The One Person One Vote Electoral System Doesn't Necessarily Equal to True Democracy

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Stop using race and religion for political mileage

THE recent ruckus caused by the planned advisory from the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) on how Muslims should interact with their fellow citizens of other religions - however benign the intention may have been - shows how much there is to do to cleanse our soul of fear and ignorance.

This current government faces the task of dealing with this, while other politicians are using the narrative of racial supremacy and religious extremism purely for power and money.

These individuals are essentially cheap political prostitutes - something you find in every country in the world.

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Siti Kasim exposes 3 political stooges who make non-Muslims look at Islam in bad light

HUMAN rights activist and lawyer Siti Kasim has hit out at three dissenting voices who opposed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s ditching of the proposed amendments to the guidelines on Muslim participation in non-Muslim festivities/funeral after they sparked nationwide outrage recently.

The first to receive her verbal bashing is UMNO Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh who disagreed with PMX’s stance on grounds that not all Muslims are fully aware of their limitations, hence those guidelines could serve as a reference source.

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Unbreaking America: Solving the Corruption Crisis

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It's a personal reflection by a Malaysian Chinese individual, commenting on China’s development and comparing different political systems, especially Chinese governance and Western-style democracy.

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Translation:

I am an ethnic Chinese from Malaysia. When my grandfather was young, he once exchanged gunfire with the Malayan Communists in the forests of the Malay Peninsula, so he didn’t have a good impression of communists.

In 1998, I came to China to work in mobile networks. At that time, Beijing still used donkey carts to collect wastewater, and you could see farmers herding ducks by the roadside. But China changed year by year. In these 23 years, I have witnessed the miraculous development of China and seen with my own eyes what the Communist Party has done for the people. Many so-called democracies are actually “you the people, I the ruler.”

In China, democracy means “people first.” For example, China has a 12345 hotline. When you call it, government staff follow up on the case. If there's noise by the road, a sound barrier might be installed shortly after. Unresolved issues are logged into a database, and once a problem is identified as widespread, policies are created and implemented to address it.

The central government evaluates local governments based on how efficiently they solve problems, along with public opinion surveys. This is real democracy—operational every day. Isn’t this kind of feedback system better than protests and marches? Whether it’s infrastructure, public security, livelihood, environment, or urban greenery, the government often acts before people even speak. No one demanded high-speed rail, but it came. Before we could get used to 300 km/h trains, 600 km/h ones were already being developed. Capital forces like Ant Financial, which aimed to profit off future money, were reined in by the government before people even noticed.

To solve pollution, the government heavily subsidized electric car companies. Today, China has the most electric vehicles in the world. In the past 30 years, 25% of the world’s newly planted trees were in China. China is now safe, modern, convenient, orderly, free, and equal.

Democracy requires three essential preconditions:

1. No money politics
   
2. Free press
   
3. Rational citizenry
   
   

Once money enters the picture, conditions 1 and 2 collapse. Democracy becomes plutocracy—or even kleptocracy. In one-person-one-vote systems, two fools can outvote a genius—our fates decided by fools. The West seems to have more people refusing to wear masks, so being “developed” doesn’t mean fewer fools. Few countries truly meet those three democratic criteria—many are fake democracies.

When an election is won narrowly, say 53% to 47%, the outcome is ambiguous and only reflects half the people’s will. When one side wins overwhelmingly, there’s no opposition in parliament—doesn’t that become one-party rule? Either way, democracy’s effectiveness is compromised.

In democratic systems, many politicians run for office to get rich. “Ugly Betty” gets elected over “Miss Universe.” Once elected, they scrap the previous administration’s projects, start new ones to pocket profits, wasting resources and stalling progress. From day one, the nation is divided along party lines. Democracy is inherently negative: your success is my failure. It’s like a couple always arguing instead of caring for their child—how can the child be happy?

Personally, I think opposition parties monitoring the government is illogical. I’ve never seen another country where people and government are as in sync as in China. There’s a familial trust. In contrast, in our country, we just complain about the government at the dinner table—and it’s pointless. Once elected, a leader stays in power even with zero support. Democracy is only “open” for one day every five years. After that, the elites play among themselves.

Democracies rarely make long-term plans. With 4-year terms, leaders avoid projects that take 5 years to bear fruit—they won’t get credit. So they patch things up instead. Structural problems can’t be solved without bold reforms, so campaign promises go unfulfilled. People are like frogs in warm water—when it gets uncomfortable, they vote for another party and continue boiling.

In China, they do what needs to be done—even solving global problems like poverty. China's per capita GDP is only 1/5 that of the U.S., yet extreme poverty is under 1% (vs. 12% in the U.S.). China is also the only country that effectively controlled COVID. It’s all about attitude. The Communist Party is like a father; democratic governments are like contractors.

In democratic elections, people vote based on impressions: who advertises more, who looks better, who’s more famous. Trump had never managed even a village, yet became president—and caused massive damage in four years. China is like a company, and leadership is chosen based on merit, like by an HR department.

Democratic elections are like a bizarre company with no HR, letting all employees—including janitors—vote on the CEO. Isn’t that scary? Chinese dynasties like the Han, Tang, and Song reached their peaks under centralized rule. Centralization brings peace; peace brings development. When there’s more than one power, there’s always struggle—Three Kingdoms, KMT vs. CCP, Warring States, Chu vs. Han. Multi-party democracy is not suitable for China.

Taiwan is small—multi-party conflicts only result in parliamentary brawls and slow economic growth. Mainland China has 1.4 billion people—multi-party conflict would starve people. If China were multi-party, U.S.-backed color revolutions would be much easier.

Many think one-party rule equals dictatorship. My democratic country Malaysia once had Mahathir, who ruled for 22 years. Indonesia is democratic too, but Suharto was a dictator and corrupt for 30 years. They kept winning elections through vote-buying and media control.

Singapore is effectively a one-party state but has the world’s cleanest government. Everyone knows Lee Kuan Yew didn’t believe in democracy. The U.S. claims to be democratic but is actually ruled by capital. Capital controls both parties—people “choose” from within their options. Democracy is a tool of plutocrats to divide and rule.

One-party rule isn’t necessarily dictatorship. Multi-party rule isn’t necessarily free from dictatorship. The West says one-party rule lacks legitimacy. How is it that the Communist Party with 93% support lacks legitimacy, but a party with 51% wins “legitimately”? Ridiculous.

Ideology is mental shackles. Deng Xiaoping realized this and abandoned ideological rigidity. After that, China changed dramatically. China’s five-year plans are based on data from research institutes, formulated scientifically, and clearly documented. Even if leadership changes, plans continue. Is that dictatorship? Basing policy on facts and science is the best antidote to dictatorship.

Westerners love to criticize Chinese communism. One definition of communism is public ownership of all assets. But in today’s China, property, businesses, and economic distribution are not communist. Since Deng Xiaoping’s “black cat, white cat” policy, communism has been sidelined.
China’s current political system is:

Socialism + Meritocracy + Local Democracy + Confucian Values
Its economic system is:

Mixed Market Economy (State-owned + Private Capital)
Capitalism only cares about profit, not social welfare. But it's a strong economic engine. The U.S. system puts capital above all—like a race car with no brakes: many billionaires, many homeless. China adds socialism to balance it—a race car with brakes.

China has something like the ancient imperial examination to promote the capable. Big talkers like Trump wouldn’t qualify for leadership. At the grassroots level, China also has elections. Overall, the system follows Confucianism: care for the people, loyalty to the nation and one’s duty. It has both traditional and adaptive elements.

In China, people can't change the government, but the system keeps evolving. In the U.S., people can change the government, but the system stays the same. The West grew powerful through colonization, the industrial revolution, tech, and financial dominance. Now, democracy and capital are draining it.

In the West, people are individuals who value personal freedom. In China, people are part of a collective that seeks harmony. Some individual freedoms are curbed in exchange for higher-level freedoms: walking in the park safely at 3 a.m., not fearing cults, not worrying about others refusing to wear masks. The essential freedoms are all there in China. The biggest restrictions today come from the finger-wagging West.

Is China’s system the best in the world? No. But it’s the best for China. Nordic countries use “social democracy” with socialist values and democracy—that works for them. Liberal democracies like the U.S., U.K., France, and India clearly aren’t working well. Poor governance, division, strikes, inequality. No perfect system exists. The biggest mistake is clinging to ideology when a country is stuck and unwilling to change.

I must admire the Chinese government. Despite immense ideological pressure from the world, it insists on walking its own path. After Tiananmen, the government bore the blame and worked quietly. After the Hong Kong riots, we realized that Tiananmen was actually instigated by the U.S. I feel the Communist Party was wrongfully blamed.

Throughout history, great powers rose through war, slaughter, colonization, and slavery—be it Greece, Rome, Britain, Japan, Germany, or the U.S. In 1979, China’s per capita GDP was slightly below India’s. Today, it’s five times higher. China’s peaceful rise is unmatched—without firing a single bullet abroad in over 30 years—and it has boosted global growth.

China’s success is based on: peace, prioritizing people’s interests, grand vision, long-term planning, scientific management, result-oriented governance, and a sense of urgency. Deng Xiaoping let some people get rich first; Xi Jinping helped lift the poor. After two generations of leadership, policy remains consistent. That’s the result of scientific governance.

No matter what others say, the Communist Party’s achievements are plain to see. For most of the past 2,000 years, China was the world’s leading civilization. It fell behind in the past two centuries due to the Opium Wars and missed the Industrial Revolution. But with an average IQ of 105 (vs. 95 in the West), institutional advantages, and strong productivity, China is catching up quickly. The countries that humiliated China—Britain, U.S., France, Japan, Australia, and India—160 years later still haven’t changed their character and are again trying to contain China.

Today, Westerners make up only 14% of the world’s population but own 56% of its wealth. So when the West dislikes us, it means we’re doing something right. All Chinese people, let’s keep working hard!