Democracy in Hong Kong

"Don't you support democracy?" my friend asked.   The implication is that being an Australian, I should support democracy, and therefore I should support the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

I do support democracy in Australia.   But do I know or believe democracy is the best form of government for everyone else?  I don't think so.   I support the Australian sports men and women.  Do I really believe that they are best in the world?  More virtuous than everyone else?  No.  I support them because they are Australians.  Similarly I support democracy in Australia because it is Australia's political system.  I don't know if democracy is necessarily the best form of government for every country in the world.

Plato famously discusses five types of regimes in the Republic. They are Aristocracy, Timocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy, and Tyranny. These five regimes progressively degenerate starting with Aristocracy at the top and Tyranny at the bottom.  Plato believes the best regime is Aristocracy ruled by a wise philosopher king.  Democracy is considered only the second worst regime.

We can think of dictators like Hitler, Pol Pot who have committed atrocities against mankind.  Perhaps when we compare them with wealthy democratic countries like Australia, we easily conclude that democracy is better.  However, are we simply comparing good democracy to tyranny? 

Theoretically, democracy can commit injustice such as those below just like a dictatorship:

• Illegal invasion of foreign countries and mistreatment of their citizens,
• Discrimination and persecution of minorities within the country, 
• Corruption and mismanagement of economy leading to widespread poverty, and
• Lack of action dealing with difficult issues like climate change, world population growth.

I was a resident of Hong Kong when it was still under British rule.  I left Hong Kong not because it was not a democracy. I left because I felt there was rampant corruption in government, including police, and I felt unsafe going out.  It was also difficult to get into universities in Hong Kong.  There was also a fear that something bad may happen after 1997 when Hong Kong would be handed back to China.

After 1997, many Hong Kong Chinese who migrated to Australia and other western countries returned to Hong Kong.  Many young girls from Philippines and Indonesia, both democratic countries, work in Hong Kong as servants for very low wages. The fact that Hong Kong is not a democracy does not concern them.  To earn more in order to have a good life is more important to them.

Democracy is not an end by itself.  Democracy is a means to good government only.  What do people in Hong Kong really want?   They, and other people around the world, want a stable life where their basic needs are met.  They want their basic human rights and individual freedom protected by law and order.  They want opportunities to improve themselves and earn a good living.

All these things are possible and to a large extent have already been achieved within the one country two system framework in Hong Kong.   However, full western style democracy, which I think, will inevitably lead to full independence of Hong Kong, is very unlikely to be achievable in Hong Kong.  Even if it is achievable, it is debatable if that necessarily is a good way to go for Hong Kong.

So do I support the pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong?  The idea that young people should risk their future and their lives to fight for a political system that is pretty much impossible in Hong Kong, in order to gain benefits which can be achieved by the current system, just does not make sense to me.