Deconstructing a parliamentary democracy

KUALA LUMPUR: I am always keenly aware of the fact that I am a non-Filipino writing here for a primarily Filipino readership. As such, I seldom touch on domestic Filipino issues over which I cannot claim any decent degree of expertise unless they resonate substantially with certain international, cross-border trends.

And yes, I do focus on international issues near and far in order to evoke in my readership perhaps a certain degree of such resonance in order that, hopefully, readers would gradually realize that they are, perhaps, not alone in the world in facing some of the difficult challenges common to many developing countries. If in the process there could be fruitful or painful lessons from elsewhere that could be replicated or avoided, then it is for the better.