Went down to the Philippines over the 1 July - 4 July weekend.

I can't believe that the Philippines was the richest country in Asia back in the 60's! But at least things seem to be getting better. We deserve a chance to make good after all the bad luck we have had in leaders. Went to the Greenbelt area on Thursday night. Loads of people spending money. A middle class is steadily building up. Given a few more years of good luck (a few more near misses by the numerous typhoons that always seem to hit Luzon) and some help from outside (more call centres, please!) and therw ould be enough momentum.

Meanwhile back in HKG, there was supposed to be 600,000 people on the streets demonstrating. That's 1 in 10 of the entire population. Of all the people I talked to, none went to the demonstration. Hmmm!

There's something interesting here. HKG is supposed to be the most undemocractic place in Asia but the richest! The Philippines is the most democractic (after all its political system is a copy of the US which is the most democractic in the world) but it is the poorest!

Democracy is a great thing but the population must be ready for it. It wasn't so long ago that in the US blacks did not have the right to vote, and before that women. India was granted full democracy but it took them a long time to get the system to work properly. There is something to be said for taking things one step at a time. There is a saying "Feeling the stones as you cross the river".

After all, we set 21 years as the age of majority when young people get the vote. Why not 18? Because they are not ready for it!!! Enough said.