Viva democracy!

Viva democracy!
| Mon, 07/14/2008
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/07/14/letter-viva-democracy.html

Robert Mugabe is in the news for having steamrolled his way to another term as Zimbabwe's president!
His opponent complained about violence and the killing of his supporters and withdrew from the election though he had won more votes than Mugabe in the first round and would have surely defeated him in a one-on-one election.
Then Mugabe went to attend the meeting of heads of state of the African Union (AU). There was a lot of talk of the AU refusing to admit him or condemning him. I believed these reports until I saw the proceedings on TV.
Then I remembered the famous Biblical story of how Jesus saved a woman (who had allegedly sinned) from being killed by a stone-throwing mob by saying, "Let him throw the first stone who has never sinned."
The mob dispersed.
A similar situation arose in the AU meeting when the question arose: Who will condemn him? When I saw the faces of most of the leaders and looked for someone who had won a genuine, free and fair election, I couldn't find many faces there!
Most of them were those who had usurped power (military dictators), inherited power (kings, sheiks) or won sham elections.
So the question arose: Who will condemn Mugabe?
Another question arose: Why only Mugabe?
Result: No condemnation. Like the mob in the biblical story, this "mob" also dispersed quietly! Viva democracy!
K. B. KALE, Jakarta