UNREALISTIC RESPONSE TO STRUCTURAL DEFICIENCY AND CULTURAL REALISM IN EGYPT – A THREAT TO INTERNATIONAL ORDER
Much as no modern day democrat like me would support the 30 years superimposed monarchical but pseudo-democratic octogenarian ruler (President Mubarak), what is happening in Egypt should better be understood as a threat to real democracy and international order.
The will of a few should not be allowed to overthrow the destiny of the over silent 82,999,393 majority that prefer an orderly democratic transition rather than such a selective uprising which is almost a modern day mass coup d’état with unimaginable dastardly consequences. Imagine the thousands of unemployed Americans all of a sudden rise up and incite people to overthrow President Obama of USA before 2012 elections or Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain or President Hu Jintao of China - all democratically elected based on national constitution - or Queen Elizabeth of Britain or King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, just because they are dissatisfied with their rule and number of years of ruler-ship combined with socio-economic situations! It is amazingly uncalled for in a modern democratic dispensation!
The protestors ought to be called to order rather than calling on only the autocratic Mubarak to suddenly resign and possibly plunge their country into something else. We need a peaceful transition - I support the UN Secretary General to champion it. We should not encourage such an uncompromising uprising in any part of the world. Undoubtedly, there is absolutely everything right and necessary that the public come out in their numbers to press for democratic reforms and institutional transformation. But this kind of ‘just step down now’ syndrome has a risk to undermine democracy.
Surely, if it is not controlled and managed with all the vehemence and strategy it requires, we surely will witness days to come when 1 year elected president would be too annoying to the opposition in order for them to stage a knock out before the stipulated time even if the standard 4 or 5 years for many countries is reduced to 2 years or even a year. Surely, Mubarak must have lorded over his people for thirty long years but this is likely to have had a support of their constitution and their understanding of politics. If there is the need to shift from their original political orientation, and there is the urgent demand for reforms, there is the need to make it quite well that structural changes are advocated for and not a sudden overthrow. It is unacceptable this way.
Now those that were inspiring the demonstrators to push on until Mubarak moved out immediately verily turned a blind eye to the deadly potential consequences that lingered on. For heaven sake, Mubarak has ruled the country for thirty years and no matter how devilish or cruel he might have appeared in the past, he certainly would hold a chunk of sympathy from the public. And to the extent that a section of the public keeps pressing on him for nine running days unabated in an obvious breach of the order they seek to create, it should not be least expected of the kind of reactionary pro-Mubarak encounter that has started. The numbers of deaths are increasing after the bizarre police encounter with the protestors that resulted in many deaths. On the 2nd day of February, a day after Mubarak declared not to seek for re-election in September 2011, the health ministry has reported at least three deaths and several injuries. Of course, Mubarak elements might have hands in the pro-Mubarak demonstrations, but it is realistic that he still has some amount of following, no matter how bad he appears to others or he really is. The pro-Mubarak demonstrators must however be seriously rebuked if they started the clashes. They nevertheless equally have the right to demonstrate just like the anti-Mubarak demonstrations. But it cannot be out-rightly evinced that pro-demonstrators or anti-Mubarak demonstrators is responsible. It could after all be a spontaneous spark through unnecessary emotional outburst. The point simply is that too many days of demonstrating pressing for Mubarak to immediately resign without an attempt for dialogue was the cause of the ongoing skirmishes in a country that has previously known relative peace in several years.
Certainly, the reaction of the international community especially the international media to the uprising was, in my candid view, is misplaced. They better should have been looking at the possibilities of educating the demonstrators to understanding the current Egyptian Constitution (no matter what it is now) or present legal regime and projected it as to how well the need for the demonstrators to concentrate their efforts in promising reforms at par with the standard international democratic legal regime since the start of the uprising. This indeed ought to be done.
The world needs to re-examine this issue more closely with hindsight of cultural, political and socio-economic realism but not sentimental outburst and parochial anarchy. I do not in a minute like Mubarak and his moves as an autocratic leader, but some of his people might still like him – others more do not. It is a divided sort of scenario which needs a stitching harmony. One must thus not hesitate to condemn the un-holistic and sided way of looking at the entrenched complexities associated with Egypt’s political and cultural history. President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak has clearly overspent his time and must go but ought to leave coherently and peaceful, at least guided out by his election mandate which expires in September 2011. Egypt indeed needs social justice and drastic political reforms now but recognition must be given to procedure, law and order.
This is however a great lesson autocratic leaders around the world must learn from but the danger could be a twilight and could surge across bickering frontiers to infect normal democratic leaders - that is if the international community does not stand up to conscientise the largely disgruntled world community immersed in hopelessness and largely dissatisfied with both national and international leaderships but held back by tolerance and some little optimism for a better future.
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