The Smallest Sparrow

Today, Shanghai Daily ran on op-ed by Wang Yong, on the legacy of Deng Xiaoping. In the piece, Wang believes firmly that the influence of Deng’s leadership extent beyond his politics and economic policies – he changed the very philosophical consciousness of China on the notion of equality, justice and openness.

Many lessons can be learned from this piece pertaining to the current leadership of our country and the collective awareness of every Malaysians on what is needed to drive our nation to a better tomorrow.

I am reproducing some parts of the article here, but I highly recommend the whole article. Emphases are added.

“Deng's legacy: Equality, justice and openness

Wang Yong

Shanghai Daily, 2007-2-16

…All of China has Deng Xiaoping to thank for her prosperity and freedom.

Deng may not have been a perfect man, but he was a great man. Next Monday marks the 10th year since Deng passed away, and people remember him for different reasons.

Most people, of course, remember the great leader for his dedication to a socialist market economy and an open-door policy. But why did he prefer an open market economy? What made him believe that markets exist in both socialist and capitalist economies?

I think Deng's philosophy is more important than his economic policies. After all, policies can be fine-tuned over time, but what matters to a nation's prosperity is often the mindset of its leaders.

…

In his mind, the fundamental difference between socialism and capitalism is that the former advocates common prosperity, while the latter focuses largely on efficiency and accommodates extreme inequalities.

Deng's pragmatic and democratic spirit is best reflected in his thinking about common prosperity. To achieve that goal, he allowed for some people getting rich ahead of others. He did not sacrifice efficiency just to preserve the utopian idea of equality…

But Deng never ever allowed for extreme inequalities, though some Chinese economists since Deng's death have preached that they are inevitable in an advancing economy.

In particular, Deng hated inequalities caused by official corruption. He once said that high-level officials must be strictly monitored for corruption…

…

Deng's most important legacy is to do away with extreme inequalities, especially those resulting from official corruption.

…

To achieve common prosperity is not just a purely economic matter. It requires leadership to heed even the voice of the smallest sparrow falling to the ground. It's a common prosperity of material and ideas together…”

Greater efficiency over a misguided preoccupation of equality, unconditional intolerance of corruption especially that of the highest level, and to heed even the voice of the smallest sparrow to achieve a common prosperity of wealth and values – I sincerely hope Malaysia is listening.

Have a good Chinese New Year.

Elanor