The Tiananmen Square revolt was soon enough quelled but China realised that it could not ignore what the people want. So they decided to allow economic reforms as long as the people stay out of politics and do not call for political reforms as well.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Dictatorships can be good for the people, said former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who himself has been accused of having an authoritarian brand of leadership.
Taking such accusations on the chin, Mahathir, who was addressing an international forum at the Putra World Trade Centre today, cheekily said: "Malaysia is said to be ruled by a dictator for 22 years. I enjoyed it."
"But at least we made some progress. This building was not even here (before my time)," he said.
Besides being accused of governing with an iron grip, Malaysia's longest serving prime minister was alleged to have played a part in channeling taxpayers' money to partly finance the construction of Umno-owned PWTC.
One prime example of how dictatorships or authoritarian governments can work better than a democratically elected one, is China, said Mahathir.
"There is no democracy in China but the system of the government it has can bring lots of benefit to its people," he said, adding that the change of leadership there is more peaceful than some democratic countries who change leaders in uprisings every few years.
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