Part Fourteen: The Law of Event(s) upon Event and Politics

两极哲理

The changes on the political arena also conform to LEE. Now let us illustrate with specific examples.

In South Korea in 1980s, students supported by the opposition parties and the majority of people, frequently organized large scale demonstrations against the government. In the event of the Kwan Ju riot, the authorities did not recognise the force of the people, and suppressed the students with a high hand. This negative starting event resulted in series of corresponding subsequent events. The authorities hence lost the support of the people, which in turn, resulted the president then and quite a number of government and military officials to prosecution. The new president Mr. Roh Tae Woo coming into power after this incident, changed former government policies. Besides meeting with the expectations of the people, he was more tolerant towards students' demonstrations. As a result, the fervor and anger of the students diminished, and the people gradually withdrew their support for the students. This instance well illustrated how a good subsequent event derives itself from a good starting event.

In recent years, the relation between South and North Koreas has undergone drastic changes for the better. The former has been keeping a constant vigilance against a possible major attack from the latter until in February, 1994, when North Korea agreed upon a UN inspection over its nuclear facilities, which as a positive starting event kindled corresponding subsequent events. In accordance, South Korea cancelled the yearly joint military exercise with the U.S., which had started as early as in 1976. If the two sides keep contributing to good starting events like this, it is hoped that hostilities will gradually end, and in their place will eventually appear a friendly and harmonious relation or even unity which the peoples on both sides have long been expecting.

Ever since the end of the US-Vietnamese War, Vietnamese has never co-operated with the US in searching for the missing American soldiers. The US, exasperated by the event, banned aids and trade of every sort with Vietnam. Consequently the latter was isolated and underwent almost two decades of slump in economic growth. In the meantime, the US also lost many opportunities of trade and investment by imposing the sanctions, thus incurring immense economic losses. Recently, both sides admitted the negative consequences of their long-held hostility during their first official meeting.

To ensure a substantial living for citizens after their retirement, the Singapore government created a new Retirement Accounts under the Minimum Sum Scheme for the CPF members. Despite the fierce resistance on the part of the members in the beginning, the policy is now complimented rather than criticized owing to the government's meticulous considerations. And the ruling party has eventually won the support of the people. Similarly, the COE policy regarding car ownership, a good starting event, has greatly reduced the traffic jams. Though some still complain, the majority, having seen the positive subsequent event, have accepted the policy with more willingly.

The following are more examples.

The Japanese trade protectionism has made many countries, particularly the US, experience a drastic adverse balance of trade. As a negative starting event it has led to a corresponding negative subsequent event - the American President in March 1994, consented sanctions on Japan with the ratification of Super 301. Similarly, the US is actually creating negative events by frequently resorting to sanctions against other countries. Consequently, these countries will refuse to render aid of any kind when the US is in need. Hence, by imposing sanctions, the US is creating negative events against herself.

In February 1994, sixty-three Palestinians were killed by a Jew when they were praying at a mosque in Hebron, a city on the West Bank of the Jordan River, which, as an evil starting event resulted in mass demonstrations, riots and retaliations. What was worse, it exasperated Muslims in other countries. By handling this incident discreetly, the Israeli government created a good starting event. It claimed responsibility, released the Palestinian demonstrators and strictly punished the Jewish organization which was responsible for the incident. Such positive starting events, no doubt, led to positive subsequent events, such as support for negotiations over the self-rule of Palestinians and diminishing of demonstrations and riots.

The British newspaper once condemned the Malaysian Prime Minister for his corruption, though there was no sufficient evidence. As a protest, the Malaysian government imposed sanctions in March 1994 on the British businessmen, which was a negative starting event. The British businessmen lost business opportunities in Malaysia, in the meantime, the Malaysians, according to the opinion of Prime Minister John Major, incurred more losses by buying substitute products. In my opinion, if the Malaysian government, instead of flying into a rage, had demanded the British newspaper for evidence or had lifted their sanctions at an appropriate time, they would have created positive events.

LEE can also explain the Sino-British issues over Hong Kong. China is against constructing a new airport in Hong Kong, fearing that such a project might draw on the gold reserve and plunge China into debt. Yet from an objective point of view, millions of Hong Kong people together with the mainland Chinese will also benefit from this project. If the British government, particularly the Governor of Hong Kong could prove that they had sufficient gold reserve to accomplish the project, everyone concerned should then joint hands in making contributions to this project. On the contrary, if the Governor had ulterior motives, he would naturally be opposed. With regard to the reforms initiated by the Governor of Hong Kong, which reflected the needs of the minority of Hong Kong people, but most of the policies contradict the existing political system of mainland China. Hence, his reforms, though good for some Hong Kong people, are unfavorable to China as a whole. If the Governor insisted on carrying out these reforms, there would be serious consequences. The fact is Hong Kong will not win independence from China, nor can it be self-ruling, eventually it will re-unite with China. To put it specifically, when Hong Kong reunites with China in 1997, as long as the Chinese government can keep Hong Kong in prosperity, it does not matter whether or not China vetoes these reforms. As in the Tian'anmen Square incident of 1989, the people were exasperated at first. However, the glowing success of the economic reforms following the incident weakened the after-effects of the incident. As a matter of fact, the tragedy has faded out even in the memories of those who were actively involved then.

As for the human rights issues, LEE can provide for sound explanations. As has been mentioned in Part Five of this book, the criteria for good and evil are determined by national laws, social behavior, morality, religious beliefs and ethnic culture. Hence, different nations may have different criteria. For instance, the concept of human rights in the US differs from that in China. Confucianism advocates collectivism and discourages individualism. While in America, people prefer individuality. In fact, Americans know only too well as to how to enjoy and protect these rights by law or religious beliefs. However, if we are to apply the American standard on human rights to the Chinese context, there will be instability, riots or even disintegration of the country.

India provides an outstanding example of failure rather than success for introducing American Standards into the country. India is generally accepted as a country of human rights, yet it is also one of the most backward countries in the world. Since its people enjoy too much freedom, there frequently occur social turmoils and strife among different religious sects. In this sense, it is to create evil starting events for India to have adopted the American standards for human rights.

All the examples mentioned above fully testify to the close relationship between politics and LEE.


March, 1994
Note: Mr. Roh Tae Woo has been charged in court for accepting bribes in Dec 95.