As always, the sanctimonious human 'rights' jackals are more interested in the criminals than the victims of these scum. While Australian crime is probably not as great as it is in the banana republics, it is certainly catching up because of weak sentencing, home detention and suspended sentences, and high immigration. No mercy should be allowed for repeat offenders. It is the job of the government and the courts to protect law-abiding citizens, not to continue enabling repeat ofenders. Hardened criminals must be kept out of circulation permanently.

The little understanding here is that on display by bubble dwelling Bill!

He takes about crimewave statistics as if folks, living in tin shanties and in abject generational poverty had another choice! The rubbish dumps of Manila are already over subscribed!

Why even owned slaves would have been better fed and housed! So with all the obvious human empathy only evidenced during the Nazi era? He tries to justify an unholy bloodbath!?

God help the elite, if ever a nation like China decides to invade? Given lots of folk who might risk much will decide it's not worth a candle and that THEY LOSE NOTHING from a change from one bloodthirsty Tyrant, to one less intolerant or bloodthirsty!?

And might instead, be welcomed with open arms by the poor and downtrodden? LIVE BY THE SWORD?
Alan B.

It is accepted by the Filipino people that Duterte, a practicing attourney, is doing exactly what he promised. His home city of Davao where he was Mayor is acknowledged as a model of peace, order, safety and the rule of law. It wasn't always like that. Being an international port it had a pervasive criminal element that now no longer exists. The citizens of southern Mindanao are proud of his record.
Western politicians seem to think they are the arbiters of morality and what is best for the entire world. East Asian societies, their moral and civil codes, their manners and customs are more ancient than anything comparable in the west and have weathered all challenges. As a general principle interference in East Asian affairs from the shipwrecked Portuguese and Dutch on Japan's shores in the 16th century to today has been an unhappy, unfulfilling one, usually conflicted, brutal and bloody.
The Philippines has suffered more than most from Western influence; 300 years of brutal Spanish colonialism, then 50 years of an "enlightened" US administration, whose military turned the occupied islands into the world's fellatio centre, has had little affect on the manners, customs and general outlook of the Filipino. They are East Asian right down to their sandals and will never be anything else.
Duterte is doing what his people expect of him. Heretofore under previous national administrations the drug lords did little to hide from publicity. Their identities and those of their minions were common knowledge. Now their lives and business activities are under intense investigation by very capable civil servants all of whom are known to the public and every one of them enthusiastically approved of. Every public figure involved in drugs has been warned, resign or be publicly humiliated before the world.
Duterte's indifference toward the attitude of PI's religious institutions has never threatened his popularity. With former president Fidel Ramos as a friend and confidant [FR suggested to RD that he enter the election originally] Duterte could be a major player in East Asian politics. Outsiders would do well to be friendly and helpful first.

Duterte Harry : Comments
By William Hill, published 24/11/2016

I'm somewhat perturbed by your unholy obsession with the question mark. You seem to be unaware of its proper use. Such punctuation does not turn any old sentence into a question. A question requires a perticular kind of wording. The mark itself is almost a redundancy, no more than a courtesy, a gentle reminder. In stark contrast is the exclamation mark. It carries emphasis, emotion, a call for attention.

Your emphasis on poverty in PI is peripherally relevant to the problems facing a political leader whose avowed electoral platform during the election was destruction of the illegal drug industry in his country. Previous administrations had paid lip service to the problem and by this offered no hindrance to highly intelligent, highly organised criminal groups who based their "culture" on the Sicilian Mafia. The criminality infiltrated to the Senate of the PI. The current senate hearings have revealed this unquestionably. Senator Leila De Lima is only the first.

Your "unholy bloodbath" is emotional hyperbole of the kind commonly expressed by those so-called champions of Human Rights, who sit comfortably before a TV and at a great distance from the front line where the blood is being shed, expounding on how other people should solve the problems. This is the bailiwick of the windbag, the hot air merchant whose opinion is, in his own estimation, more important than the reality of a law-abiding citizenry under seige to criminal elements.
Continued..........

Duterte Harry : Comments
By William Hill, published 24/11/2016

"God help the elite, if ever a nation like China decides to invade?" What a load of utter codswallop! Even if China invaded Taiwan the PI would still not necessarily be next. It was probably on Du30's mind though when he recently visited China, especially after the way events developed in US-PI relations, China's claims to PI territory in the West Philippines Sea, a burgeoning new defence arrangement with Japan and the attention directed to PI of a Britain eyeing serious investment in PI. This can of worms will take highly sophisticated diplomacy to work through to a peaceful power-sharing balance.

If the West insists on imposing its values on the East then Mark Twain has been proven wrong, the twain have met and humans will kill each other to preserve their own identity.

For the first and most probably the only time here on OLO I am in agreement with ttbn. The West is having a hissy fit over one of its cultural values being seen to be abused by a non-Western culture. As ttbn observed, the rights of the criminal might be taking precedence over those of the law-abiding citizen. The West's own history of expansion to the creation of colonial empires and the concommitant assault on human rights, the imposition of extra-territoriality, of oppression and morally questionable trading commodities, of serfdom and slavery, all arouse the indignation and righteously moral dudgeon of former colonies at the West's, and particularly the USA's, patronising hypocrisy. Give some attention to how the USA "pacified" the PI after winning the Spanish-American War and you'll see how well politics and hypocrisy combine. Equally brutal and bloody was the USA's "settling" of Chiang Kaishek and the Kuomintang army in Taiwan to escape annihilation by the Communists. The USA stood by twiddling their thumbs and let it happen.

Duterte Harry : Comments
By William Hill, published 24/11/2016

Who of us would not be offended if the Philippines, unprovoked, chose to criticise Australia's record on human rights anent our indigenous people, a festering lesion in our history and an offense to human dignity since colonisation? It is unconscionable of us therefore to seek to lecture another on such rights.

China need do little more than protect its interests and wait. Meanwhile, the PI is struggling with a life or death problem that now impacts every level of its society with insufficient political time to win that struggle. Success is mandatory for a PI to increase its prestige in East Asia. A friendly and concerned neighbour might enquire as to if help is needed [rehabilitation and associated infrastructure?] and swiftly move to provide it. Can we swallow our lofty pride and enquire of Malacanang?
A polite "thank you but no thanks" is the worst rejection we could suffer, yet in might in time to come be remembered to our and their profit.

Du30's "bloodbath" has not deterred foreign investment. It appears that when big money is to be made then human rights receives lip service whichever side you're on.
When it comes to mortal combat and "big politics"............you can guess in one what happens to human rights. It's almost a Law of Nature.

HELP IF YOU CAN AND SHUTUP IF YOU CAN'T.

Yo Pogi,

The basis of my article was that human rights advocates were unsophisticated when it came to combating the underlying causes of crime in PI. As for your outrage about the term bloodbath, that remark was attributed to Duterte who had used pretty strong language when it came to his anti-crime policy during the presidential campaign. So if that is unholy take it up with the President and not me. I appologise for the ?s

A good article indeed, and a very interesting subject.
The bottom ranks of the police services must be clean and respected. This is a major problem in third world countries, where police act in not dissimilar ways to methods used by the Maphia. Protection rackets are rife.
I think Australia as a comparison, is fortunate here on the question of trust.
But higher level corruption in this country is getting out of hand. Political corruption in Australia, is not evident in the exchange of brown envelopes, but is much more sophisticated.

Duterte Harry : Comments
By William Hill, published 24/11/2016

The Third Man, [Alan B?] I take your point anent "unholy bloodbath". Such flamboyant language has become expected from Du30 and is a signature feature of his expressions of contempt for and implacable opposition to the illegal drug trade in PI. His off the cuff black humour frequently has his audience in stitches. Sometimes it is disrespectful of PC-ness. Confronting, blunt, uncaring of how he is seen, he fires from the hip and if you happen to be the cynosure of his hostile attention you'll suffer.
In the final of three debates between the presidential candidates, VP Jejomar Binay, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Senator Grace Poe and Senator Mar Roxas [grandson of former president Manuel Roxas], some issues became personal especially between Du30 and Roxas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNqoOVjs9Lc 11:25 forward. Though the language is nearly all Tagalog there is enough English to understand. The body language and expressions are obvious. The Davao Mayor does not like Roxas and treats him to some very blunt language. It is salutary to note that Roxas is slated to appear before the current senate standing committee of enquiry into the illegal drug problem. He will occupy a chair currently accommodating the ample rear end of Senator Leila DeLima.
The Philippines National Police [PNP] report that they are losing on average three policemen a day who perish in the battle against illegal drugs and other crime.
Continued....

You write: "So with all the obvious human empathy only evidenced during the Nazi era? He tries to justify an unholy bloodbath!?" May I rewrite this for better understanding please? [no disrespect intended].......

"So, with all the obvious human empathy only evidenced during the NAZI era he tries to justify an unholy bloodbath!"

I am bound to reply that Du3o is not the first politician, not even the first in S.E.Asia, to employ colourful language to emphasise a point. Hitler's enemy was not the criminal element in society, I'll leave the judgement of who was his enemy to history. The Pangulo [President, the "g" is silent] is of a vastly different stamp.

What gets published in the Australian press about him is probably a litany of sanctimonious crap styled to talk down to a readership more inclined to let someone else form an opinion for them. That saves a lot of bothersome thinking. It's written mostly by hack writers who will never be called on to defend what they write anyway. Sanctimony Central, Washington, has provided an outstanding example of this phenomenon anent Du30.

The fight against drugs and other crime has been outstandingly successful, due principally to the electorate being strongly in favour of their president's campaign. Du30's toughest battle is yet to come when the Chinese drug lords in Hong Kong and the mainland start their retaliation. Protecting his country's 7,000+ islands against incursions by drug merchants across a sea entirely within Chinese control will require some intense diplomacy. Du30 has tough times ahead. He has arraigned himself and his meagre forces against some of the most powerful criminal organisations on Earth. He will need support from genuine friends.

Let me congratulate you on choosing a great piece of cinematography directed by a prince of the film noire genre, Carol Reed.
"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock!"