As the Chinese saying goes, 'Three shoemakers are better than one Master Zhu', referring to the smartest military genius in ancient China. Sure, the shoemakers may not be as smart as Master Zhu, but through debate, the ideas they come up with will often be well thought out.
This is the essence of democracy. However, the world seems to have forgotten this important trait. Instead, election results are in the spotlight. 'Power to the people' is the well-known chant, reflecting that the modern public concept of a democratic government is that the people hold ultimate power.
Victory of the people is now tied to victory of the party. And as seen in the chief executive candidacy
vote run by the Hong Kong pan-democrats, it seems to be a widespread belief that unless the politician can run the government, the election will be a failure. In other words, it is the results, not the process, that matters.
Perhaps the Taiwan election held last week can remind us of the importance of the democratic process. While the world was impressed by an election held successfully by Chinese people, I was touched by the stepping-down speech of candidate Tsai Ing-wen.
Tsai gracefully accepted the results of the election and congratulated her rivals. 'We accept that we have lost, and we accept the Taiwanese people's decision today. We congratulate President Ma [Ying-jeou] on his victory. We hope that he would continue to listen to the voice of the people.'