If you see your spouse and parent drowning at the same time, who would you save first?

A very popular question that has been around for a long time. The question is said to test a person’s decision-making capability. It is also said to see whether the person is thinking from the head (brain=rational & logical) or from the heart (emotional). It’s rather tricky to answer such a question. It puts a person in a situation where he/she has to choose between two people that he/she loves. No one knows who came out with this question. However it is widely believed it came from a Chinese person. It is thought that the question challenges the person as to whether the person places more on filial piety (honour and respect) or on romance. Traditionally, the Chinese people are thought to respect and honour people who are older than them, in particular their parents. Therefore, it is expected that one should put the parents before oneself. On the other hand, you also have the question of love for your spouse. For those who have married for a long time would realized that they have probably spent more time and undergone a lot more with their spouse than with their parents. Therefore, they may be swayed to support the spouse.

Obviously there is no right or wrong answer to such a question. Some people would secretly hope that their spouse would save them rather than the other. By choosing  to save the parent, it is assumed that they do not love the spouse enough. There are people who posses the “nice guy” syndrome (ie: people who do not want to hurt anyone) where they would save one parent and then they jump into the water to drown together with the spouse. Then there are some people who are the “avoiding type” (ie: like to avoid responsibility) by jumping into the water and drown with everyone else so that he doesn’t need to decide. Then there are those who are the confidence type where they decide to save one but not the other without any hesitation. If you ask them why, they would give you all kind of reasons. The best one I have heard is that “the other drowning person (be it spouse or parent) would want me to do the right thing and that is to save the other”.

Last month in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, there was an interview where a female celebrity was asked who does she love more, her husband or the kids? Without hesitation, she replied, “My husband!” She said, “I have known my husband longer than I know my kids. Without my husband, there will be no kids”. It was observed in the article, that the reason many marriages fall apart after having kids is because the husband and wife had neglected their marriage and became complacent while making kids as priority in their life that ignored the very principle of the union of man and woman.

Well, so back to our earlier question, who would you save in the event you are faced such a dilemma? I know my answer. How about you?

Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines- His Presidency, leadership and style

It has been a long time since I last posted. A lot has happened since then. The US has a new President, UK is in the process of leaving the EU (the process of BREXIT has been triggered), TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) is almost as good as gone and China is continuing to show its economic strength that may lead them to become the World’s No. 1 economic power before the end of the decade.

Closer to the Asia Pacific here, I am intrigued with the current President of the Philippines. President Rodrigo Duterte also known as “Digong” (nickname) or sometimes referred to by the alphanumeric “DU30” is an interesting personality. He is controversial, sometimes brash but at the same time a realist. He has a very strong alpha male personality that attracts a loyal base of supporters. His trait of being a decisive person (though some may or may not agree with his decisions) made him an attractive leader. A friend once remarked to me that being decisive is one of the apparent characteristics of a leader. It doesn’t matter if the decision is a wise one or not but the fact that a person can decide conclusively shows that the person is unafraid of challenges. That is of course debatable but I will leave that for another day.

Duterte’s brashness when speaking to his people reminded me of the way the famous US General, George S Patton Jr. spoke to his troops. They don’t mince their words. They say what they meant. General Patton once said that he used profanities so that his words would enter into his soldiers’ “thick skull” so that they would not forget them. Similarly, Duterte has laced profanities both in his speeches and at Press conferences. Though admittedly most of the time, the profanities were uttered in front of local journalists, which could only mean that he was playing to the local sentiments. Many people did not agree with the manner that he spoke but that did not stop them from attending his speeches and Press conferences.  It is just like me when I was young, saying that I do not like watching horror movies, yet my eyes were glued to the screen whenever there was a horror movie playing. The thing is that there is always something interesting in Duterte’s speech. Being unpredictable and unconventional makes it attractive when it comes to gaining wide audience and Press coverage. There have also been a few times when President Duterte “flipped the bird”. That gesture does not require any interpretation as we know exactly what that gesture meant! By “flipping the bird” towards his adversaries is like “thumping his nose” saying that “you can’t do anything with me” and indeed, he is right.  Apart from the execution of drug dealers that became a worldwide interest due to issues relating to human rights, the international community does not really have much to complain about the Philippines President.  Some may even go on to say that the execution of the drug dealers is more of a domestic issue rather than an international issue -another debatable point. The Philippines economy appears to be doing well - Duterte has managed to bring in considerable amount of investments from China. Again, some of the critics of Duterte may say at what cost? By allowing China to build military bases in the man-made islands in the South China Sea? By being soft with China in relation to the disputed Scarborough Shoal?

The critics of Duterte felt that he has compromised the sovereignty of the Philippines by giving in too much to the Chinese. However, if we look from Duterte’s point of view, it was a “bread and butter” issue for his people.  Before making his first official visit to China, the Filipino fishermen were chased away by the Chinese Coast Guard in the Scarborough Shoal. The fishermen were deprived from earning a living. The presence of Chinese naval ships in the Scarborough Shoal has also discouraged any confrontation that may occur. So what can one do in such situation? By doing nothing would lead to a stale mate and that would not help the Philippines. So what Duterte did was to play it cool by not pushing the issue when he met President Xi Jinping in China. As a result of Duterte’s visit to China, the Filipino fishermen were able to fish in the Scarborough Shoal without any interference from the Chinese Coast Guard. So, that part of the “bread and butter” issue has been resolved.

I mentioned earlier that Duterte being a realist or a pragmatic person. This may sound strange to some people but it’s true! Recently Duterte was asked about Philippines’ position with regards to the Chinese building structures in the disputed shoal. Duterte replied, “So what do you want me to do……declare war against China? I can, but we’ll lose all our military and policemen tomorrow”. Declaring war on China would be like David vs Goliath and it will not serve anyone well.  In spite of pressure from the International community to protest or to voice out Philippines’ concern, Duterte knows that it would not be easy to change the status quo. It is highly unlikely that China will dismantle the structures that it has just built. I am sure Duterte must have weighed his options or perhaps he was just being “street smart” and allow the status quo to continue while his Country prosper. To me, that was not being silly, that was being realistic.

As some of you may know, piracy is a major problem in the waters surrounding Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The pirates who travel in high speed boats would always speed and cross into the water of the neighbouring country which will render the authorities to give up on their chase as they could not breach the borders of the other country. On 14^th January 2017, Duterte gave the go ahead to the Indonesian and Malaysian navies to blast off kidnappers or pirates that enter in Philippine waters. The President said, “You can go ahead and blast them off……My order really to the Navy and Coast Guards if there’s kidnapping and then (if they are) trying to escape blast them off….If you have blasted them everyday that would stop kidnappings.” I believe both Malaysia and Indonesia would have been surprised that Duterte had given them green light to do something that very few leaders would allowed. That’s Duterte for you, a realistic and pragmatic person.

I am not a supporter or admirer of Duterte but like I said in the beginning, I am just intrigued by this man. Who is this person? Some called him as the “Donald Trump of the East”. Well, I wouldn’t compare Duterte to Donald Trump. One was a businessman and lives a luxury life while the other has never ventured into business and lives a rather modest life. I am looking forward to seeing what else this man has in store of us. There is never a dull moment with Duterte!