Ruling humbly

Went for a performance called "Jewel of Tibet" last night, on the same night that the 12th Malaysian election results trickled in. While the former told the fictional story of a Tang dynasty princess who gave up her home to marry the King of Tubo (Tibet), the election results yielded the biggest loss in the ruling coalition's history.

Although the musical may have been fictional, the early history of China's dominance on the world arena isn't. What was most interesting was that while it was one of the world's most powerful nation at that time (circa. 14th century), it nonetheless ruled with a certain degree of humility, "giving away" its princesses for marriage in faraway lands that were considered much weaker. It conquered lands tens of thousands of miles away, only to have them pay token sums as tribute in exchange for at least 2 or 3 times the value of what was paid.

What am I driving at here?

China then (and hopefully now, too!) knew the value of humility. A totally awesome idealogy that blew my mind away! It was totally revolutionary then, it is still revolutionary by today's standards - to rule with humility.

Retrospectively, the results of the Malaysian election yielded endings to many of the ruling coalition's prominent figures who were just outright arrogant after having ruled unquestioned for umpteenth years (I have personally met many. And yes, they were arrogant).

The Biblical verse of Proverbs 29:23 still rings true then: "A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit".