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SEPTEMBER 8 , 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 35 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK The Mouth Aside: 'The public loves it when governor of Tokyo Ishihara Shintaro blasts the central government. Now if only he could learn to be sensitive about Japan's Asian neighbors.' ASIA'S BEST [Aug. 18-25] Your Aug.18-25 COVER STORY, "Asia's Best," is the best report I've seen on Asia's past 25 years. Meaningful and a very attractive issue. It made me look back and look forward. Seow Wai Kee Hong Kong I am shocked that you chose Tokyo governor Ishihara Shintaro as "The Best Local Administrator" [GOVERNANCE]. Don't tell me that being of this status has nothing to do with politics and human rights, or with tolerance or values that people generally cherish. Being good in economic management is not sufficient. Adolf Hitler helped bring Germany out of the Great Depression and became popular. But his policy pushed Germany and the whole world into a bigger disaster. It is easy to find articles written by Western journalists in the 1930s that praised Hitler's performance. Today Asiaweek's editors are doing the same thing. Feng Zeng via the Internet The listing, "How Asia Is Governed," seemed haphazard. You gave China a C- for rights. Hasn't Tiananmen taught you anything? What about the continued repression of human rights activists? Every right that a Chinese citizen has is given to him or her by the Communist government and can be taken away at any time. Including the right to life. China gets an F. And how does Japan get a B+ for its anti-corruption rating? There are pervasive favors and counter-favors in business dealings in Japan. The entire system of keiretsu is completely corrupt it defeats any idea of transparency. Sorry, Japan gets a C. You give Hong Kong the same anti-corruption rating as Japan. I disagree vehemently. Hong Kong still has the best business climate in all of Asia. It gets an A. As for Taiwan, which you gave a C+, the Kuomintang and its "black gold" are out of power. Taiwan gets a B. Taiwan is a shining example of democracy. Japan can make great cars and electronics, but it can't make democracy truly work. Andy Hsiung Santa Monica, California I was dismayed by your greatly exaggerated comments on law and order in Pakistan, including that in some places mobs hold the reins. This is outright misreporting or your reporter might have been thinking of Colombia. We have a civilized society with one of the lowest crime rates in Asia. Arif Zaki Rawalpindi While democracy in the Philippines may be imperfect, to say the least, we have no reason at all to doubt it, notwithstanding your negative perception of President Joseph Estrada ["The Best Reasons to Doubt Democracy"]. In a democracy, the folly of the majority is more tolerable than the tyranny of an autocracy and the same can be corrected by the people themselves through the ballot, not by the bullet. Estrada is a consequence of a democratic process and therefore the people must respect the vote of the majority and bear with him, even as they continue to hope and pray that one day soon he will gather together his people and his allies, including buddies and cronies, and tell them: "We have been lucky, guys. Now it is time to give our country a chance." Amay P. Ong VaNo Cebu City If President Abdurrahmin Wahid is bad, he is certainly better than Suharto. It was dictatorships that plunged the Philippines and Indonesia into the cesspool of corruption. On the governance of my country, not even an eighth of the 102,000 sq km of Mindanao is affected by your so-called "raging military conflict," and the South is not Muslim-dominated. Vincent Romano Quezon City Philippines I was very surprised to see the new Hong Kong airport Chek Lap Kok voted the Best in Asia and even more to read that it takes only 10 minutes to clear immigration ["Up, Up and Away"]. From my experience the only thing that has not changed from the old airport at Kai Tak is the waiting line at immigration. They are still as slow as they have always been. Klaus Hammes Bangkok Lee Kuan Yew's Remarks In "There, he's gone and said it again" [NEWSMAKERS, Sept. 1] you said that Lee Kuan Yew, in an interview with the South China Morning Post, "opined that Hong Kong people should either go into business or migrate, but avoid politics it's a no-win situation." In his interview with the SCMP on Aug. 4, before his trip to Malaysia, Lee did not "tell" Hong Kong people what they should do. Instead, he recounted what he told a Hong Kong Chinese paper (Ming Pao), early 1990, in answering the question of whether he would be willing to be a leader of Hong Kong if he had been born in Hong Kong. Yeong Yoon Ying Press Secretary to Senior Minister Singapore JAKARTA'S 'BEST FOOD' "Rendang" [LIFESTYLE, "Asia's Best," Aug. 18-25] was incorrectly bylined. The article was by Arif Suryobuwono. Write to Asiaweek at mail@web.asiaweek.com Quick Scroll: More stories from Asiaweek, TIME and CNN |
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