From time immemorial, authoritarian regimes have always tried to show their goodness, which is mostly unreal. All the dictators and authoritarian regimes just want to consider themselves saints and just want to hear flattery and praise up to the clouds. Therefore, they always try to cover up with all the bad things, crimes and filth, not to let anyone know and not to let anyone see.
Therefore, their measure is to cover up, to hide all information that is unfavorable to them.
A dictatorship concentrates power in the hands of one person or a group of people, and no one has the right to object or criticize, so often mistakes or crimes happen. That habit of hiding makes them hide even innocuous information and does not allow people to question and comment on anything, no matter how small.
In the old days, in secretive societies, the majority of people didn’t know anything, just lived in silence, however, there was always a small group of people who wanted to find the truth, wanted to speak the truth, even though they have limited access of information.
But times have changed in Internet era, it is difficult for authoritarian regimes to continue to withhold information, no matter how highly confidential it is.
The state-controlled media, however, continued to behave as before, that is, to obey, only publishing news that had been censored by the propaganda agency. But social networks with personal channels cannot be hidden. If this channel is blocked, there will be thousands of other channels immediately spreading information. Even though the government is still trying to cover it up, their behavior only makes the public suspicious, makes their faces ugly and makes people increasingly distrust them.
For example, in the case of suspected rape of a HUFLIT student, the faster and more drastic the response of the government, the more people do not believe the government’s explanation. Most of them chose to believe the students, because their youth could not and did not dare to make up such a shocking story.
The way they deal with the media still follows the old way, making them self-defeating. Because, when not satisfied with official information from the government, people will find out on their own from outside information sources.
And that is indirectly creating conditions for fake news, conspiracy theories to spread. Then in turn, both real and fake news will continue to lead people to lose faith in the government and in the law.
At the same time, the inadequate handling will only make the anger in the hearts of the people pent up, until one day it will flare up. The government can suppress it once or twice but to some extent it will lose control.
The story of the young Khaled Said’s death due to a brutal beating by the Egyptian police, which led to a revolution to overthrow a dictatorship, is always a valuable lesson for dictatorships. The cause of the 2011 Arab Spring revolution was the government of dictator Hosni Mubarak choosing to cover up the police officers, withholding information and blaming the victims, causing outrage and the government lost control. That led to the Arab Spring Revolution that overthrew the Mubarak dictatorship.
Therefore, a wise government will choose to be transparent, adequately deal with small-scale violations and crimes, to avoid larger disruptions to the regime. By choosing transparency, the government will also regain the trust of the people.
Ordinary people always just want to have a peaceful life, take care of their families, elderly mothers and children… No one wants to worry about money, all day looking for “conspiracy to overthrow the regime.” Those who speak up, either because they are victims themselves, or because they cannot tolerate social injustice
Transparency of information, solving injustice in society, thus gaining the trust of the people and the new regime lasting.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
