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Mohan Murti

Last Friday, I was in Beijing and, it was the kind of day the Chinese Government undeniably wanted to have for the Olympics opening. A sunny blue sky over Beijing with barely a cloud to be seen and the western mountains plainly visible in the distance. And, there was no smog in the Forbidden City. Absolutely superb, made-to-order clear air and weather in China’s capital.

But, Beijing isn’t the first Olympic host city with environmental problems. Athens (2004), Los Angeles (1984) and Mexico City (1968) are not exactly known for their pristine air.

At the opening, last Friday, China, truly presented itself to the world as a new superpower. There are close to 18,000 athletes and officials from 205 countries; 302 competitions in 28 different sports. They are dealing with more than 20,000 foreign journalists accustomed to receiving answers to their questions. They have put together the schedules for the 100,000 volunteers who are guiding 500,000 tourists through a foreign city.

The Chinese have spent €30 billion, built 20 new competition venues and dug new subway tunnels throughout the city. The Olympic Tower is where everything comes together. And, the Chinese are definitely having their way — everything is perfect. The only problem is that the world and the Chinese Communist Party have different notions about what perfect means. For one, China’s athletes must rake in as many gold medals as possible, but not so many that it becomes embarrassing for others.

The 2008 Chinese Olympic team, the biggest ever, includes about 600 athletes. Journalists are permitted to observe them but interviews are prohibited. Athletes are not even permitted to give out their telephone numbers.

The walls are plastered with Chinese flags and slogans. Unlike in India with our tennis and cricket mediocres, sports in China, is not an entertainment industry or a money-making endeavour. It is tightly controlled by the state and the party.

The slogan “Training is the Basis, Innovation the Soul, Success the Goal” is prominently displayed in the building in which divers train. This slogan is definitely taken seriously. As I write this, on the very first day of the games, the Chinese are already leading with two gold medals. The bombastic, brash, over-confident Indian shooting team have been disqualified while, smaller and insignificant countries such as Cuba, North Korea, Switzerland, Croatia and Uzbekistan have walked away with a silver and bronze, each.

A country this large can only hold itself together if its inhabitants want to stay together. No party apparatus or system of police informers, and not a single military machine in the world, not even in China, could force 1.3 billion people to remain united against their will.

This helps explain why, in the decade leading up to the Beijing Olympics, China has developed into a strange hybrid nation, a dictatorship that depends on the goodwill of its subjects, a one-party regime that can only survive by working hard to further the common good, and a country of the unspoken political deal.

I saw there is a new Chinese self-confidence, and it is emerging in all fields. Although government propaganda promotes nationalism where it suits the party’s purposes, there is no need to instruct the Chinese people to be proud of their own country. Hundreds of millions of Chinese have worked hard to attain their new affluence, and they refuse to allow it to be torn apart by human rights concerns.

During my informal discussions with some close Chinese friends, I understood the harsh reactions in China to worldwide Tibet protests. The overwhelming majority of Chinese see Tibet as a province famous for its mountains and crystal-clear lakes. The Chinese see it as a vacation region. Not a hotbed of unrest.

In 2005, China leapfrogged over France and Great Britain to become the world’s fourth-largest economy. If China continues to grow at the same pace, it will oust Germany as the third-biggest economy in two years, perhaps even ousting the US from its leading position, soon.

China recently exceeded Germany in the number of patents it registers. With its latest Five-year Plan, the country’s Communist Party has set itself an ambitious goal of catapulting China to world-class heights in the fields of science and technology.

Does learning from China mean learning how to win? In some respects, the country could certainly serve as a role model for developing countries such as India. The Chinese communists rescued about 500 million people from poverty — a number unprecedented in history — with their reforms.

The number of Chinese dollar millionaires is growing steadily, with 500,000 Chinese already worth an average of €5 million. The effects of this dramatic revolution are reverberating throughout the world.

Sustainable democracy is based on more than just elections. It requires a functioning civil society that has poise and self-belief in government institutions, is willing to work on the basis of compromise and respects the law.

Some questions that arise in my mind — why do we Indians, vote incompetent governments into office ? Why do we not tolerate restrictions on civil liberties but, endure corruption, hatred, terrorism and separatism as a way of life? Has Indian democracy failed to contribute towards national unity? Even when India is ethnically much less homogeneous than China, why are we in significantly greater trouble dealing with our minorities ? How is it that terrorists who attack Parliament are pardoned? How do we tolerate elected members of Parliament who desert the party for cash? Why do we have “high security alerts” only after innocent women, men and children are bombed to death, year after year ? Why do we stomach corrupt judges and justice system?

The Indian contingent presented a slipshod and sorry figure in the Olympics opening ceremony with the female members of the team not only breaking the dress code in their contrasting outfits but, also, moving on foot like a bunch of arrogant jay walkers!

Stated more simply, unless we have rule of law, responsible, disciplined citizens — all walking together in harmony and competent politicians, judiciary and administration, free of corruption — we don’t have democracy. We are perhaps, the largest, undeveloped, unripe, juvenile, jay-walking democracy in the world!

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