No other Lee Kuan Yew

By Uriel Quilinguing

LOCAL Government Secretary Eduardo Año, during a pre-Valentine national advocacy campaign on discipline launched in Cagayan de Oro, shared a quotation to more than 500 local chief executives and government agency regional officials, including military and police officials from Northern Mindanao, which capsulized about an hour-long talk.  

The quote, which he attributed to being from the late revered founder and first prime minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew, states: “The Philippines needs more of discipline than democracy.” 

MediaKonek could not take this hook, line, and sinker since a highly-respected national leader and neighbor would not be as blunt in sharing his observation on the state of the country such as this. And this was not the first time such a line of thought was used in a public pronouncement. 

Verification on this shows that the quotation must have taken out of context from a speech the Singaporean leader delivered during the Philippine Business Conference on Nov. 18, 1992, an excerpt of which is kept by the National Archives of Singapore which states, as follows: “Contrary to what American political commentators say, I do not believe that democracy necessarily leads to development. I believe that what a country needs to develop is discipline more than democracy.” 

Yew’s reference must be his country, Singapore and not the Philippines even if the discourse was made in the Philippines since he was speaking based on his personal experience having been the prime minister of his island country for three decades. 

Hammering on that line, Año in effect was hinting that democracy can be set aside since it is not the top priority, discipline is. It is dangerous because it would mean all civil liberties can be sacrificed in the guise of institutionalizing discipline.              

It appears that Año views discipline as an imposition on people to obey rules and that punishment should be used to correct disobedience. This is manifested by show-cause orders on 10 local executives whose non-compliance of street-clearing of obstructions directive before the Office of the Ombudsman. Discipline, in this case, should not be taken as a learning process where an individual is taught, just like students, on how to develop self-restraint and admirable character. 

What is being done is a carrot-and-stick approach, a policy of offering a combination of reward and punishment to induce behavior. And the carrot that is being dangled to the local chief executives is Palace’s good graces and the stick obviously is the set of penalties the Ombudsman has to determine for those accused of disobedience to lawful orders and dereliction of duty.   

While there is much that must be learned from the Singaporean experience, transforming a third-world country to be among the world’s well-developed economies within 30 years, Filipinos must be treated differently. 

There is only one Lee Kuan Yew. There will be no other. And, if I may share a quote from him it should be this: “If you want to reach your goals and dreams. You cannot do it without discipline.”                 

(Uriel C. Quilinguing is a former president of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club who had been editor-in-chief of Cagayan de Oro-based newspapers, including this paper. For reactions, email them to uriel.quilinguing@yahoo.com.)