Democracy is based upon unity

Chen Yunlin's visit to Taiwan last week has been described by many as historic, but what is more gripping to the media and to me was not really the visit itself or any of his meetings with any of Taiwan's top profile politicians. Rather, it was again those unrestrained street protests and pointless bloodsheds that made newspaper headlines, and it is just so typical of Taiwan and all other failed democracies around the world.

It is very interesting that in a supposedly globalised and "flat" world as we are living in today, different peoples of different countries can have very different perceptions of themselves and the world's opinions of them. Americans may be living in the delusion that the whole world loves and admires them, and are shocked to find so many who hate America and its values so much that they can sacrifice lives in exchange for American lives. The Chinese sometimes find it difficult to grasp why despite all the positive works they have done in Tibet the rest of the world still see them as invaders and oppressors vis-a-vis the Tibetans. And I think for the Taiwanese, they have certainly failed to understand one simple fact, that not many mainland Chinese today really envies the "democratic" system that is running in Taiwan. Instead many see it as a mild replica of the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.

In what democratic, or indeed civilised, country, would raise the need for the government to mobilise so many thousands of armed policemen to protect envoys from afar? In what democratic, or indeed civilised, country, would appear such a large gathering of mobs attacking a single, female reporter? And in what democratic, or indeed civilised, country, would have laws so powerless and feeble, and a legal system that has fallen so far down into disrepute that has become the best object of mockery for TV entertainment shows?

As a mainland Chinese watching Taiwan's politics through live broadcasts for almost the entire 8 years of turmoil since 2000, and witnessing so many key historic events (many of them stained with blood), I do not in the least or for a split second envy or admire Taiwan's political and electoral system. Rather, its elections are indeed the "greatest joke on earth", as Jackie Chan puts it; and this greatest joke carries with it heavy social costs and brings with it too many sacrifices.

On the night before Chen Yunlin and his company were sequestered in their hotel, I watched the US election and found myself unexpectedly moved by the thank-you speeches of both candidates. The key message both Obama and McCain tried to deliver in their closing speech for the election was the same: that America is one nation united, sharing a common belief, goal and purpose.

And I think that is the essential pre-requisite for a good democracy to truly work and work well. Democracy functions upon a system of shared values; it is a way of choosing the best method to achieve that shared goal, a mechanism of selecting the best way towards that common destination. We do not determine our goal through democracy; we do not doubt our shared identity and seek to find out whose identity is the correct one through democracy. If a society is yet to find that common identity, then democracy is not the way to find it --- it would only lead to clashes and bloodshed. Democracy should not divide the people, but decide the issues through uniting all. Democracy should bring changes to the country, not clashes and stagnation to the community.