Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Lesson from Mao

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Lesson from Mao

Someone told this story to me. Mao Tse Tung was admired and loved by the people of China for his contributions to building the nation during the first three decades of his leadership. During the last decade, he lost the respect of the people due to many mistakes that were made in his attempt to perpetuate his power, which worsen the living conditions for the people.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...: There's a Straits Times article that reports that firms do not only hire foreigners. This survey is just a wayang stunt. So many people lost their jobs to foreigners & our media is living in denial.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_511979.html; April 08, 2010 11:36 AM
Anonymous said...: This lesson could be used here in Singapore. We admired the PAP for bringing us to almost First World stage, but now we are regressing, bringing a lot of people hardship and resentment.
It is time to change to a two party system, as a one party dominant Govt, who is in power since independence, makes it like a frog in the well, oblivious to things happening outside because of its self-centred interests.; April 08, 2010 12:57 PM
Anonymous said...: Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung)
A despotic ideologue who controlled China from 1949-76, Mao subjected the Chinese people to his massive social experiments, all of which went catastrophically amok. Early in his reign, he encouraged free speech in an attempt to avoid the mistakes of Stalinism. When criticism of his regime arose, however, his true sentiments absolute intolerance of dissent and opposition emerged, and he retaliated savagely. When he launched the Great Leap Forward his economic plan to forge an industrial revolution in China it resulted in the worst famine of the century, described as a "totally unnecessary, entirely man-made holocaust that claimed between 23 million and 30 million lives." He then masterminded the Cultural Revolution, which, despite its ideological claim to "purify" communism of bureaucrats and elitists, was a vehicle for settling Mao's personal scores and shoring up power. During the nightmarish decade when culture was equated with depravity, millions most of whom were guilty of the crime of belonging to the bourgeoisie were imprisoned, tortured, and murdered as suspected class enemies.; April 08, 2010 1:39 PM
C H Yak said...: I happened to be in China during their 60th N-Day week last year. There was this documentary on how the N-Day Parade evolved over the years.

In the earlier years, Mao was particularly pro ordinary people. The doumentary inetrviewed the painter who painted his big porttrait which is hang at Tian-An Men Sq.

The painter painted his portrait up to the eve of the first parade. Below the portrait initially had the 4 Chinese characters "Service For Common People" below it. When Mao inspected it he asked to remove the 4 characters...it should not honour just him serving the people ... but the whole party was serving the common people...hence from the first parade...we could hear the President shouting Comrade hao ... and the participants shouting "Service For Common People" in response. Although his portrait is still hanged there ... we do not see these 4 characters which were removed on the eve of the first parade by the painter on Mao's instruction.; April 08, 2010 1:47 PM
Anonymous said...: Another great example of one-generational dynasty is the 1st emperor of China, Qin Shi Huangdi.

The man who gave all subsequent Chinese court official the phrase "10,000 years".

Qin Shi Huangdi's 10,000 year dynasty died a few years after his death.

So too did Hitler's more modest dream of a 1,000 year Third Reich. Hitler's Third Reich lasted 12 years.; April 08, 2010 2:03 PM
michael13 said...: I just completed a month-long visit to Hong Kong and China. I was deeply impressed by the high standard that Hong Kong has achieved. Overall, HK is very transparent in the way the business is conducting. The HK government is very responsive to the feedback of their people. They(both the government and the people)are efficient, effective and well informed. HK people are less dependant and they do not always complain. Hong Kong is much more cleaner and well organised than Singapore. We have lagged behind them in many areas which include political and media liberations. We self-praise too much. Time to wake up and catch up, my beloved country-Singapore!!!; April 08, 2010 4:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Cry My Beloved Country!

It is tough to critise one's self, same principal apply's to a one party system, regardless of How successful it has been!; April 08, 2010 5:44 PM
Anonymous said...: Rex comments om michael13 post, as follows,

Hongkong and Singapore were both Ex British Colonies. It is amazing that we ended up so different, even after HKG went back to Communist China!

Hongkong people like other "normal" democracies elsewhere, have a chance to voice their dissatisfaction as and when necessary, and they are not snuffed out and put to jail and bankrupted. When there is an escape valve and people are allowed to reason instead of being scolded and ridiculed, the complains will eventually be manageable. When there is no escape valve and the rulers always insist they they are right and everybody is daft, then the complains will continue forever. Why can't the incumbent government understand this basic human principle and realise that the grumbling is a normal human response to an unreasonable system?

Most people even antiPAP people are reasonable, all they ask is a chance to be treated as humans and not sheep and frogs and what manner of contempt that a certain leader feels so.

There is too much fear and tension here, worse than Communist China. IT is time to remake Singapore and allow singaporeans to be masters of its destiny once again.

I think there are many capable Patriots ready to serve the country, judging from the excellent posts coming on daily basis in socio politcal blogs recently.

$13000 a month is good deal, those who are jobless and and have been consistently writing posts in blogs, please network together and form a party... solve your own employment problem and do a favour to singaporeans. The electorate is ready for you. Just do it!

rex; April 08, 2010 9:19 PM
Anonymous said...: I worked in HK in 1998. and thereafter had been travelling bet S'pore and HK more thatn 30 times in 10 years. I was very impressed the first time I stepped onto HK soil. Here's why and what we can learn.
Even back then, HK was already ahead of S'pore. I was very impressed by their transporatation system, esp the MTR. During peak hour when I go to work, no need to run after the train when you hear that alarm that door is closing. Because another train will come in about 2 to 3 minutes. and that's for Kowloon and not on HK main island. I'm very sick when I take our MRT. Long wait, very squeezed, breaks down a few times a year, etc, etc. Yet our minister keep saying we are world class. This is frog in the well. I had the urge to write to him and tell him to wake up and make a trip as a commoners to HK to see for himself. But did not, because I don't think he will listen. Can sensed the feel of arrogance.

HK ppl are very efficient when working. They make decision very fast, probably 5x to 10x faster than our system. Minimum red tape, no need all the bureacratic procedures.

HK service level had also overtook S'pore after the financial crisis. I went to HK more than 30 times over 10 years. I witnessed and felt this. HKongers are very fast to releaize that they need to buck up to attract customers. No need any gahment campaigns. Here are home, service level keep dropping that gahment got to keep reminding and start campaign and scoring system.
Their bank staff are also very fast and efficient in handling customers' transactions.

What's wrong with my beloved country ???

p/s: the only thing i dislike is the air pollution but no fault of theirs. the pollution comes from Shenzhen.; April 08, 2010 9:59 PM
Anonymous said...: actualli mao zedong's era can be admirable; April 08, 2010 11:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Another comparion between Singapore and Hong Kong is how the minibond fiasco is handled. Please wake up Singapore! Very soon we will lose our financil centre even as compared with China, Taiwan, South Korea etc not to mention about Hong Kong!; April 09, 2010 8:02 AM
Anonymous said...: Culural revolution, The Great Leap and Korean war knocked China almost to stone age. But under Mao, Chinese regained their pride and Chinese were united once again as a sovereign nation and this set the stage for Deng's 4 modernisation, since then, Chinese never look back. Compare to Kuomintang in Taiwan, I think Communist Chinese can hold their head up as China is truly an independent country.

Mao lost his first wife and brother at the initial stage of civil war, he gave away his son during the great march and his another son was killed in Korean war and one more son passed away in Russia due to disease. He had so much power and yet he could not protect his family.

I gave Mao 70 marks; April 09, 2010 8:47 AM
Anonymous said...: He did not ask for million $ of salary.; April 09, 2010 1:20 PM
Vincent Sear said...: Many people wonder why PRC per capita income and relative standard of living remained so low through 50s to 80s. That's the result of Great Leap Forward.

Many people wonder why PRC Chinese talk and behave in the way that's different and even annoyingly uncouth to overseas Chinese who supposedly share the same ancestral roots from 5 thousand years of civilisation. That's the result of Cultural Revolution.

After Mao's death, the blame on Cultural Revolution was shifted to the Gang Of Four (including his widow Jiang Qing) to hold Mao blameless in posthumous image. They were sentenced to death, commuted to life imprisonment. Jiang Qing committed suicied.; April 09, 2010 1:37 PM
Anonymous said...: So much praise for Hong Kong Administration, anyone know how much is Donald Tsang paid?; April 09, 2010 6:51 PM
Vincent Sear said...: If we as Singaporeans want to talk about lessons from Mao and learning from them, yes there are.

Two is enough. Disastrous bordering on genocidal. Throwing our population back to stone age relative to international levels and especially regional levels in Malaysia and Indonesia.

What motivated that? Abolishing of colonial welfare system and fear of too many poor families without welfare nets, making the government look bad as well as potential for civil unrests.

Then came encouraging graduate mothers, later lowered to 5-O-level mothers. Insulted everybody and cost Mah Bow Tan his first election (defeat to Chiam See Tong in Potong Pasir 1984).

Then came the influx of work permit foreign workers. Usually factory operators, construction workers, maids etc. Nobody objected. They don't threaten jobs that Singaporeans want, that's true. Those are job Singaporeans generally don't want.

Then the opening up of PR. In the past, when someone has a blue IC, it's 99% sure that's Malaysian. Now? PRC, India, whatever. UN.

To qualify for PR means an executive job. These are jobs that middle class Singaporeans want. The foreign workers quota is also rendered ineffective, as PRs are classified as locals. A company can have 100% foreign workers comprising PRs and work permits.

Once again question is, what motivated that? Answer is of course GDP. Ministerial and civil service salaries are GDP linked.

Not to fault the government that a bigger economy is generally good for everybody, but the way they try to quick fix redeem their past mistakes is social shock therapy.

Singapore is no longer a colonial freeport. It's now a sovereign nation with citizens serving NS.

To be fair, Singapore is hardly knocking on doomsday's door yet. The lesson from Mao? Moderation. Don't overdose just because there's absolute power.; April 09, 2010 7:26 PM
Anonymous said...: i dun think prc chinese are annoying are behaved uncouth to overseas pple..in fact..they are very civilized in my own opinion..
or it is a cultural difference,

cultural revolution is a great period..just becos china literally closed its doors to the world/media during this period..doesnt mean it didnt advance during that era..; April 10, 2010 12:17 AM
michael13 said...: Checked with Google, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Mr. Donald Tsang's monthly salary is HK$371,885(US$47,678), but he agreed to take a pay cut of 5.38% in response to HK's economic downturn. The cut was to take effect from 1st July, 2009. A humble leader who enjoys Singapore's Bah Kut Teh did not get entertained by the well-known Bah Kut Teh outlet situated at Balestier area when he visited Singapore in 2008. The owner Mr. Ng cited the reasons of rejection - short of manpower and wrong timing of his visit(as reported in the Press). Our society has become too complacent, insensitive and at times, too arrogant.; April 10, 2010 6:20 AM
Anonymous said...: I am not sure alluding Mao's mistakes in his last ten years (the time of Cultural Revolution) have any significance to Singapore.

Mao was to me, a brillant (albeit crafty) person who understood Chinese's psyche very well. He was a great reader of a person (like our late Lim Kim San) and hence he would motivate his collegues and fought a great war agst KMT and won, despite being outnumbered. He was a good poet too, and this is very extraordinary since he was not a scholar, so he was admired for his determination to excel his lingustic and literacy skills despite not much schooling.

But Mao's dream was to propel China to be a superpower in double quick time. He recognised that Chinese has traits that were hindering the country's progress (like selfishness, disunity etc), hence he was willing to take risks such as Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution as a shock therapy to "over-write" Chinese DNA. The intention was good but the methods and execution were horrendous, and after his trusted lieutenants such as Deng Xiaoping had voiced concerns, he became paranoid of losing power and went into extreme of trusting those who licked his boots. Granted, Mao was no saint but he shd be recoginised for his contributions (ending Civil war with KMT that brought peace to China, peasant reforms etc). In fact, the introduced reforms for the peasants evolved into successful Township and Village enterprises today, like the successful Wenzhou bizmen we know. Hence Deng said that Mao's contribution was overall positive, with 30% mistakes.

But Singapore is different. With our open economy that rides on globalisation's waves, our policies are always market-driven and good for Singapore as a country, which might not be necessary good for her people. So our fortunes hinge on global economy, so if global economy prospers, we prosper and vice versa.

But Mao's policies were different as he was inward looking (esp during the last ten years of his reign) since he wanted the Chinese people to prosper. So I do not see a parallel here btw Mao's China and Singapore, as our policies are very consistent since day 1 till now.

So unless we decide not to ride on globalisation's waves anymore (which is very unlikely), we have to accept that there will be booms and busts that will create winners and losers. So I think as an informed citizen, it is our job that if we cannot become a winner, at least we do not become a loser.; April 10, 2010 10:40 AM
Vincent Sear said...: Many people don't understand the evil that belied Cultural Revolution. It was like Qin Shihuang book-burning campaign II.

The Chinese term for "intellectuals" (知识分子) was invented then. It was synonymous to criminally treacherous to be one, unless he/she's a communist party member advocating on their side. Thoughts and intellectuals and expressions thereof were disallowed and arrested for re-education (i.e. brainwashing).

One's not supposed to think for oneself or others, just follow the leaders' ideas and orders. That's Cultural Revolution ideology. Long imprisonments until lost contact with kins and death sentences were very common for anyone non-party member branded "intellectual".

How it affect modern PRC psyche, i.e. the generation of kids born in Cultural Revolution era who're adulrs now, even parents with their own kids now?

The idea of not thinking for oneself is by human nature uneradicable. However, it was uglified by Cultural Revolution.

The idea of being considerate was completely eradicted. Don't breach law, police or government, that's it. To each his/her own.

How does it affect Singapore today? Well, with mass import of children of Cultural Revolution, it's obvious, isn't it?; April 11, 2010 2:26 PM
Anonymous said...: This short post reminds me of our own leader, LKY. He also made many mistakes due to the desire to perpetuate his power, e.g. GRC and suing opponents. He will also get a bad name in history.; April 15, 2010 8:12 AM
ritchierich said...: michael 13, the bak kut teh boss was arrogant,correct. but my reading is that he uses his right to close the outlet's doors on donald tsang to embarass our ruling party.he was sending out a message that he is boss, and nobody can dictate him when and to whom he opens his business to.he may knowingly or unknowingly cause a diplomatic rift.; April 17, 2010 4:07 PM
michael13 said...: Singapore and PAP ruling party are two separate issues. When dealing with the foreign guests like Donald Tsang, we need to be as courteous and polite as possible. It's good that we close ranks although from time to time, we may disagree with the ruling party on the ways that they handle certain issues. All Singaporeans are the boss of this country.; April 17, 2010 9:37 PM

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Lesson from Mao

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