The London Economist said, “Democracy’s future is waiting to be confirmed.” There is absolutely no assurance that the American-style Constitution will produce wealth for the Philippines as it has for America. Candidates made eloquent and stirring speeches. President Ramos has started to clean up the police and the military. In that same Asiaweek magazine was another article entitled “Kidnappers in Uniform?”: “Police Brig-Gen Raul Imperial counts more than 50 kidnappings last year, netting $7.6 million in ransoms. Lee Kuan Yew had to make tough decisions throughout his life, but he did what he did to build a nation. And it has a good chance of success because it is part of a region which is set for high growth. Lee Kuan Yew on Filipinos and the Philippines. Why are the Monsods so anti-Constitutional Reform? Nápoles & Pork Barrel: It’s the Lousy System. All Rights Reserved. There must be a cleanup of racketeers in the police, whether for kidnappings or other crimes. If the Philippines stick to old policies, because vested interests are too powerful to overturn, then Filipinos will continue to lag further and further behind her ASEAN neighbours. 4. 9. This photo taken on April 28, 2006 shows the late Kwa Geok Choo, wife of Singaporean Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, attending at the Foreign Correspondents gala dinner in Singapore. It found that while Singapore paid its civil servants one of the highest salaries in the world, they also had the least amount of money in their bank accounts among politicians in the region. A few years later Indonesia also changed policies. Malaysia and Indonesia have reduced their budget deficits to 2% of GNP or less since 1987, to less than a third of previous deficit levels. An example of a powerful vested interest that has to be tackled was reported in Asiaweek, 21 August 1992, the Philippines Long Distance Telephone Company which has had a monopoly for 64 years. Other crimes especially corruption must be suppressed and punished. Malays were assured by Mr Lee Kuan Yew last night that they did not need to worry about the arrival of Hongkongers who migrate there … As the Hongkongers would be coming in as employment pass holders each earning at least $1,500 a month, he said that … The Centre for Research and Communications predicts that in the dry summer months, brown-outs could last as long as eight hours a day in Metro Manila and Luzon. Every Filipino knows the other ASEAN countries have overtaken the Philippines. You must have known my attitudes from reports over a long time. I do not believe that Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore could have succeeded as they have done if they had to work under such a constitution, where gridlock on every major issue is a way of life. 10. It has to be systematic with a publicly announced timetable during which the protective barriers enjoyed by the industrial and the services sectors will be dismantled, and foreign competitors allowed in. You must expect domestic vested interests to exploit the political system to slow down economic liberalisation. President Ramos tried and Philippine Mass Media demonized his attempts through the use of fake-news and spreading of falsehoods. With foreign investors closely monitoring the country for a stable political transition, the infrastructure problem is publicity it can ill-afford.” I understand that the brown-outs have got worse and Makati is back to 5-6 hours a day of brown-outs. 12. I knew Filipino politics in the Marcos era as rumbustious. Indonesia, with a lower per capita income level than the Philippines, had a national savings rate of 33% in the last five years. I concluded that you have invited me because you wanted this conference of leading Filipino businessmen and public figures to hear my frank opinion. Moreover, Lee Kuan Yew also made mention of the inherent weaknesses and disadvantages of the Philippines’ stubborn use of the American-style Presidential System with its gridlock-prone and shutdown-prone Separation of Powers. If the president carries through his liberalising of trade and investment regulations he will generate a new momentum in economic activities. In the nature of an economic recovery, there cannot be instant dramatic reversal. In fact, his grandfather wanted him to become an English gentleman! In Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas (TMHI, ... 1989 National Day Rally speech, quoted in The Straits Times, August 21st, 1989, p. 17 . (Build, Own, Operate) B.O.P.S. Other schemes like B.O.O. Among the many things Mr. Lee mentioned was the need for the Philippines to open up to foreign direct investments, something that Singapore had already proven to be much more helpful than harmful, and that it was precisely the in-flow of foreign direct investments and the setting up of factories and offices by multinational corporations that caused Singapore to solve its original unemployment problem and eventually become a First World Nation. Rizal the Federalist; Bonifacio the Unitarian, The Parliamentary System can fix Philippine Politics. Print. They are now pressing ahead with deregulation and liberalisation to open up their economy and make their products internationally competitive. Lift restrictions on trade and investment. (Build, Open Profit Sharing) can also work, so that the infrastructure projects especially roads, telecommunication and industrial estates can be done quickly when public funds are short. This can be a start of what should be a part of a wider strategy to cut down corruption. A little less conversation, a little more action please. Thailand and Malaysia started to deregulate and liberalise. (09/18/1947 - 12/04/1981). Almost 28 years later, despite many attempts at getting these reforms through, we have not yet been able to make these necessary reforms become a reality. 23. In 1990 Philippines was struck by a powerful earthquake. Lee Kuan Yew is considered the founding father of modern Singapore. He is known for his political pragmatism in his governance of Singapore but has been criticised for his authoritarian and sterile policies.. Lee was elected prime minister of Singapore for 31 years, making him the longest … I do not believe that democracy necessarily leads to development. I know the Papal … Being true to himself was one of the many strengths of Lee Kuan Yew. Diagrams that Explain the Parliamentary System, Proposed Malolos-style New Constitution Draft, Title II on The Filipinos and their National and Individual Rights and Duties, US Government Shutdown: The Presidential System Sucks, No Parliamentary System, No LKY & No Mahathir, Problems of Presidentialism & the US Exception. These life experiences drove him to fight for independence. Should the Philippines Turn Parliamentary? That was because corruption was … The fundamentals of our foreign policy were forged during those vulnerable early years. TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, MR LEE KUAN YEW'S SPEECH AT THE POLITICAL STUDY CENTRE ON 16TH AUGUST, 1964, IN CONNECTION WITH THE SEMINAR ON "THE CONCEPT OF DEMOCRACY" ORGANISED BY THE JOINT COMMITTEE FOR RADIO COURSES. If you maximise the six years of the Ramos Administration by freeing your economy, attracting investments, and if you work hard to create conditions that make these investments profitable, then you will get yourself back into the mainstream of growth and development and be in the same league of dynamic economies as your ASEAN neighbours. But if the people understand what economic liberalisation means to them in jobs and wages there will be counterpressure on Congressmen, cabinet ministers and officials. What do they get for that? He has sacked some senior police officers and removed others to less sensitive positions. 25. 27. When I received your invitation to speak, I hesitated in accepting. Central Intelligence Agency. They wrote the constitution in 1787 and ratified it in 1789. TOM RODRIGUEZ is a solid Constitutional Reform advocate! 29. 1. I believe that what a country needs to develop is discipline more than democracy” were taken. The American Forces have left Subic Bay. It starts with having a core group of united leaders with strong morality and integrity at the top of the government. They cut their budget deficits which brought inflation under control. The president in his State of the Nation Address has declared that he would pump-prime the economy; that his priorities are the construction of infrastructure, communications and transportation, water supply, power generation; that in trade and foreign investment that he is for more aggressive liberalisation policies. Having suffered at the hands of King George III of England, they wanted the opposite of a strong monarch. This problem must be put right urgently. The ultimate test of the value of a political system is whether it helps that society to establish conditions which improve the standard of living for the majority of its people plus enabling the maximum of personal freedoms compatible with the freedoms of others in society. He had been a British subject in colonial Singapore. 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