Opinion, Khmer Times, 15 August 2023 (Link)
This harsh language embodies two important messages.
The first message concerns the need for basic education of citizens.
Democracy is about governance and decision-making based on the voice of the majority. However, this does not necessarily mean that the choices made by the majority are always the right ones.
What if the people wanted to go to war to take back Kampuchea Krom from Vietnam? What if the majority were addicted to class struggle ideology that discriminates against the rich and tries to destroy them like Pol Pot’s ideology?
Such kinds of ideas might receive majority support through populist and extremist politics, but indeed such kinds of majority voices are not the right decision made for the national interest.
Sometimes you can think that as long as there is democracy, society will make the right decisions. As long as there is democracy, people will make the right and wise decisions, and everyone will think critically before making decisions that will benefit the nation.
But such an assumption is incorrect if citizens lack the basic education to distinguish right from wrong and cannot distinguish between what is a judgment based on emotions and what is based on reasons.
Let’s not forget that the Pol Pot regime also had the support of the majority of the people.
Democracy, backed by a majority of the people who do not have the basic education but who only have vengeful anger based on class struggle like the Pol Pot regime is extremely dangerous.
The Hitler regime also enjoyed overwhelming support from the German people. The German people already had a high level of education, but they were full of anger and ultra-nationalist sentiment. As a result, the Hitler regime wrought immeasurable havoc on humanity and the world.
The ancient Greek democracy, which Europeans often boast of being the origin of democracy, was in fact ruled by a handful of Greeks, while underneath them there were slaves who were oppressed and exploited. Such a democratic society is not a respectful society.
In Iraq, millions of people died after the successful transition to democracy, but Iraq is not yet a democracy. Worse still, the country may also be under foreign rule, as it has no sovereignty over its own oil resources.
In some democracies, the right to carry a gun is promoted as a symbol of protection of the rights and freedoms of the people.
But if guns are controlled by uneducated citizens who do not understand civic obligation to respect the rights of others, do not understand the civic duties to participate in protecting public security and public order, and instead defy and disobey public authorities, this can be catastrophic for society.
If guns are controlled by lunatics and they shoot children on the streets, in schools, but that democratic society cannot abolish the right to own a gun because that right has become a sacred symbol of freedom, liberty and democracy, then we should not need such kind of democracy.
This is the prime example that democracy is not automatically a cure to social disease.
Democracy depends very much on the people, social system and social values of individual country and there is no one-size-fits-all kind of democracy. If the American society values gun possession over the lives of children, then it is the self-determination of America in its path of democracy, but surely Cambodia will never adopt such kind of democracy.
When democracy is agitating in a country where people have no basic education, people can easily be manipulated to extreme directions: to go to war with Vietnam to regain Kampuchea Krom; to eliminate Cham, Chinese, and Vietnamese ethnics; to eliminate the rich and city people, the intellectuals, and civil servants; destroy all religions, etc.
This is not the democratic society that we want.
Therefore, education, good judgment, literacy, basic education as well as morality, respect for others and dignity are essential for the citizens of a democratic society to ensure that the democracy we desire serves peace and social harmony.
The second important message is that to maintain a respectful democracy, the people must understand their rights and obligations in tandem. People shall be responsible for themselves and the nation.
Most people know only rights, always demand rights, but never think about their obligations as citizens.
Some people demand excessive rights, but never care to clean their own houses.
This means that they have no basic knowledge about hygiene and sanitation and do not take responsibility for their own health and that of their families.
In fact, every citizen has a responsibility to take care of themselves, not just blame everything on society.
Garbage is dumped in sewers, in canals, or public parks. They don’t clean garbage in front of their houses but they say that they love Cambodia so much. If citizens cannot fulfill such a basic duty, if you cannot even clean your own houses, how can you boast that you love Khmer territory?
Citizens also need to know their duty to be self-reliant. Even Buddhist theory educate people about self-reliance. This teaching is similar to the famous quote by the late President John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” You cannot depend everything on the state. You cannot blame everything on the state and never ask yourself what you have done for society. Find only the faults of society, and never look at your own mistakes.
So, in short, democracy is not automatically synonymous to progress.
The country needs progressive and self-developing citizens to create an advanced and highly civilized democratic society.
Ignorance can turn democracy into a destructive demonic monster.
Democracies that are built on societies with citizens who lack proper education, living in extreme poverty with vengeful anger against the rich and determination for class struggle; people with ultra-nationalist sentiment; people who lacks discipline, morals, respect for others and dignities; such democracies are doomed to failure and self-destruction.