Political Mohism in Singapore?

Contrary to WP’s strategy of “wu wei”, Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) or Barisan Sosialis (BS) in the 1960s, are fighters who want to voice out their views, regardless of personal sacrifice, sometimes even against the authority. Once they believe they are doing good things for the people, they will go ahead to do it. Just like the Mohists who are wiling to give up their lives for the good of the people. SDP even recognises that there are other means besides parliament to voice their views.

It is no wonder SDP is the most aggressive party in the net. (Mohism followers are usually poor and lack of resources, this is why they have to depend on their two legs to do the hard walking. Internet is a cheaper communication tool as compared to others). Their website is updated regularly and they have come out with an alternative budget even thought you may not agree with them. They also manage to recruit new young faces in their web broadcasting.

Many historians agree that it is Fa Jia (Legalism) that helps to build a strong Qin and finally united the whole China. In fact, in the beginning of strong Qin, Mohisim followers had helped Qin to establish a strong foundation, through their military discipline by destroying Qin opponents. A little bit like the situation in the 1950s and early days of 1960s Singapore.

People who join SDP know that it is not easy for them to get elected as they are considered as a group of “anti-establishment trouble makers”. However, they continue to fight on. Although Mohism lost its importance in Chinese history, its spirit of never give up remains as part of Chinese traditions.

Standard Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (www.plato.standard.edu) explains Mohism as follows:

“”
Mohism was an influential philosophical, social, and religious movement that flourished during the Warring States era (479–221 BCE) in ancient China. Mohism originates in the teachings of Mo Di, or “Mozi” (“Master Mo,” fl. ca. 430 BCE), from whom it takes its name. Mozi and his followers initiated philosophical argumentation and debate in China. They were the first in the tradition to engage, like Socrates in ancient Greece, in an explicit, reflective search for objective moral standards and to give step-by-step, tightly reasoned arguments for their views, though their reasoning is sometimes simplistic or rests on doubtful assumptions.

They formulated China's first explicit ethical and political theories and advanced the world's earliest form of consequentialism, a remarkably sophisticated version based on a plurality of intrinsic goods taken as constitutive of human welfare. The Mohists applied a pragmatic, non-representational theory of language and knowledge and developed a rudimentary theory of analogical argumentation. They played a key role in articulating and shaping many of the central concepts, assumptions, and issues of classical Chinese philosophical discourse.
A later branch of the school (see the entry on Mohist Canons) formulated a sophisticated semantic theory, epistemology, utilitarian ethics, theory of analogical reasoning, and mereological ontology and undertook inquiries in such diverse fields as geometry, mechanics, optics, and economics. They addressed technical problems raised by their semantics and utilitarian ethics and produced a collection of terse, rigorous arguments that develop Mohist doctrines, defend them against criticisms, and rebut opponents' views.

Central elements of Mohist thought include advocacy of a unified ethical and political order grounded in a utilitarian ethic emphasizing impartial concern for all; active opposition to military aggression and injury to others; devotion to utility and frugality and condemnation of waste and luxury; support for a centralized, authoritarian state led by a virtuous, benevolent sovereign and managed by a hierarchical, merit-based bureaucracy; and reverence for and obedience to Heaven (Tian, literally the sky) and the ghosts worshiped in traditional folk religion. Mohist ethics and epistemology are characterized by a concern with finding objective standards that will guide judgment and action reliably and impartially so as to produce beneficial, morally right consequences. The Mohists assume that people are naturally motivated to do what they believe is right, and thus with proper moral education will generally tend to conform to the correct ethical norms. They believe strongly in the power of discussion and persuasion to solve ethical problems and motivate action, and they are confident that moral and political questions have objective answers that can be discovered and defended by inquiry.
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Mohism and Confucianism were the two key Chinese philosophies in the pre-Qin era. Mohism had attracted so many followers that it became a great challenge to Confucianism. However, Mohism went into decline so suddenly after Qin dynasty. Some of its teachings were later absorbed into Confucianism.

A key concept of Mohism is “loving each others” (兼爱). They believe human beings should love each others and there should be no different love between family members and strangers. All are equal and even a stranger is under attack, Mohism followers should help the strangers regardless of self or any rewards. Andy Lau‘s movie 《 墨攻》is one of such examples.

This is why some of the SDP suggestions are quite Mohism. For example, minimum wage, different GST rates, HDB flats sold at cost, cut the PMO budget, human rights, ISD abolishment, etc. You may find out more in their website.

You may not agree with what SDP is doing. However, they have presented Singaporeans the other side of the picture. Whether it is good or bad, they have to right to air it. Not to forget, if there is no debate on different philosophies, we will not have Hundred Schools of Thoughts. More than 2,000 years ago, educated people were allowed to argue over different policies and thoughts, why in today we are afraid of such a debate? To advance to a gracious and harmonised Singapore, contributions of opinions from all walks of life are important elements towards a civilized and inclusive country.

Mohism and Daoism have different, unique but distinguish characters of their own. They may look odd in the main stream politics but they add colours to the society.

There are 2 important differences and lessons for Hundred Schools of Thoughts era and today’s democratic Singapore:

1. In Hundred Schools of Thoughts era, scholars or philosophers like Confucius, Mozi, Mengzi, Sunzi, etc cannot over turn the rulers but their duty is to persuade rulers to accept their ideas and suggestions. They are passive implementers of their ideas and policies. They have no right to introduce and implement their strategies, a little like the nominated MPs, or to a lesser extent NCMPs who can debate but cannot vote in the parliament. Should an ambitious candidate aim for that?

2. In today’s Singapore, all these Hundred Schools of Thoughts can form their political parties and stand for election. Mandate is given to them by the citizens to implement their manifestoes. Voters should appreciate their rights to vote and vote wisely. Political parties are given chances to approach people (like the rulers in pre-Qin era) freely in a democratic county. In Hundred Schools of Thoughts era, no scholars or philosophers were detained or killed even they offended the rulers (e.g. Mengzi, Zhuangzi etc) until Qin united China. These people were respected by the rulers perhaps because they formed no threat to their governments. The voting must reflect the wishes of the citizens, deep from their hearts.

Political Daoism in Singapore?

If you only rely on the web and internet on Singapore political development, quite obviously Workers’ Party (WP) seems to be practising political Daoism in Singapore. WP has a practice of not replying over the internet, less active in giving their views over the internet, even for budget comments, they will wait till Parliament debate.

This is like practising Daoism (Taoism) “wu wei”. Many people, especially non Chinese, don’t really understand what Dao Jia is doing and even for ancient Chinese, Daoism people were always classified as “隐士yinshi “ who live away from the society. Some even misunderstand them as religion Daoists (Taoists) and think they are a group of traditional priests practising in the temples or fortune tellers or Ghostbusters.

To have a better understand of Daoism, here are some explanations from Wikipedia:

“”
Wu wei (simplified Chinese: 无为; traditional Chinese: 無爲; pinyin: wúwéi, variantly written in traditional Chinese: 無為) is an important concept of Taoism (Daoism), that involves knowing when to act and when not to act. Another perspective to this is that "Wu Wei" means natural action - as planets revolve around the sun, they "do" this revolving, but without "doing" it; or as trees grow, they "do", but without "doing". Thus knowing when (and how) to act is not knowledge in the sense that one would think "now" is the right time to do "this", but rather just doing it, doing the natural thing.

Wu may be translated as not have or without; Wei may be translated as do, act, serve as, govern or effort. The literal meaning of Wu Wei is "without action" and is often included in the paradox wei wu wei: "action without action" or "effortless doing". The practice of wu wei and the efficacy of wei wu wei are fundamental tenets in Chinese thought and have been mostly emphasized by the Taoist school. The aim of wu wei is to achieve a state of perfect equilibrium, or alignment with the Tao, and, as a result, obtain an irresistible form of "soft and invisible" power.

There is another less commonly referenced sense of wu wei; "action that does not involve struggle or excessive effort". In this instance, Wu means "without" and Wei means "effort". The concept of "effortless action" is a part of Taoist Internal martial arts such as T'ai chi ch'uan, Baguazhang and Xing Yi. It follows that Wu wei complies with the main feature and distinguishing characteristic of Taoism, that of being natural. To apply wu wei to any situation is to take natural action.
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However, philosophical Daoism is highly respected in the western world. Some even regard Daoism as a representative of the highest level Chinese philosophy and regard Confucianism to the teaching of moral value only. Hence these highly intelligent people like Laozi and Zhaungzi are not only ordinary scholars. Daoism is perhaps the only other Chinese philosophy that can match and challenge (and co-exist with) the powerful Confucianism in the past and perhaps in the future. It has been proved that this philosophy can survive the long history of China. And today, it is still being appreciated and contributes to Chinese traditional values and cultures. Dao Jia believes “wu wei” is the best way to tackle the current situation (warring state period). In a warring state period, “wu wei” is the most appropriate survival weapon to remain alive and according to Dao De Jing, after the failure or darkness, the success or lightness will come. Just like the coming of the Jasmine revolution and the fall of Berlin wall. The only question is timing. Who has ever predicted it to be so soon?

For many netizens, they are quite puzzle and want to know why? How come WP is so inactive over the net? Are they cowards or moles of the ruling party? Partly because they had bad encounters with the authority and so to avoid getting into the “traps”, they have to maintain low profile. It could be also a strategy of less talk less mistake, as “misfortune comes from the mouth” so to say. In a democratic county, the best way is to get elected and then change the government. If one is not qualified to stand for election, there is no chance to get into the parliament. So, continuing remain silent will still be the strategy for WP prior to the dissolution of Parliament. When you are facing a giant opponent, work in silent and pretend to be doing nothing can serve as an effective strategy. Let be patient towards Dao Jia!

A brief history of WP looks also inline with Daoism. When it was formed in 1957 by David Marshall, it was not an aggressive major political force in Singapore even though David Marshall was once the chief minister of Singapore. He resigned from the post after a failed negotiation in London for a better Singapore. Resignation voluntarily as he could not meet his promise to Singaporeans. Sound likes Japanese. May be only in Daoism politics, one will happily make this decision and not wanting to hold on power forever. When the time comes for withdrawal, David Marshall did the gentleman way and obliged to his promise. Powered with this tradition, WP continues to last until now. And you may want to ask why WP can survive after 5 decades and still remain a recognised political force in Singapore.

You may call them opportunists. But for Daoism, the most important thing is to survive and live in harmony with the nature. When the situation and timing are right, you can re-appear and serve the people. It is why WP is quite difference from Barisan Sosialis (BS) in the past or SDP of today. Even though BS merged with WP in 1980s, it has not changed the “wu wei” principle of WP, especially after JBJ leaving WP.

However, they continue to work the ground as you can see from WP website, their members visit here and there from time to time. Some members have their own blogs and even books publication, but all are under their individual names. So, if individual gets into troubles, the main body is still there intact. Kaisuism you may call it, however this is politics of Singapore.

From “wu wei” to “Only those who work hard can succeed” as an unofficial anthem is a surprise! Are WP telling Singaporeans the right timing, right position and right harmony are coming soon?

More on Hundred Schools of Thought can be seen below or other websites.


Hundred Schools of Thought
In the turbulent Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC) and Warring States Period (475-221BC), many schools of thought were flourishing. The four most influential schools of thought that evolved during this period were Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, and Legalism. There were also other schools like Yin & Yang, Eclectics, Logicians, Coalition persuaders and Militarism. The hundred schools of thought showed the fierce political and class struggles for survival among regional wars between the rising landed class and slaveholder class. The flouring thoughts intensified activities and debates in the intellectual and ideology system in ancient China and exerted great influence on Chinese culture.
Confucianism
Confucius was the founder of Confucianism. He advocated a set of moral code on basis of five merits: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness. Among them, benevolence was considered as the cornerstone, which stands for faithfulness, filial piety, tolerance and kindness. He also requested people to keep in good harmony with each other and establish a community ruled by standard manners and behavior.
Mencius (372-289BC) was a Confucian in the Warring States Period (475-221BC). He repeatedly tried to convince rulers that the ruler should cultivate moral perfection in order to set a good example to the people and the ruler who governed benevolently would earn the respect of the people. He held the view that human nature was fundamentally good as everyone is born with the ability to recognize what is right and act upon it. He also believed that people were more important than rulers.
Xunzi (about 313-238BC), also a Confucian of the state of Chu, advocated the policy making a country rich and building up its military power, and sang high praise of the state of Qin.
Mohism
The Mohism founded by Mozi flourished in the latter half of the fifth century. It resembles Confucianism in its reverence for humanism. Master Mo called for a universal love encompassing all human beings in equal degree. He suggested a harmonious relationship between people on a reciprocal basis. Thus he was an assertor of unionism who suggested a practice of a political relationship of mutual benefit or dependence between states.
Taoism
The Taoism was founded by Laozi. The most important pre-Han Taoist bible was Laozi, also known as Dao De Jing (Classic of the Way and its Power). Laozi put forward a dialectic view: Good fortune follows upon disaster; Disaster lurks within good fortune. He tried to tell people not to exaggerate the importance of man too much because human life is only a small part of the universal and the only way can human actions make sense is to act in accord with the principles of the nature. It showed an integral concept of Taoism the withdrawal from the worldly affairs and the self-cultivation. Zhuangzi was a Taoist in the Warring States Period. He understood the Tao as the Way of Nature as a whole and the origin of the world. He believed that all things were in constant changes and there was no rule of right and wrong. In his mind, life was but a dream and only destruction could lead to the final peace of the society.
Legalism
The Legalist School sought by every means possible to strengthen the state and increase its military might. It began to take shape late in the fourth century. Earlier legalists were Shang Yang, Li Kui and Wu Qi. Later in the Warring States Period, the most important legalist named Han Fei advocated harsh rules and laws.
He was born in a rich family in the state of Han. In the book Han Fei Zi, he bent on organizing society on a rational basis and finding means to strengthen their states agriculturally and militarily. He also advised elaborate means for controlling people's lives and actions through laws and punishments. In his theories, law was the basis, strategies were the means in political struggle and power was the strength and high position. Only getting command of the three factors can a ruler establish a powerful state of central power. Han Fei's theory was applied by Qin and played an important role in unification of China by Qin Emperor Shihuang.

Source: chinaculture.org