Duterte’s foul-mouthed rants mask the real issues, and reflect poorly on his nation
Philip Bowring says the Philippine president’s tough talk on the US and newfound pivot to China are likely to be short-lived, given his personal failings, and the fact that US ties are too deep to be upended by slights real or imagined
If President Xi Jinping ( 習近平 ) thinks he has a fine new friend in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, one can only respond: You are welcome to him.
Let us not conjure up excuses for the barbarism of his so-called war on drugs. Imagine instead how people here and across the border would feel if two bodies a day started turning up on the streets of Shenzhen, or 25 a day throughout Guangdong, summarily shot either by police or self-appointed social guardians.
This would take us back to the Cultural Revolution, killing fields devised by a megalomaniac leader and individuals using the campaign as cover for disposing of personal foes.
[Duterte’s abusive words] merely demonstrated what an unstable personality he is, unable to engage in rational discussion or have his whims thwarted
That Duterte should react with foul-mouthed abuse of US President Barack Obama and UN chief Ban Ki-moon, for criticising his bloodletting, or the Pope for causing a traffic jam, merely demonstrated what an unstable personality he is, unable to engage in rational discussion or have his personal whims and demons thwarted. His comparison of himself to Hitler and willingness to slaughter drug users by the millions says all too much about him – though he is too erratic to write and stick to a Mein Kampf.
That the Philippine drug situation is probably no worse than other countries in Southeast Asia (Singapore excepted) and Hong Kong itself is mostly missed, as gross exaggerations are used to justify 3,000 or so murders. Actual data shows that about 3.5 million out of a population of 100 million have taken some drug over the past 13 months. But half had taken it only once, and, of those, marijuana was more common than shabu, the local methamphetamine of choice. Occasional or even weekly use does not amount to addiction. As Thailand learned after the Thaksin government extrajudicial killings in 2003, the trade was only briefly stemmed. The drug trade is demand-driven.
