2019: MY VOTE IS… (12) FOR CHINA-STYLE ‘DEMOCRACY’

  In continuation of our series MY VOTE IS…FOR or AGAINST (also available at https://linkedin.com/in/bala-muhammad-0784384), last week we lamented the non-democracy we run in this country which, in the opinion of the Column, has been the source of the country’s lack of leadership almost at all levels. This week, your Column, as it has done […]

 

In continuation of our series MY VOTE IS…FOR or AGAINST (also available at https://linkedin.com/in/bala-muhammad-0784384), last week we lamented the non-democracy we run in this country which, in the opinion of the Column, has been the source of the country’s lack of leadership almost at all levels. This week, your Column, as it has done several times in the past, shall recommend Islamic Democracy as today practised by China. There’s no contradiction – Chinese ‘Democracy’, or any mutation or adoption of or adaptation thereof, is the best option for us.

MY VOTE THEREFORE…IS FOR CHINESE-STYE ‘DEMOCRACY’: This Columnist has been accused, more than a few times, of harbouring ‘undemocratic’ (or ‘anti-democracy’) tendencies. That his fascination with China – its execution of corrupt officials, its system of electing (or selecting or evolving) leaders, its clampdown on the internet at times – all go to show he is enamoured of totalitarianism. And that his ‘democratic’ credentials are not impeccable. He agrees!

I may not particularly like Communism. Because it is Godless, it is an anathema to my religion of Islam as God is the Centre of our universe. But is Democracy, Western Democracy that is, God-ful? Not exactly. In Islam, Western style democracy is X, an unknown. What we read in the history of Islam on how to evolve leaders has nothing to do with everyone over 18 trooping to the polls to elect the most…qualified? No! Most sensible? No! But most…money-spending! In Islam, leaders are supposed to be elected via the Shura (or Electoral College) System, where just, gentle and informed elders, plus some just, gentle and informed youth, convene and select the leaders. Monarchy, as practiced in many Muslim lands today is another double X.

I believe, totally and absolutely, that Islam is a system that has ever-ready solutions for religion, culture, politics, economics, society, et al. The political succession method of Islam was perfected by Second Caliph Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). He had selected an Electoral College of the best the community could offer, and tasked them to select the best from among them. In this Column’s opinion, the Chinese system approximates that.

At the time Americans were voting for a second-term Obama in 2012, the Communist Party of China (CPC) was holding its 18th Congress to usher in a ten-yearly political transition; then President Hu Jintao handed over to current President Xi Jinping, who is now also grooming his successors. CPC delegates, all 2,000 of them (call them an Electoral College) met in Beijing for two weeks in a once-in-five-years Congress to usher in a fifth generation of leaders. In 2017, the delegates again converged in a non-elective Congress, and will convene again in 2022 for another transition. This writer would rather have the rule of the ‘best’ (as in China), and not the rule of the most ‘I-don’t-care’ or the most corrupt, as the case may be.

What is democracy without development? Yes, China has its challenges: scores die down the mines in preventable accidents; trains collide; there is a ‘scarcity’ of women. And yes, we do have problems with China: they take over small businesses in Africa and other places; they export fake drugs to us; they are said to ‘enslave’ workers in my country; my fellow Muslims in Xinjiang are suffering under Chinese rule, their freedom of religion and other basic freedoms compromised. But doesn’t America now kill innocent Muslims via drones in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places?

But if the Chinese system can create the wealth that is being created in China; if the Chinese system can create so much infrastructural opportunities all over the world; if the Chinese system can create a semblance of order in their own country; if the Chinese system can ensure such stability in the polity by careful grooming of political leaders; then tell me what is Democracy if not the Chinese system?

The Chinese Communist Party, CPC, is not PDP or APC; it is the largest party in the world with almost 100 million members. The members constitute a large chunk of China’s who’s who in the population. The delegates are voted in by the members in a lengthy voting procedure. The delegates are chosen to represent the country’s population as broadly as possible. This system broadly reflects what a diverse nation like ours should have. Therefore, this writer would rather have the rule of the ‘best’ (as in China), and not the rule of the ‘most eloquent’ (as in the United States), and definitely not the rule of the Gang of Thieves we have in other nations.

What is democracy but economic progress? What is freedom without commensurate social development? What more anarchy can there be but through the choice of the unready by the multitude of the uninformed? Democracy is only a name, a tag. Each nation-state could have it in its own way. For Africa, the Chinese way is surely a novel method. Despite the beauty and the smoothness of the US Presidential Elections, it is to China that I think Nigeria and Africa should turn its face towards

RE-AGAINST NIGERIA’S DEMOCRACY

MT USMAN ([email protected]): Thanks for this wonderful satire, hitting hard at those who have messed up our lives these past two decades. Unfortunately, in their frenzied state of searching for, and guarding power, they pay no attention to the loathing they stir in the minds of people of conscience.

UMAR JARIRI KATSINA ([email protected]: Sannu da Aiki Babanmu na Kano da Arewa! My vote is for anybody that would take your substantial suggestions and recommendations and make them useful and implementable. Allah kara lafiya da Imani!

AD GUMEL ([email protected]): It beats my imagination how some people in some states of the federation do not learn any lesson! Someone is before the courts being prosecuted for gross corruption, with a case file full of evidence – yet that person was allowed to stand for election, was elected, and was returned elected! I am depressed, disappointed and ashamed to belong to a country where the President has been fighting and waging war on ‘corruption’ but it has been falling on deaf ears. What sort of country is this? Is it the fault of the EFCC, INEC or the Judiciary for giving such thieves the chance to make a welcome-back into the democratic dispensation to steal again? I always quarrel with lawyers and the law for saying “Nobody is guilty until proven innocent”. This has been the loophole allowing the looters to escape with ill-gotten wealth. It means some states’ treasuries are now in danger, if not from corruption but from simple stealing (to borrow from a former president). Now we have given some thieves a four-year immunity against any allegations levelled against them until they leave office. Experience tells us that even if they leave office, little could be done to bring them to book as they have bought all the lawyers and the judges and the police and almost everyone else. Is there any hope for Nigerians in future? Well, we await and see! And that’s the much we can do!

COLUMNIST: Yes, my vote is FOR the Chinese System of Democracy, including shooting corrupt officials for stealing the commonwealth. And their families paying for the bullet used so usefully. I am AGAINST the system that RETURNS thieves elected, to return to continue thieving. Allah Ya isa!