tim's experiment

I do not mind the presence in Hong Kong of people who sincerely believe that since the Communist government of China is the only government they’ve got, they might as well get along with, or maybe even have a patriotic duty to support it. Nor do I criticise those who, having nowhere else to go, feel that it is not in their interests to be critical. What never fails to annoy is people whose passports and nationality come from places where human rights are taken for granted, but who nevertheless feel the urge to tell people here that such things are not for them. Which brings me to Michael Chugani, who told us in a column on Saturday that “What Hong Kong now needs is a sharp dose of dictatorship.”

Mr Chugani apparently believes this is the only antidote to the symptoms of social decay which he sees all around him: motorists stopping in yellow boxes, travellers being allowed to take large suitcases on the MTR or buses, and distilled water companies leaving their wares on the pavement. Mr Chugani elucidates the signs of a civilization on its last legs: taxi drivers negotiating over fares, construction sites ignoring noise laws, and a restaurant in Arbuthnot Road which plays loud music in the evenings. Possibly sensing that by this point in the proceedings readers may suspect the whole exercise to be satirical, we are now offered hospital waiting times and the abuse of public housing, which are at least serious public issues.

It’s all apparently the fault of legislators, who “clash daily over what exactly true democracy is,” while not being equally concerned about “polluted air, rampant illegal parking, overcrowded MTR trains, subdivided slum flats and the growing number of elderly poor.” Well unaccustomed though I am to defending legislators, this is clearly a bum rap. The majority of legislators are docile supporters of the government, with no interest in finding out what democracy might be, exact, true or otherwise. Mr Chugani, however, is by now busy with other discontents. “Surely leadership decisions can replace consultations on issues such as electronic road pricing … and expanding landfills.” And so we come to the triumphant conclusion that “A dose of dictatorship is what we need to get things done.”

Now we should not argue ad hominem and indeed Mr Chugani’s views would be horse manure whoever voiced them. But Mr Chugani is sensitive (and rightly so) in spotting signs of prejudice against Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities. It is sad to see him succumb to the prejudice so common in Western countries — that Asian people do not appreciate or need the rights which are taken for granted in Europe and North America. Mr Chugani presumably does not think the US needs a “dose of dictatorship”. After all to get his US passport he swore to “support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic”.  Anyway, enough of these particularities.

The problems with “a dose of dictatorship” start with the fact that you don’t get just a dose. History teaches us that the first thing dictators dispense with is any time limit on their own powers. They rarely leave office alive. You cannot turn dictatorship on and off like a tap. Freedoms once lost are rarely regained quickly or without a struggle.  The next problem is that dictators do not have a particularly good record when it comes to making decisions for the societies under their rule. It is, for example, not true that Mussolini made the trains run on time or that Stalin industrialized Russia. Hitler did build good roads. You want him back? The death toll caused by Chairman Mao’s loopy ideas is currently estimated at about 60 million. History does not record any dictator who was good at solving air pollution, overcrowded public transport, housing shortages or elderly poverty. Social improvement is not their forte. Dictators do not do prosperity. They do concentration camps, secret police, torture, assassination, lies, wars and famines.

No doubt it is frustrating that our rule-bound, consultation-happy system cannot guarantee the nocturnal tranquility of Arbuthnot Road. But there are worse problems than noisy music. Be careful what you wish for.