have been reinforced by the humiliation of having Jakarta rocked by demonstrations in January 1974 when he was playing host to visiting Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei. This caused an extraordinary loss of face for the would-be strong ruler.
But I in turn had presented this reluctance of his as a sign of lack of coziness in the bilateral relationship in general, not specifically the inter-governmental relationship. This is perhaps simply a matter of definition. A relationship in which one country’s leader doesn’t visit for the other country for the last twenty-three years can’t be described as ‘cozy’.
On a different note, readers may be interested to know that when Soeharto visited Australia for the first time in 1972 not long before Whitlam’s victory, our gormless prime minister, Billy McMahon, welcomed him as ‘the President of India’. I heard him say this on ABC radio.
The Duterte paradox
Your reference to Thaksin is very apt Vichai. He killed 1,000s without denting the problem which is complex.
Marcos bombed the crap out of the Southern Muslims, it only made them angry.
Shooting, bombing does not work in the modern world and is is widely publicised that the unfortunate Filipino victims are amongst the poorest of the poor.
The Duterte paradox
Your take on the Philippines ‘progress’ was going so well until that ‘…kept the country in a rut till now’. Till now Nep? You really believe that because Duterte carries. that ‘extra-judicial murderous bent’ a-la Thaksin that the Pinoys are on an economic/social renaissance?
That’s wishful thinking and naïveté me thinks.
Past friends need to work on their future
Max Walden provides an interesting update and backgrounder for a former Bahasa student such as myself, though Ken Ward’s corrective is necessary also. However, on the point of Suharto not visiting Australia after 1975, it needs to be said that this was mostly NOT the result of lack of “coziness” between the Australian and Indonesian governments. Rather it was the certainty of being roasted, rather than mildly toasted, by Australian media and demonstrators over the East Timor issue, especially the deaths of those Balibo Five journalists, which kept Suharto away. Indeed the only MAJOR periods when there was not such inter-governmental “coziness” during the entire New Order era, was 1) when David Jenkins broke the “Suharto’s Billions” story, and 2) in the wake of Dili’s Santa Cruz massacre.
The Duterte paradox
Simply untrue Neptunian.
We established our business in Philippines in the last days of Marcos because foreign investement had dried up and everything was so cheap. You could stay at a 5 star hotel for peanuts, no one was going there. Gradually, after the massive looting and wars against NPA and Muslims decreased the business has picked up to the point that at the time of Duterte’s election RP is the brightest star of Asean for econmic growth. If he can find a way to tackle the issue of too many children per family with out shooting them then I will praise him.
The Duterte paradox
The same “brave” spirit that kept the country in a rut till now? Is that the spirit you are talking about? The same rut that the US military has kept the Philippinos, while exploiting their deep water bay for the US military bases?
In the 1960s, the Philippines was way ahead of the rest of Asean in terms of development and standard of living BUT now? have to be blind to say that the Philippines is doing well!
The Duterte paradox
The Chinese will exploit this visibly weak leader whose only policy is to shoot the poor and defenseless.He has no foreign policy, just a string of abuse to everyone from the Pope onwards. The Chinese will see him for what he is and Filipino fishermen will no longer be allowed to fish Philippine waters without China’s permission, which will surely be withheld. Without the backing of US and her Allies, Duterte will become a disgraced nobody and will need to be removed which I am sure the Filipino people are capable of achieving.
The same brave Filipino spirit that toppled Marcos will need to be dusted off and brought back into action, that was the most uplifting World event I have ever witnessed.
The Duterte paradox
1. Good to see that Philippines is now getting significantly greater coverage in New Mandala – thank you Digong
2. Looking forward to seeing the conclusions of the experts gathering in Canberra in the next two days on the NM site shortly
The Duterte paradox
Can the so called ‘war on drugs’ better be understood as a purge of public officials and politicians engaged in criminality? That would be more comprehensible in the context of his overall political agenda