The Democratic Spirit

A politician’s accomplishments, his political party’s culture or whether or not they are democratic can be reflected in election results.

In last year’s United States presidential election, Barack Obama overwhelmingly won re-election while Mitt Romney lost. But regardless of whether it was Obama or Romney, regardless of whether it was before or after the election, neither candidate dared disrespect the voters, or at least not publicly. This is because they understand that voters are not their personal property, which is, in essence, the basic democratic spirit.

In our country, however, the winning politician tells the opposing party’s members that if they are not satisfied with the electoral system, they should “go migrate elsewhere!”

The U.S. government is very polite even to illegal immigrants, not daring to disrespect those who recently immigrated. The Ministry of Malaysia, however, can keep a straight face and directly tell people that they must migrate to another country, whereas other political figures are surprisingly indifferent and undoubtedly acquiescent.

In George W. Bush’s first presidential election, he won dishonorably, with the Supreme Court finally deciding that he was the president. Therefore, many Americans did not believe that he was the elected president and talk show hosts ridiculed him. However, Bush never openly told a reporter that those who voted against him should emigrate, nor did he spout nonsense like “those who oppose my leadership should go to another country.” Perhaps he wanted to, but he definitely did not act upon that desire.

When Romney lost, the Republicans continued to constantly perform checks and discuss issues. After Malaysia lost, however, what happened? Leaders of grassroots efforts immediately closed their service centers while insisting it was only temporary. Some even stopped their services altogether, telling those who sought help to ask the opposition, believing it to be a lesson to voters. Any able person would realize that this kind of behavior is the same as a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum.

In fact, acting like a spoiled child is an attitude that many of our political figures share. Only those politicians who do not have the spirit of democracy and are arrogantly prideful would smugly give voters “punishments” and “lessons” or call on voters to emigrate. Within their personal dictionaries, they only have the words “power” and “self-interest,” while the word “discussion” is nowhere to be found.

In a democracy, the people can shout and scream at you to step down every day, but you should not be able to tell them to leave. This is democratic common sense.

There is a 12-hour time difference between the United States and Malaysia, with our day being their night. Our political systems, cultures and politicians’ attitudes certainly create a similar strong contrast.