The Mahathir paradox

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently labeled democracy a failed ideology. He has also described China’s authoritarian government as a model that works better than a democratically elected one. Seriously. He did.

Another one of his “the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre was staged” moments no doubt, but a shocker nonetheless.

My foot massage guy from China was as surprised as I was. He asked me how many kids Mahathir had. I said seven and he wondered aloud if Mahathir knew about China’s one-child policy.

Imagine that. No Mukhriz, no Mokhzani and no Mirzan. Only Marina — by reason of a governmental policy that you do not have a say in.

According to Mahathir, China’s political model shows that “having a non-democratic country can also give a good life for the people.”

What a load of nonsense.

Having your internet access censored is not a good life. It is a life that builds barriers around free will. It is a life based on mistrust.

Imagine typing Raja Petra in the Google search engine and receiving the irritating “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage” message. This is what people in China experienced recently when they ran a Google search for Li Rui, Mao Zedong’s former secretary.

Of late, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has been speaking about the need for China to implement political reforms.

In a rare interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, the Chinese Premier was asked the following question:

Fareed: You speak in your speeches about how China is not yet a strong and creative nation in terms of its economy. Can you be a strong and creative nation with so many restrictions on the freedom of expression with the internet being censored? Don’t you need to open all that up if you want true creativity?

The Chinese Premier began his answer by bluntly saying as follows:

Wen Jiabao: I believe that freedom of speech is indispensible for any country in the course of development and a country that has become strong.

Despite the Chinese Premier speaking a lot about political reform of late, many Chinese do not know about it because the Chinese censors have seen it fit to black out those parts of his speeches within China.

I am sure Mahathir would be livid if the Malaysian censors did the same thing to his speeches although I know many people in Malaysia who would be quite pleased if this happened.

Going to jail for writing about fundamental freedoms and being prevented from seeing your family while you are in jail is also not a good life. It is a life that punishes original thought as long as it is not in conformity with the government’s agenda. It is a life that severs the spirit.

This is what is happening to 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner and activist Liu Xiabao who co-authored Charter 08 which called for democratic reforms in one party China. For his role in Charter 08, Liu was punished with “eleven years’ imprisonment and two years’ deprivation of political rights.”
Getting shot dead for committing economic offenses and offenses concerning public safety or public order is not a good life. It is a life filled with cruel and unusual punishment.

This is the reality of China’s capital punishment policy — even for non-violent crimes.

Our founding fathers fought bravely for independence and the right to choose our leaders. They rejected dictatorships in favour of the right to vote and we must protect this against any suggestion that the China model of zero political freedom is the way forward or as Mahathir says — an alternative “worth studying”.

The China we see today will not survive for long. Already last week, 23 former Chinese Communist Party officials led by Li Rui, published an open letter challenging the government to increase speech and press freedom.

Not surprising, of course, that many people in China could not read this open letter.

According to a Bloomberg report, the link to the Chinese version of the letter resulted in computer screens showing “network error”.

In any event, just like water, liberty will find its way through because it is good and it is right.

China may be economically successful now, but in time the country will go searching for its soul and only the fundamental freedoms such as speech and the right to vote can help find it.

Malaysia does not need to look to China to make progress and become successful. The secret to that lies in our Federal Constitution. That is the only place we need to look.