Our post-colonial administrative state, rather than undertaking a proactive approach to national development, directed its efforts toward perpetuating the inherited colonial policies and building onerous security paraphernalia. Instead of cultivating a merit-based governance system, our state apparatus underwent a considerable deterioration over time, morphing into what can be characterized as a "rent-a-state" or a "play-doh state," effectively serving the interests of our elite.

That failure of our elite to embrace a meritocratic governance model was thus the second reason why we never experienced the rapid economic take-off that was seen in Southeast and East Asian states. That failure of our elite to embrace a meritocratic governance model was thus the second reason why we never experienced the rapid economic take-off that was seen in Southeast and East Asian states.

Our elite's fascination with the "benevolent" dictatorship model is not only falsified by historical evidence from our history and East Asian history but is also fundamentally irrational. It overlooks three inherent design flaws of authoritarian regimes that cannot be ignored. First, the success or failure of such a system is contingent not on the content or process of law, but rather on the character of the individual who seizes authority.