I was just reading and analyzing the recent statements of some of the
leaders of the world and comparing these statements with the statements of
renowned leaders like Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte,
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Nelson Mandela, etc. I realized that their wisdom and
polite politics always had been a guideline in defining the world’s political
dimension in the national horizon.
Today even the most powerful president of the world is being criticized
over his use of inappropriate language. It is unfortunate that President Donald
Trump is known for posting incriminating tweets which are often false but make
front-page news. These posts steer public discourse, and often sideline bigger
news. The infamous tweets and the recent almost-declaration of war against
North Korea have frequently overshadowed consequential stories in the media.
His presidential campaign received much undeserved attention due to his
controversial statements. He frequently spells out false information and many news
houses have a dedicated fact-checker for the statements of the ex-reality star.
I was shocked by the recent crossfire of words between President Trump and
Korean President Kim Jong-un. Both presidents, regardless of their position and
international stature, insulted each other. Kim in his statement called Donald
Trump “Dotard”, “a frightened dog” and “a gangster fond of playing with fire”,
whereas in response, Trump called him “short and fat, mad dog who likes to kill
and starve his people to death”. It was unbecoming for both of them. Both
looked to be working in circus with directional and cheap dialogue rather than
in international political arena.
The contemporary standards of politics along with the way President Trump
introduced his politics in the world are highly questionable. His former
national security adviser Michael Flynn’s statement against Islam is highly
condemnable. He called Islamism a vicious cancer inside the body of 1.7 billion
Muslims. Ironically, a responsible general of the US army and later NSA to
President Trump tried to create a religious wedge without proper knowledge of
Islam and nobody did anything about it. People with such assessments are
extremely harmful to peace process in the world. And as an ex-advisor, he had
no role in decision-making. However, such individuals with zero religious
tolerance and anti-interfaith harmony sentiments, working in the US
administration, are capable of bringing clash of civilisations. So, people
carrying such anti-religious ideologies should be kept far away from
decision-making.
Another factor which adds to the equation is the one man show. American
politics is relying only on the decisions made by President Trump whereas his
style of doing politics is far different and dangerous than the men in the
past. With the growing interest in the Middle East, the US itself is heading
towards autocracy /individual empowerment while dealing with most of
undemocratic governments. President Trump mocking his own justice system and
calling his State Department unnecessary signals his growing inclination
towards autocracy. Paul Brooker in his book states that the modern autocracy is
not ruled by one individual or a chief, but it is a set of powerful men across
the globe, who make decisions, good or bad.
President Donald Trump’s contacts with Russia and the US role in support
for coups in Egypt and Thailand have become highly suspicious now. This circus
of division of world based on autocracy will lead the world towards the Third
World War as Individual powerful leaders are following their own rules instead
of following democratic norms.
Similarly, in our neighbouring India, there is one more layer to the
standards of politics. After Mr Modi won the 2014 Lok Sabah elections, the
Indian public had a taste of the sort of politics they entered. That is the
name-calling. The choice of language and words, some really of lowest quality,
entered the Indian political discourse. In India, politics has become a
power-grabbing game. Also politics is becoming a business, blatantly so; openly
it is seeking power and unaccounted for wealth and more and more the same type
of greedy activity.
Most recently, I happened to see another circus character who happens to
be a foreign minister of India, reading the speech of the foreign minister of
Norway instead of representing his own country and there was no remorse on his
face. What was more shocking that after this blunder, he was welcomed by his
own Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is known to be a master of exploiting
terrorism and plays circus on the heads of innocent Muslims in India and
Kashmir. He is yet another character of circus creating embarrassment for
people of India on many occasions, especially for those who are highly educated
and intellectual. Modi is also no stranger to controversial statements and has
been firing salvo after salvo.
For instance, in 2012, he launched a personal attack on central minister
Shashi Tharoor by calling his wife, Sunanda Pushkar, a “50-crore girlfriend”,
the media furor was at its peak. Tharoor himself responded, “My wife is
priceless.” Everyday, we see such statements and it looks as if the world is
becoming a theatre where leadership plays in fiction, cheap publicity rather
than following facts for the betterment of their respective people. In the same
way, the mysterious sudden resignation of Lebanon’s prime minister also sparked
a political crisis that is escalating longstanding tensions between Saudi
Arabia and Iran and raises the real prospect of an open warfare between the two
Middle Eastern powers.
The intrigue began on November 4 when Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri
suddenly announced his resignation in Saudi Arabia that had forced him to
resign against his will and was holding him under house arrest. And now Saudi
Arabia ordered its citizens to leave Lebanon. That’s the fourth time in five
years that Riyadh has made such a request. Saudi allies Kuwait and the United
Arab Emirates also requested their citizens to leave Lebanon.
So what may have at first seemed a small political issue in Lebanon may
turn into a wider Middle East quagmire. And that’s a bad news for a region
already in turmoil. Democracy is being humiliated in all parts of the world and
immorality is being taken for granted. These leaders believe only in the verbal
norms of democracy whereas when it comes to the third world issues, they are
the best to create circus-cracy by disrespecting them and issuing humiliating
statements for each other’s station.
The world politics is losing morality. Unfortunately, the use of abusive
language, the hurling of baseless and damaging accusations and the mocking of
opponents have already been accepted as political norms in Pakistan.
Ironically, all this is done in the name of upholding morality. While such
practices are more or less part of the political culture of all South Asian
nations, Pakistan in particular, the morality tool is used by the powers that
be to legitimize or delegitimize certain political actors.
Academically, the rule of law is distinguished from democracy, human
rights and social justice. The rule of law neither challenges morality nor
intervenes in political or democratic processes. But power elites confuse the
rule of law with morality, believing that authoritarian structures can be
sustained only on moral grounds.
Where does the public stand in the debate over the rule of law and
morality? The PML-N leadership is using the argument that it is the right of
the people to decide the fate of the government through electoral process.
However, the public support cannot be an alternative to the supremacy of the
law, as people choose a government to govern under the Constitution and the
rule of law. Secondly, the electoral accountability applies to government
performance, not to an individual’s conduct violating the rule of law.
Leaders are expected to behave decently and not to behave like jokers,
cross-fighting with jokes, abusive remarks against physical appearances and
dialogue of cheap comedy theatre. Not to talk of the world, Pakistan has also
been engineered from democracy to circus-cracy because of no rule of law and
individuals have taken over the system and play with the system by creating
their own tune best suitable to them.
Mockery of the parliament, humiliation of the judiciary and criticism of
the most prestigious constitutional institutions have become a norm of the day,
converting the country into a theatre of comedy rather than a responsible
Islamic state. I will be absolutely right to state that statements and
attitudes are deteriorating both abroad and in my own country where I see a
circus like situation on front pages of newspapers and, in the evening, on TV
screens and the way I see the leadership humiliating each other is no less than
a circus. Where are decency and political parameters for all of us? Where from
the senior leadership uses abusive, non-parliamentary and comedian Filmi
dialogue for cheap publicity and cheap popularity?
Both must learn that badmouthing and cheap language will add negativity to
the development process in the world. Therefore, I humbly request the world
leaders to let the democracy be democracy, not a circus-cracy to the
disappointment of the world.
I hope these words of mine would be taken seriously by the present rulers
and prominent political parties so that they stop this circus of abusing
institutions and use of abusive language against their political opponents.
Otherwise, this war of words and humiliation of institutions through staged
circus will perhaps contribute to harming the democracy. There is no more room
for political circus-cracy and humiliation because the way it is being played
is no less than a circus where intellectualism, decency and respect for status
is evaporating with each passing day.
The writer is a recipient of Sitara-e-Shujat, Nishan-e-Imtiaz, chairman of
think-tank Global Eye & former interior minister of Pakistan.
@Email: rmalik1212@gmail.com Twitter @Senrehmanmalik
The Article was published by "The News" International on November 20, 2017.
Link to the Article: International Political Circus by Senator A. Rehman Malik
