<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Founding fathers have a lasting impact on their nations
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I AM shocked by Mr Ching Cheong's revelation in Tuesday's commentary, 'Mr Science is here, where's Mr Democracy?'. Citing estimates by Chinese and Western scholars, he stated that between 1949 and 1976, the number of unnatural deaths in China ranged between 30 million and 50 million, and that at least 100 million more suffered human rights abuses during incessant political purges.
These are staggering numbers. Why were the Chinese in China subjected to such immense suffering? My view is that a key reason is the character and personality of the founding father.
Unlike India's Mahatma Gandhi, who led India to independence from British colonisation in 1947, Mao Zedong, the first paramount leader who established communist rule over China in 1949, believed that power came from the barrel of a gun. Millions died to allow Mao to come to power in his struggle with Chiang Kai-shek. In my view, Mao was no hero.
Gandhi, on the other hand, believed India should not achieve independence through violence for an important reason - the leaders who emerged would also be unfit to rule.
George Washington, the first president of the United States, did not interfere in the drafting of his country's most important legal document, the US Constitution. This is a key reason why American democracy is on such a solid foundation.
Mao left China with a 'perpetual dictatorship', which leaves its people at the mercy of his successors, be they good or bad.
My point: Founding fathers have a lasting impact on the future of their nations. I hope the human race will produce founding fathers of the calibre of Gandhi, Washington and former South African president Nelson Mandela; and not murderous ones like Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler. Poh Lee Heng
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I AM shocked by Mr Ching Cheong's revelation in Tuesday's commentary, 'Mr Science is here, where's Mr Democracy?'. Citing estimates by Chinese and Western scholars, he stated that between 1949 and 1976, the number of unnatural deaths in China ranged between 30 million and 50 million, and that at least 100 million more suffered human rights abuses during incessant political purges.
These are staggering numbers. Why were the Chinese in China subjected to such immense suffering? My view is that a key reason is the character and personality of the founding father.
Unlike India's Mahatma Gandhi, who led India to independence from British colonisation in 1947, Mao Zedong, the first paramount leader who established communist rule over China in 1949, believed that power came from the barrel of a gun. Millions died to allow Mao to come to power in his struggle with Chiang Kai-shek. In my view, Mao was no hero.
Gandhi, on the other hand, believed India should not achieve independence through violence for an important reason - the leaders who emerged would also be unfit to rule.
George Washington, the first president of the United States, did not interfere in the drafting of his country's most important legal document, the US Constitution. This is a key reason why American democracy is on such a solid foundation.
Mao left China with a 'perpetual dictatorship', which leaves its people at the mercy of his successors, be they good or bad.
My point: Founding fathers have a lasting impact on the future of their nations. I hope the human race will produce founding fathers of the calibre of Gandhi, Washington and former South African president Nelson Mandela; and not murderous ones like Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler. Poh Lee Heng
