[This is part of the book: Basis Of Singaporean Spirit - People Power, click here to go to the main page]
The book is also available at Amazon.com:
[This chapter was planned to be published later, however, since recently Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said that the poor pose election risk, I find it timely to publish it now. Please share. This article is not meant to support China or Hong Kong, but for academic discussion purposes.]
Recently, in an interview with foreign media, Mr Leung Chun-ying shared his concerns about 'poor dominating politics'. Conversely, with 'rich dominating politics', shouldn't that be his concerns too? Given that he said:
"If it's entirely a numbers game and numeric representation, then obviously you'd be talking to the half of the people in Hong Kong who earn less than $1,800 a month"
Which "politics" do you think Mr Leung believes Hong Kong is in today?
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (has a daughter, not in the picture)
For a society to be in harmony there must be unification of the 3-Powers (details of this is in the preceding chapters) and they must be working in a collaborative manner.
In political science, these 3 Powers are present
as:
Power (权) – Represented by Politicians
Wealth (财) – Represented by Businesses
People (民) – Represented by Commoners
When there is disunity, we will have huge
problems. There are two types of disunity: Total Disunity and Partial Disunity.
Total Disunity represents a state where there is no collaboration with any of the other powers.
The following are the potential issues.
Singular "Power"
When Power executes without regard to the
other two, it will manifest as political lockups, and people could be jailed
without trials.
This may be necessary in times of extreme
chaos, but ultimately, whether it is good or bad, it really depends on the
overall outcome. That is, do the lives of People get better or worse?
More often than not, Singular "Power"
manifests as dictatorship.
When wealth takes the centre stage, a
common situation that is observed is bribery.
In order to get things done, money is the
key differentiator. Money can enable a businessman to get special permit or
even special treatment and to avoid any punishment.
When People acted alone, riots and
revolutions will be common events.
In a totally dysfunctional country, it is
not uncommon to see all of the three singularities happening at the same time.
Partial Disunity represents a state where there is collaboration between only two of the powers, against the other.
In this case, we have a situation where
money can decide who will take power.
In countries where there are no rules on
political campaigning, rich people can inject huge amount of money to run
campaign to promote a given candidate.
In this case rich people will be calling
the shot, politicians will have to listen to the rich and implement policies as
told.
In this case, we have People who are very
demanding and willing to make their point by voting.
Depending on the nature of the People, and
whether their demand is logical and fair, the outcome can vary, but in general,
when People + Power is too strong, it may end up as an unsustainable
welfare state[i].
In the extreme case, it is likely that we
will have a situation where there are excessive taxes on the rich, not a nice
place to do business or live in.
This is the worst situation of all.
In this case, politicians are very rich
themselves. Most, if not all of them, are highly paid and many are involved in
key appointments of the major corporations of the country. There is also a
strong tendency for them to remain as such.
Therefore, whenever there are any comments
or discontents, those will be silenced immediately through libel sue or
political lockup without trial.
Interestingly, in democratic countries, we often find that this is the situation that People of the World often voted themselves into.
Interestingly, in democratic countries, we often find that this is the situation that People of the World often voted themselves into.
In order to have a harmonious society, it is important for politicians, businesses, and the commoners to understand that the balance of the 3-Powers in politics is of utmost importance.
The above lists the various scenarios of
the political climate that you may be experiencing so as to allow readers to
understand their current situation and balance it accordingly, if desired.
What do you think are the 3-Powers distribution in Singapore and in Hong Kong today? What do you think you could possibly do to balance it in order for the society to be in harmony?
I will be posting some of the other chapters in the online
version, so please follow my blog and also like/follow my page on facebook to get updated on the chapter postings.
[i] Note the key word here is
"unsustainable". If it is sustainable, there is nothing bad about it.
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