New Zealand never ceases to amaze me; it is such a marvellous place. New Zealand ranking as the Least Corrupt Nation won me over again. My curiosity sometimes gets me, how did New Zealand achieve that ranking? Are Kiwis generally honest? Is it because of the economic system? Is it because there is less population here?
In contrast, why is Philippines generally perceived as a corrupt nation? I did not bother to find out what ranking Philippines is but I surmise it will not be high. Again the inquisitive me is thinking, now why is that, when the Philippines was once known as a great nation right after World War II.
To start of, New Zealand has one of the most lenient and sometimes bizarre laws. Prostitution is a legal profession, some drugs are legal, and punishments for crimes are, broadly speaking, light. On top of that, Kiwis are not generally religious; and yet people mostly are not corrupt.
I suppose the way to understand it is to know the opposite of corruption. The inverse of corruption is honesty and everyone will agree that Kiwis are honest (again generally speaking). I reckon it is because the smallness of the community fosters honesty. Everyone knows everyone. You care for your neighbours, and the same sentiment is reciprocated. It is not the strict laws that make an honest nation; it is when a nation follows the basic rules of life: share everything, play fair, do not take things that are not yours, say sorry when you hurt somebody, etc. Everyone knows these rules because these are the rules that were taught in kindergarten. See Robert Fulghum’s website on “ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN” http://www.robertfulghum.com/.
Philippines on the other hand is a sad case of a lot of things going amiss: colonial mentality, crab mentality, poverty, and overpopulation among other things. Nothing more damning than the Spanish occupation influence over the culture. Greed, dishonesty, selfishness are only some of the attributes our ancestors picked up and consequently passed down to generations. These attributes fuel corruption; and they contradict the basics.
I sometimes imagine what if the British won over Spain when they were fighting for the Philippine occupation and colonization. Would the Philippines (it will not be called Philippines to start with) be like New Zealand or Australia of today, all under the British monarch? Will it make the Philippines an honest nation? I honestly think so.
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