Interview: China's governance meets aspirations, needs of people, says Malaysian expert

KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 (Xinhua) -- China's whole-process people's democracy has complete institutional procedures and participatory practices, which aim to bring efficient governance to the country and meet the needs of the people, Ong Tee Keat, chairman of Malaysia-based think tank the Center for New Inclusive Asia said.

Ong once worked as the deputy speaker of Malaysia's lower house of parliament, Malaysian transport minister and president of Malaysian Chinese Association.

He told Xinhua in a recent interview that whether a country's democratic practice can promote the effectiveness of national governance depends on whether it meets the aspirations and needs of the people. In this regard, level of the people's confidence in the governance is the best barometric measurement.

A survey report released in July 2020 by Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School narrated that "since the start of the survey in 2003, Chinese citizen satisfaction with government has increased virtually across the board." For many years, the satisfaction rate is more than 90 percent. In Ong's opinion, it shows that China's governance meets the aspirations and needs of the people.

Ong said that while embracing people-centered governance embodied in democracy, peculiarity of individual state's cultural norms and disparity in the level of development across the globe have to be taken cognizance of. Indiscriminate duplication of the electoral institution professed in the established democracies does not guarantee the success of democracy elsewhere.

The Malaysian expert pointed out that repeated incidences of failures in the Western democratic rule have dawned upon people that the essence of democratic governance lies in not the installation of multi-party electoral system per se, but more in its inclusiveness -- be it in the process of decision-making or in the policy formulation and delivery.

"While the West placed due emphasis on the power of ballots in the name of practising 'one-man-one-vote', the real participation of the electorate in shaping the nation's governance could hardly go beyond the electioneering process. The post-election policy formulation is almost the monopoly of the legislators, some of whom might be sheer novices bereft of experience and knowledge of public administration," he explained

Ong opined that the Chinese governance has never been deficient of people-centered elements of democracy.

The Western-style democracy may appear to have latitude for dissent, but the end result of its decision-making is "winner takes all" regardless of the margin of majority. In contrast, the element of consultation dedicated to accommodating the minority views makes the Chinese model even more inclusive in its practice.

Ong believed China's whole-process people's democracy makes the world realize that there has never been a single model of democracy that suits all nation states.

"China's whole-process people's democracy achieves process-oriented democracy, results-oriented democracy, procedural democracy and substantive democracy, through democratic election, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic oversight."