By Ahmad Jawad
Writer is Chief Visionary Officer of World’s First Smart Thinking Tank ” Beyond The Horizon” and most diverse professional of Pakistan. See writer’s profile at http://beyondthehorizon.com.pk/about/
There is so much sacred value attached to the word ” Democracy”, I thought I must explore this scared word which is more believed as a system than even Quran (Nauoz Billah) First I tried to find some reference from Quran but could not find anything about “Democracy or Jhamhoriat”. Second I tried Ahadith but could not find anything more than importance of consultation which is a common value in entire history of various ruling systems of mankind including Kingdom, Communism, Socialism & Democracy. Only level & scope of consultation changes in every system. Now I changed my gear to study the Model Governance System of Khulfai Rashdeen. I came to know that Hazrat Abu Bakr was recommended by Hazrat Umar & endorsed by a few Sahabi & he became ruler. Hazrat Umar became ruler after Hazrar Abu bakr nominated him before death & again endorsed by a few Sahabas. Hazrat Usman became ruler after Hazrat Umar made a 10 member committee before his death to decide the next ruler. Hazrat Ali became ruler through same formula. Later It became more like family dynasty rule till last Islamic empire ended in Sub Continent after the reign of Aurangzeb Alamgir. System for selection of a ruler under entire history of Muslim glory was not democracy but very limited consultation of wise men or simple follow up of family dynasty. Under such governing rule, Islam spread from Medina to become the second largest religion of the world. Islam saw the glory of Spanish rule, Ottoman Empire, Mughul Empire spread over centuries.
Here comes Pakistan and a nation which is most confused nation on the choice of System. Mental Grooming of Pakistani nation started in the lap of British Empire’s Colonial System. Pakistani Nation started referring to British education system, British Governance, British Law, British culture. Later this inspiration became more broad with Western Philosophy rather than just British philosophy. To further garnish mindset of confused Pakistani nation, Two bigger ideas landed into Pakistan: Think Tanks & Foreign media. Think Tanks kept a close look at intellectual & elite group of Pakistanis to influence top decision making while foreign media focused on common man. Both mediums based their philosophy on popular values such as Freedom, Truth, equality, Justice & merit. The incompetence of our rulers & poor choice of our public made both mediums of propaganda to became more reliable & trust worthy. Both mediums( Foreign media & Foreign Think Tanks) together with foreign education system became our major influence. Journey of Print to Electronic media to Social media sped up foreign influence more effective on our lives. Today we refer to Havard, Oxford, New York Times, BBC, CNN, Economist, Wall Street Journal for every explanation, ideas, inspiration, learning, solutions & guidance. There is nothing wrong to learn from any institution of the world but it is wrong to take overwhelming influence from foreign institutions for our local system, solutions, decisions & guidance. We are not just Asians, but we are South Asians. We are not just Muslims, we are South Asian Muslims, We must find solutions according to our needs & culture. Level of our backwardness can be gauged from the fact that our Governance can take action against a multi million dollar foreign investment entity on single reporting of New York Times while the whole country is rotten with corruption. Height of our intellectualism starts from a reference from a foreign media & ends with the same. We can’t even explain why we need ” Democracy” without a foreign reference. We can’t create our education curriculum according to our needs, culture & history. We can’t even think without a Think Tank.
In my humble opinion, Democracy is against the nature. See which aspect of your life is true form of democracy. Do we like to take decision with a voting system within family, within a business, within a corporation, within a department or any where. Family decisions are taken by the family head because of his experience & exposure. Business decision are taken by top experts. Finance decisions are made by Finance experts, marketing decisions are made by marketing experts, Education decisions are made by Educationists, Military decisions are made by Military people. The thumb rule to lead a family or business or a corporation or any organisation is your ability, exposure & skill. How come it changes when we want to decide who should rule the country and it is done by voting. Under democracy, A scientist & ignorant, A professor & a student, A PhD or fake PhD, A noble prize & an illiterate, a corrupt & a Judge, a psychopath & a role model, A doctor & fake Hakeem, a murderer & life saver, a philanthropist & a criminal, an angel & devil, a 80 years old & a 18 years old, they all decide with equal power of voting to elect ruler. What will happen in a country which has more corrupt than honest, more criminals than gentlemen, more insane than sane, more illiterate than literate, result will be understood even for a fool.
Here comes our western influenced intellectual, this is how he teaches us ”
“America took hundred years to reach a stable system of democracy, and we readily bow down to such intelligent explanation & we preparing 100 years enlightenment on democracy”.
Did our intellectual or enlightened elite ever questioned ” How Singapore progressed under Lee Kwon within 40 years followed by his son, How did Chinese become second largest economy in 20 years, How Putin raised Russia on the ashes of Soviet Union, how Dubai & UAE progressed, how dictator Tayyip Erdogan raised Turkey from 100 Lira/ dollar to 3 Lira/Dollar, how Mahathir raised Malayisa to become Asian Tiger in 20 years. Never forget to add the 10 years rule of Hazrat Umar in this category. Success of all these countries & Leaders was not result of western democracy, it was their customised system to suit local needs. Leaders of all these Success Stories were Autocrat & Dictators. We hate dictator not because we understand what we hate in dictatorship or autocracy, we hate dictatorship because we have been taught & influenced by West to hate dictatorship in the name of freedom. A freedom which we do not understand always carry boundaries. Freedom is an attractive slogan & especially freedom of expression. Hope is our common friend with all losers. Success comes not with hope but sheer determination & faith in yourself.
Today, Democracy has started biting back the origin of democracy; England. Today England decides to leave European Union through majority vote. Today old population of England took decision against the wishes of 75 % youth. Today youth of England question how come those people who are left with 10 to 20 years of life can take decision on behalf of those who are left with 50 to 60 years of life. This is best question ever asked from democracy?
