28th December 1997

Reflection in sorrow and joy

By Louis Benedict and Ameen Izzadeen

If the fairy tale tragedy of the people's princess Diana immortalised by Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind' was the most popular story of 1997, then the most significant was the handover of the golden economic goose Hong Kong to China at a time when the once sleeping giant is coming alive to take centrestage in the world.

Princess Diana, divorced by the heir to the throne and rejected if not scorned by the Royal family sparked off a near revolution around Buckingham Palace when millions of Britons turned up to pay tribute to her while the biggest ever world television audience of some two billion watched her funeral at Westminster Abbey. A besieged Queen Elizabeth was virtually forced by people's power to bring down the Buckingham Palace flag to half mast for the first time in history.

As millions of flowers were placed around the British Rose and weeping premier Tony Blair sought to bring about a peoplisation of the monarchy, Diana who died in a Paris car tragedy on August 31 was buried a week later virtually like a saint.

Mysteriously, another living saint - Diana's friend and guide - died on the day before the funeral of the princess. For almost 70 years, Mother Teresa of Calcutta had fed the hungry, clothed the naked and provided shelter to the untouchables and the poorest of the poor. Their deaths in the course of a week and the live TV and media coverage which enabled billions of people to see the events, prompted an outpouring of generosity, seldom seen before. Like Zachias in the Gospel story, millionaires or billionaires all over the world were inspired by Mother Teresa and Princess Diana to break down their barns and give twice as much as they had gathered.

If the television audience of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana was unprecedented, so was it for the handover of Hong Kong at the stroke of midnight of June 30. As Prince Charles and Governor Chris Patten sailed away on the last great voyage for the Royal yacht Britannia, it was also virtually the last post for the Rule Britannia colonialism. Unfortunately the man who made that dream come true for China through a pragmatic one-country-two-systems policy was not there to see the historic event.

China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping had after Mao ended the cat-and-mouse games behind the Great Wall of China. He would often say that the colour of the cat did not matter as long as it caught the mice in economic terms. He believed that socialism did not mean bureaucratic centralised state control of the economy. For him socialism meant economic growth through a free market policy but ensuring that the resources generated thereby would flow down equally to the people.

After Deng's death on February 19, China saw a peaceful transfer of power to his hand-picked successor Jiang Zemin, much in contrast to the catastrophe after Mao and the Gang of Four.

Indeed the Rule Britannia policy that had for centuries ruled the waves and waived the rules had two months before the Hong Kong handover become 'Cool Britannia.' The sea change was brought about by the dynamic young prime minister Tony Blair and his new Labour which is giving the market economy a human face. Mr. Blair's Labour on May 1 swept to the biggest landslide victory in 165 years ending 18 years of Conservative rule and throwing John Major not only out of office but also out of the party leadership along with several other big wigs.

Mr. Blair's flair was seen not only in economics but also in politics. Moving fast to keep his promises, he went ahead with referendums where Scotland and Wales voted for more devolution of power.

Rising to still greater heights, Mr. Blair risked a backlash when he brought the IRA to the negotiating table and invited Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams for talks at 10, Downing Street. It was the first time in 70 years that a British premier had invited an Irish Republican leader to Downing Street. Though extremists accused Mr. Blair of having blood on his hands after he greeted Mr. Adams, most analysts believe the handshake was a major step towards reconciliation.

Indeed Mr. Blair must have been inspired by what is happening in South Africa through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. President Nelson Mandela along with close friend and advisor Archbishop Desmond Tutu is despite problems and reservations giving the world lessons in bringing about restorative justice rather than retributive justice. Those who come forward and publicly confess their crimes in a spirit of repentance are pardoned and given a chance to start a new life and make amends.

President Mandela regarded as the world's greatest statesman today, stepped down this week from the leadership of the African National Congress which spearheaded the historic struggle against apartheid. In the 1970s when Mr. Mandela was languishing in an apartheid jail, the blind Afro-American singer Stevie Wonder wrote another immortal song similar to that of Elton John. The song titled "I Just Called To Say I Love You" was projected as Winnie Mandela's call to her husband in jail. Though the estranged Winnie was not there to say those words at the farewell ANC rally, tens of thousands of grateful party workers sang to President Mandela, "We Just Called to Say We Love You." The great leader was in tears.

President Mandela is giving powerful leadership to the whole of Africa where Laurent Kabila's rebel forces took over and turned Zaire into the Democratic Republic of Congo on May 17 amidst continuing turmoil and allegations of massacres there and in the neighbouring Republic of Congo. The events there brought back memories of the turbulent days of Patrice Lumumba and Dag Hammarskojoeld.

With Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela will surely rank as the man of the century. But while Mandela's South Africa saw a great year, it was not so for India and Pakistan which Gandhi had helped to liberate from the colonial yoke.

By the year's end after months of political wrangling, India was without a parliament and facing elections that nobody wants. Premier Inder Kumar Gujral had the vision of Gandhi in regional and world affairs, but his shaky coalition and a blackmailing Congress Party prevented him from getting too far with his goals. If Asia is to become the world's economic power house, then India will have to play a key role along with China and Japan. Political stability is essential for India to play that role but the prospects for it by year's end seem to be as shaky as the traditional fiddler on the Himalayas.

In a strange twist of events, India faced a tiger by the tail crisis. For geopolitical reasons, Indira's India and RAW had in the 1980s trained and bankrolled the LTTE in Sri Lanka. The terror group killed former premier Rajiv Gandhi in 1989 and now it has brought down premier Gujral whose resignation was precipitated by a dispute over the Jain Commission report.

The commission which respected Indian journalists described as farcical accused the DMK - an ally in the Gujral coalition - of supporting the LTTE which killed Rajiv Gandhi.

The Congress Party which was giving life-blood support to the Gujral coalition demanded that the DMK ministers be sacked. Mr. Gujral stood by his principles without playing politics and Congress pulled the rug. Now it seems that unless Rajiv's widow Sonia Gandhi comes forward to reunite and rebuild the Congress, the general elections in India in March might produce only another hung parliament. What a golden jubilee for India. Like her former queen once said India also might lament that it was not a golden year but an annus horribilis.

Across the border in Pakistan, which also was celebrating its golden jubilee, the year began in triumph but ended in confusion. Political wags say that Pakistan has interim periods of democracy before military dictators move in again. Thankfully, the military this time acted with more prudence and maturity when Pakistan faced its worst constitutional quagmire - Premier Nawaz Shariff clashing openly with President Leghari on one side and Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah on the other. Finally, with the apparent backing of the Army Chief, Mr. Shariff won the three-cornered battle with President Leghari resigning and the Chief Justice being ousted by a rival bench.

If the Asian subcontinent faced political hullabaloo, then it was economic haze for the Asian tigers with South Korea and Thailand virtually falling to pieces though Japan stood its ground as did Hong Kong. The manner in which Hong Kong stuck to its currency peg with strong support from mainland China, was seen as a victory in the first big crisis where the golden goose was tested in an international furnace.

No international round-up for the year is complete without focusing the searchlight on West Asia also. For the past few decades, it has been the powder keg of the world not only in apocalyptic prophecies but also in real politics. This year was one of the worst for West Asia since Camp David and Israel's hard-line if not stiff-neck premier Benjamin Netanyahu must take much of the blame for it. Mr. Netanyahu's Jewish settlements, abetted by the suicide bombers of Hamas, left the peace process in pieces.

As one analyst said for much of the year they were not speaking. When they were they often couldn't agree on what to discuss.

By year's end Mr. Netanyahu had agreed to limit Jewish settlements in Arab Jerusalem. But it appears that the golden era of Rabin and Peres for Israel has been crucified by 20th century Pharisees.

The round-up also obviously must include the mighty Americans who are still running largely a one-man show in the world, having got rid even of UN secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali who did not play the game according to Yankee rules. New Secretary General Koffi Annan apparently had to play ball with the US in the latest conflict with Saddam Hussein on the inspection of alleged chemical and biological weapons possessed by Iraq.

After Russia intervened to sort out a rumpus over weapons inspectors, the US is now insisting that Saddam's presidential palaces must be open for inspection. The Gulf War coalition has virtually fallen apart and the Iraqi people are being forced to pay for the sins of an Iraqi dictator and a world dictator.

In neighbouring Iran, the election of moderate president Mohammed Khatami brought about immediate improvements in relations with Arab and European countries and raised hopes for a better chapter in relations with the US.

If economics and politics were largely in a state of flux, it was not so with the march of the technological revolution.

We will soon have talking computers perhaps with a personality of their own, paperless offices and three in one television sets with built-in personal computers and Internet facilities.

In another year of amazing developments, earthlings received spectacular pictures from our neighbouring red planet Mars through the first autonomous vehicle Pathfinder that was landed there on July 4 and its little Rover. The dazzling show from mars sadly ended in November, probably with Rover's batteries running down.

In another great scientific achievement, in February the ewe Dolly was created by cloning - the first time a mammal was cloned from a cell other than a sperm or an egg.

This has sparked a heated debate involving ethics, science and religion.

But in other dimensions the once divided science and religion appear to be making friends and meeting at a point which might provide the theme and the thrust for the new millennium.

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