10 Years of Personal Introspection on China's Human Right

On the Milennium eve, at the Tiananmen Square, as soon as several middle aged peoples were unfurling the Falungong banners, several plain cloth polices, pounced on them and pressed them down to the ground.

Many unsuspected revellers crowded the spot and raised the cameras to capture this unexpected incident. Equally unexpected was how fast the police, mainly in uniform now, came to the scene and forcefully wrested off the cameras, one of which belonged to my friend and the crowd were not even asked to disperse as the police acted so fast to bundle off the Falungong protesters into one of the police van, always seen patrolling at the Square.

All happened so fast probably within 2 minutes.

The police who had wrested off the cameras did not seem intend to return the cameras until I intervened to say that we were foreigners. Upon which, the film roll was removed (this was pre-digital camera era) and the camare was returned to my friend. We quickly walked off not to mess with the police.

I don't recall reading the fate of the arrested protesters in the newspapers or online (the internet connection then was still very eratic). Most probably, it was never reported anywhere until this post 10 years later.

I don't support Falungong at that time and not even now. I am no big fan and always sceptical of religious celebrity like Li Hongzhi. I was careless how they were treated.

I wrote this because I thought I have learned that there was something very precious that I have hitherto ignored and deliberately defended at time in that period of 10 years. The crux was not whether one supports Falungong or not; the crux was how CCP dealt with it.

Fast track to Dec 25th, 2009, Liu Xiaobo, the initiator of Charter 08 was seemingly subjected to due process after having been detained for 6 months and was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for subversion.

This blog voiced reservation on certain aspects of the Charter yet reproduced it in its entirety believing then and believing still the freedom of speech is healthy for China. Without the benefit of reading the judment and knowing the evidence alluded on the charges, my instint is that the sentence are disproportionate to the alleged crime. Liu didn't advocate revolution by force to overthrow the CCP regime. Dr. Sun Yat Sen did. Mao Zedong did. Liu was criticising at the very core the one party rule by the CCP and that is not unjustified by the facts and reasons.

China has progressed incredibly in the last 10 years almost at every fronts earning almost a place in a bi-polar world power structure. However when it comes to dealing with political dissent, CCP remains the same unrepentant authoritarian.

A lot of Chinese are proud with China under the CCP leadership (at least the last 30 years) and myself included. With that pride, we tend to hold CCP to a lesser standard calling it Chinese characteristics. Yet that pride must not water down our concern for violation and transgression of basic human rights in China in the name of national security which is often a by-word for entrenching one party rule.

The best way to perpetuate the CCP rule is to strengthen it's intra-party democracy offering ever better and ever cleaner talents for the country and usher in a free society securing the real mandate of the peoples through democratic process.

Large number of urban Chinese who have become more affluent will surely demand more of CCP in the next decade. It is better start looking at political reform now without which China will always be regarded as having more brute than grace anywhere and anytime.

My wish for the next decade is to write a note at the end of it of something sweeter and more inspiring rather than sour and mere hopeful.

Happy 2010!