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Last week's riots in the streets of Urumqi have brought someserious realities to the fore. One, innocent lives were lost,and the people responsible are not the lawless arsonists andgangs of roaming street hooligans but the leaders of the PRC.The leaders of the PRC have learnt nothing from last year'sorchestrated riots in the streets of Lhasa. There, innocentlives were lost too and their properties burnt.More than ever, the leaders of the PRC are going overtime incavorting and frolicking and generally going about trying tomake love with foreign leaders, especially those in the West.The leaders in the West only view them as nothing more thanpolitical prostitues, trying to win favour and approval foreven more dazzling GDP growth and the accompanying applause.On 12 July, our local station ran a programme reviewing theunrest in Urumqi and the 'conclusion' was it was caused by'oppression and discrimination'. The PRC leaders should nowexplain if the republic has passed and practised laws to sucheffect. To oppress and discriminate against minorities.In many countries, including the US, laws were passed to allowdiscrimination and prosecution of minorities, especially in thecase of discrimination against people of Chinese descent. Insome of these countries, such laws are still in force even today.Perhaps the PRC is among one of these countries.In Urumqi, just as in Lhasa, the video cameras and the sideshowfreaks were out in force. Interviews and closed up shots andvideos showing emotionally charged actors and their supportingcast were made and distributed and worldwide anger aroused.PRC flags were set on fire and embassies attacked and foreignpoliticians were quick to issue denunciations. Surprising, thosesimilar street unrests in Kashmir did not merit such treatment.In many street unrests around the world which target minorities,especially minorities of Asian or Chinese descent, propertieswere set on fire and innocent people injured or murdered. Thelocal police were usually helpless and now in the PRC, the samething has occurred. Los Angeles, Jakarta, Medan, Kuala Lumpur,Tonga, Solomon Islands and many other places have witnessedsuch happenings. And now, places like Lhasa and Urumqi have joinedthe list. While the PRC leaders could do nothing for farawayplaces, at least they should have guaranteed protection, safetyand the rule of law for places inside the PRC. But they failedto do so.Another stark reality is the response of world voices like theUN chief and that of the White House. Such voices carried theimplied message that the PRC was at fault. Therefore, the PRCwas in the same class or league as Darfur or Bosnia and in thefuture, UN intervention might be necessary. Since the Coalitionforces are just nearby in Afghanistan, these troops could beuseful as the spearhead of a peacekeeping UN force.This possibility could only come about due to the reckless anddirectionless leadership of the PRC. And today, nothing has so

far indicated that the PRC leadership is awake to this possiblefuture scenario.Perhaps the PRC leadership is of the view that some innocentlives needed to be sacrificed in order to gain acceptance andapproval and friendship from abroad. Certainly, the past tormentexperienced by the people has been thoroughly forgotten. Thiscould explain why Japan has consistently refused to pay anycompensation to the victims of forced labour, sex slavery, humanexperimentations and the like. Even appeals to the Japanesecourts of law have been totally fruitless.The PRC leadership has also conveniently forgotten that the countrywas almost selected to join Hiroshima and Nagasaki more than oncein the recent past. During the Korean War, the American militaryleadership urged the US government to use atomic bombs against thecountry. And during the 1954 cross-shelling between the PRC andthe ROC, the US military leadership again recommended for the useof atomic weapons against the PRC. And in 1955, Dulles, the USSecretary of State publicly made the threat of a 'possible nuclearstrike' against the PRC. This was soon followed by a statementfrom Carney that the US President was planning to 'destroy' thePRC. A decade later, the USSR was to make a similar threat.The PRC leadership would be most responsible if ever a foreignpower deemed it necessary to intervene inside the PRC or to usenuclear weapons against the country. The leadership has certainlyfailed to learn anything from the past lessons of history.A weak and totally unprepared people allowed Western powers andlater, Japan, to run riot all over the place. Later, the US couldfreely issued multiple threats of nuclear Armageddon against thepeople, followed later by the USSR. The sufferings and helplessnessof the past have no effect on the present PRC leadership today.They are merrily trying to make love with foreigners, even thoughthe foreigners are viewing them as nothing more than prostitutes.The people have the right to demand a leadership that is ready toguard their security and safety and their continued prosperity.If any leadership failed to do so, it should be replaced. Thisis the harsh reality today. A failure must be put aside. Only thecapable and the responsible should be allowed to gain leadership.A good capable leader knows what to do. He is not interested inmaking pretty speeches and uttering pompous words. He knows thatactions speak louder than words. No need for big but empty slogans."Better future" ? Yes, but only if it can be grasped in the hand.No hot air needed. Not at all.A good capable leader knows that frolicking with the fake and thefalse is very dangerous. He should never forget the words spokenby the late Zhou Enlai. After Zhou met with the KMT shortly afterhis return from Europe, he said to a close confidant: They (the KMT)are nothing more than a bunch of treacherous characters.The fake and the false with their artificial and empty smilesshould be avoided at all costs. This is a lesson that shouldnever be missed by any PRC leadership worth its salt.