Lets' start a guessing game. 3 questions. Guess which country; which top leader, and which leader based on quotes made by others.
A Country
"The nation has long been
hobbled by a political culture that places the ruling party's needs over those
of the people"
"For six decades, the [ruling
party] has appeared to have only one
goal: to maintain its hold on power. It's thus promoted -- and recently
reinforced -- racial policies that benefit its political base"
"The side effects, including
stagnant living standards, waning competitiveness, and the humiliation of [the
country's] sizable minority populations, are all overlooked in the service of
[holding on to power]"
"[This country] is ensnared
in the middle-income trap that South Korea and Thailand escaped years
ago."
"Rather than free the
economy from race-based quotas and business preferences, the ruling party
has expanded them. Never mind that these policies make [the country] even less
attractive to multinational companies and encourage so many of the nation's
best and brightest to move to Singapore and Hong Kong"
"Philippines and Indonesia
are surging ahead as this country looks backward"
"The country is proving to
be all hardware and no software"
"For years, [the ruling
party] acted as though top-quality roads, state-of-the-art ports and bridges,
iconic skyscrapers and a swanky new capital would inevitably pave the way to
prosperity."
"But economic software is
even more important. And on that front, this country has never bothered to cut red tape, level the
playing field for [the minorities], or introduce the competitive forces
necessary to stimulate entrepreneurship."
"[This
country] governing elite has clung to power without interruption since ...
almost six decades ago through a combination of tight control of information,
intimidation of the opposition and, until recently, robust economic
growth."
"Many
newspapers and television networks in [this country] are controlled by the
government directly or indirectly."
"..worldwide
bafflement at [a tragedy] has challenged the country’s paternalistic political
culture and exposed its coddled leaders to the withering judgments of critics
from around the world"
"[This
country], aspiring to become a developed nation in six years, is finding that
more than 50 years under one coalition and tight control over information is a
mismatch for handling a rapidly growing crisis followed across the world"
"The crisis has
fully exposed the dangers of allowing one party to rule a nation for six
decades."
"This country
is blessed with enviable natural resources. But it is willfully squandering its
equally enviable human capital."
"These
affirmative-action policies [of this country] stifle innovation and drive away
investment. They disenfranchise the country's minorities, forcing many of them
to seek their fortunes overseas."
"Civil-service
and cabinet appointments should be about ability and nothing else -- not race,
not sex, not age. Until and unless every lawmaker, ministry and
government-linked corporation realizes they will have to answer for
their actions and failings, the trust gap between the people and their
government will only widen."
"It
is also an ethnically polarized society where talent often does not rise to the
top of government because of patronage politics within the ruling party and a
system of ethnic preferences that discourages or blocks the country’s
minorities, from government service."
"The longer [this country] sticks
with the racial preferences, the more graft and opacity will worsen and undermine growth. The only way to unshackle
the economy -- which should be performing a lot more like South Korea than
Vietnam -- is to end such policies."
"[This country
was recently] hailed by [the president of a superpower country] as 'an example of a
dynamic economy' and touted its 'diversity, tolerance and progress' as 'a model
to countries around the world'. Today, amid the global outcry over the
[handling of the tragedy], such
praise sounds naive. The past month has highlighted [this country]'s deepest
flaws, and all-too-few of its strengths."
"Ordinary
people in [another country]
feel the work [of the government of this country]
has not been professional.”
"Another
neighboring country expressed concern about coordination effort. [This country]’s
cooperation has not been positive and their officials are not responsive to
requests for information"
"The government
[of this country]... also released imprecise, incomplete and sometimes
inaccurate information, with civilian officials sometimes contradicting
military leaders"
"Information
issued publicly from [the government] had been extraordinarily chaotic."
"The government [of this country] seemed evasive and confused, and
[an expert] questioned why, if the remarks attributed to [the government
official] were true, the government took so long to reveal evidence"
"The
government (of this country)’s inconsistencies in the handling of the crisis
were further highlighted when the country’s top official contradicting what
other officials had said for the past three days."
A Top Leader
"Why
bother when all the [this top leader's] party needs to do to stay in power is
redraw voting districts, bribe the masses with fat handouts, invoke religion
when necessary, and muzzle any pesky publications that dare to write about
corruption and privilege?"
"It's
a full-time job: For years populist handouts, gerrymandered districts, and
political arrests secured the party comfortable majorities, but in last year's
election the ruling coalition lost the popular vote for the first time"
"All this
explains why per-capita income in a resource-rich nation with an enviable
geographic position in Asia has stalled at near the $10,000 mark. [This top leader's
country] is stuck in the middle-income trap because its leaders are stuck in
time."
"His
government has been clamping down on internal political dissent. One opposition
leader once again faces the specter of jail on sodomy charges; [and another]
is defending himself against sedition allegations."
"Authoritarian
laws have helped keep the governing party in power — and an ascendant
opposition in check."
"Early
on, [he] thrilled global investors by hinting that he would scrap his party's
40-year-old affirmative-action policies, which favor [one race]. But [his
party]'s troubles prompted him to expand rather than eliminate such
apartheid economics."
"Since rising to the top job, he has had to divert his attention from revitalizing [the country]'s economy to maintaining [his ruling party]'s long hold on power.
"[His]
government's handling of [the tragedy] was
no fluke. The fumbling exposed a political elite that's never really had to
face questioning from its people, never mind the rest of the world."
"The
international press has pilloried [his] government for its initial response to
the crisis, which was marred by conflicting information, poor coordination with
neighboring countries, defensiveness, and an apparent lack of transparency"
"His
government’s lack of a clear message, compounded by a series of false leads...
risks undermining its image internationally."
"The families of the victims of [a tragedy] deserve better. But then, so do [the people of the country] whom [this leader] claims to serve."
“There are big
issues -- transparency, information sharing, questions associated with
security. [The leaders] are not in control of the discussion and the problem is
they’re not instilling confidence. Everyone wants to give them the benefit of
the doubt but this is a crisis of credibility for [his] administration.”
"The
crisis has led to introspection about why the government has appeared
uncoordinated and unable to pin down seemingly basic facts about the
[tragedy]"
"What can his government do, post-crisis , to improve
its image at home and abroad? This isn't a mere PR challenge. The country needs
nothing less than a political revolution."
"They’re
handling a huge global issue as if it was domestic politics"
"[His]
administration is sending the message that people should let [his] government
tell them what they need to know, when they need to know it, and not before"
"Local
media outlets critical of [this leader] are on the defensive. [His] government
has by contrast been silent on efforts by Islamic conservatives to limit who can use the
word "Allah" -- a campaign that has eroded [this country]'s
reputation for religious tolerance."
A Leader
"Even with his nearly 20-year stint as a legislator and more than a decade
in ministerial posts, how does someone like this become a transport minister in
Southeast Asia's third-biggest economy?"
"He's also the scion of a
powerful political family."
"He is the nephew of the
country’s second prime minister, [who is also the current prime minister]’s
father
"[He] was elected a vice
president of [the controlling party], putting him in line to possibly succeed
[the country's top leadership]."
"The lamentable manner in which
[this leader] has fielded questions underscores how unaccustomed the country's
leaders are to being questioned by anyone"
""It’s only confusion if
you want it to be seen to be confusion," he said at a news conference that
unfolded before an international audience. [He] rejected a reporter’s assertion
that the search [in the tragedy] had been disordered."
--------------
Remarks -
Feel free to give your answers in the 'comments section' in red color below. Guess one answer for each of the above 3 questions. Namely which country, which top leader, and which leader based on quotes made by others.
This guessing game it is based on quotes from respectable personalities who work in internationally credible organisations. Minimalist editing is made to preserve choices of word by the original authors and to ensure this guessing game a success. The original articles can be found below:
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-04-08/missing-plane-will-haunt-malaysia-s-future
