HK 'protesters' moving in wrong direction of democracy

They took to the streets of Athens and other cities in Greece, burned cars, vandalized other properties and clashed with riot police, all in the glare of the global media, in the name of democracy and to get their grievances redressed.

Is this a classic example of democracy that ancient Greece claims to have gifted to the rest of the world? Why has "democracy" been failing? It has failed in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. It has failed in the Philippines and Thailand. But why has it had failed in the US, the most advanced country where education and democratic institutions are well developed? The answer lies in human nature. Perhaps we humans are not made to deserve democracy.

The basic characteristic of "democracy" is "one man, one vote". Demographics of most countries show that the majority of votes are concentrated at the bottom of society. And to get those votes, politicians literally enter a race to the bottom, where the foremost concern of voters is personal gain. What's good for society and the future, even if understood, often becomes irrelevant. In opinion polls and at voting booths, only voters' self-perceived interests count.

All politicians understand this, and thus bribe the people using funds from the national treasuries. All modern democracies, from the US to Greece, from Thailand to the Philippines, will degenerate into this race to the bottom.

Moreover, the democracy premise that voters know what's good for all and will vote rationally seems utopian. Another utopian premise of democracy is "majority rule", because in reality, a tiny minority often controls the decision-making process in so-called democratic societies. In Hong Kong, an illiterate old woman, manipulated by some people in the name of "democracy", became the poster opposition figure against a proposed key infrastructure project. The delay thus caused will cost Hong Kong hundreds of billions of dollars.

The Catholic Church operates more like a meritocracy, not democracy. And in Singapore, a benign one-party rule has transformed a small, poor country into a first world financial, logistics and service hub characterized by economic prosperity and racial harmony.

In China, for the past more than three decades, a unique system of consultative decision-making by the government has succeeded in lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and generated unprecedented economic growth. It seems that history is being re-written on the political system called "democracy". And the writing is on the wall. Western-style democracy may well be in its last legs.

LI DABING, A HONG KONG RESIDENT, via e-mail