King Solomon in his wisdom said that “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the son.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) This is a true statement from King Solomon. The book in question, “A Modern History of Hong Kong” by Steve Tsang speaks volume about personal leadership ambitions, especially during colonization. We have always seen many people wanting to domineer the other human beings especially on matters of economy and politics. This book brings to my memory so many things after an experience of the British colonial background where i was born. Kenya was a British colony up to the mid-1960s when they gave the country independence in 1963. But still, their colonialist’s impact continued to date. That is why the famous South African freedom fighter Steve Biko said, “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.\u201d This statement has a terrible reverse after many years of liberation where the oppressed merely flip the power structure and become oppressors themselves.<\/p>\n
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ARE HUMAN BEINGS MEANT TO RULE OVER OTHERS?<\/strong><\/p>\n The book of Matthew 7:12 states that \u201cSo in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. For this sums up the law and the prophets.” It is astonishing to see how a small country like Britain arose up and started colonizing the whole world. It affected many countries like Africa which has remained in the cycle of postcolonial imprisonment forever. Many cultures were destroyed and replaced with was meant to be the best culture over what the ecosystems they grew it was. Kenya as one of the British colonies is still experiencing the post-colonial syndrome. Our self-development ladder was destroyed and replaced with what was not in our DNA, and that is why many Africa countries are still lingering in poverty and corruption, even after many years of independent. It is not that resources are scarce but because of the oppressed flipped the structure and is now the oppressor to their people.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Modern History of Hong Kong book paints a similar picture from what we have experienced in African countries in the initial entry stages but towards the end of the book the story changes to a better scenario than the beginning. As usual, we could see the entrance of the British was not for the interest of the Chinese living there but was for their interest and whatever they did was to ensure the British interest is met first. It was fascinating to see that the selling of Opium to the Chinese was a big thing for the British who made their national budget based on the income from the sale of opiumto the Chinese. They did not care what effects the opium caused the Chinese community but what they cared most was the income. Even when the Chinese tried to stop and burned the selling of opium, the British waged an imperial war against the Chinese for refusing to buy their opium which the British themselves were not using. This imperial war for economic benefits and doing so to impose a contraband drug that the imperial power itself deemed immoral, was absurd.Malcolm X once said “If you stick a knife in my back 9 inches and pull it out 6 inches, that is not progress. If you pull it all the way out, that is not progress. The progress comes from healing the wound that the blow made. They have not begun to pull the knife out\u2026. They will not even admit the knife is there.”<\/em> Malcolm X well describes the effect of colonisation in the above statement. We are feeling the same in our Africa states that were colonized, and we can see all the blame coming from all over how the Africans are killing themselves. All these are because of the post-colonial syndrome. This has created an avenue of always defending themselves when they do wrong and blaming on the colonization effects. Bad leaders are doing things intentionally and hiding behind the colonization although it has some percentage in the effects of leadership.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Hong Kong scenario brings the other side of colonialism that later turned positive to the Chinese in Hong Kong. In the 1980s we saw the imperial rule in this part of the world transform itself to the best possible government in Chinese political tradition. Its only in Hong Kong I can see the British government changing the colour from selfishness to caring for the people they were ruling. They turned into an efficiency, fairness, honesty, benevolent paternalism and non-intrusion into the lives of the ordinary people. It is here we can connect with what Malcolm X was talking about the 9 inches knife and pulling out and doing the healing of the wound. This was not done in most African countries to date.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The oppressed of colonialized mind takes many years to reverse to the right one. Remember it is the whole intellect of human that is being suppressed from doing anything worthy. The South African is the best example, who remained in colonialization for many years and after the country is back on its own but is facing a series of challenges. Zimbabwe is equally on the same line that de-colonialization is taking too long to realise the goals of better leadership. However, I am impressed that the British continued interrelating well with the culture of Chinese in building the Hong Kong community.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" King Solomon in his wisdom said that “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the son.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) This is a true statement from King Solomon. 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