Ends, not means: There\'s truth in that. I must admit I\'ve thought of Doctor Mahatir Mohammed as in the same vein as Sir Joh before, too. Malaysia over the last few decades has been a kind of parliamentary autocracy. The gold and plastic standards of democracy have improved over time. Mahatir\'s Malaysia and Joh\'s Queensland were both more democratic - though not necessarily more caring for individual rights - than Britain in the 1850s or America in the 1790s.
Many people are ferociously loyal to both men because of the prosperity they brought.
While I\'ve been following it, Queensland voters have rewarded competence above all. The trend continues. Election before last, when all the Labor election fraud came out, Peter Beattie was implicated up to his eyeballs. He was Secretary of the Qld party at the time, for goodness sake, it was pretty obvious what went on, but he acted quickly to fire anyone with solid evidence against them, and the opposition hadn\'t impressed with their recent stint in minority government. The voters were left with a choice between criminals and incompetents. They chose the criminals, with no great pangs of conscience.
Of course, it\'s pretty easy to paint and promote the opposition as incompetent, when you\'ve got few limits on your own power.
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