黄大志：历史上有特权阶级自动放弃既得利益的吗？

在古代农业社会，特权阶级指的是封建制皇帝或国王和他的贵族权贵群。他们拥有大片国家最好的耕地，靠农奴制和佃农耕作土地，取得绝大部分农作物收获成果，农奴只获能维持再生产能力的分成而世代生存。国王和贵族群以及宗教领袖也是法律的制定者，所制律法基本是维护特权群体的权益。特权阶级需要宗教，因为宗教可以强化法律的权威，并以神权名份赋予特权阶级法定地位。但特权群体最惧怕的是外族入侵，因为一旦兵败城破，就将失去所有权益，还会经常家破人亡。哪历史上有没有特权阶级自动放弃既得利益的？当然有，但那基本是形势所迫，不得已而为之的结果。

历史上特权阶级自动放弃权益先例
特权阶级的崛起，通常是靠政治与军事上的先发优势，然后通过控制宗教和法律。在古代中国，宗教便是“天命”，古代巴比伦和希腊及罗马的宗教是圣殿供奉的多神教。自4世纪罗马皇帝皈依天主教后，独神上帝便逐渐取代了欧洲的原始多神教。公元7世纪后的伊斯兰世界，独神论的伊斯兰教也与特权阶级政教合一，分别成了具有政治军事和祭祀神明的两种权威的特权阶级。

在中外封建制度下，特权阶级均享有领主特权和免税特权。但特权阶级还是有自动放弃特权的时候。纵观历史，这类事件通常发生在统治阶层面对外部巨大的革命威胁，统治阶层内部为了换取国家生存与政权合法性的特殊情况下发生的。法国大革命便是一个典型案例。1789年法国大革命爆发初期，农民暴动冲击封建庄园，城市贫民武装攻击监狱和政府军队。为了挽救国家危机，一些开明的贵族和教士带头主张放弃封建特权。敌对双方在激烈又妥协氛围中，通过议会讨论，宣布废除特权法令，实现了法律面前人人平等的纲领。这里必须说明的重点是，法律面前人人平等的思想早在大革命前，通过卢梭等哲学家的著作，已广泛在法国流传，影响深及有社会良知的贵族和教士。

另一案例可说是日本明治维新初期（1869-1871年）的“版籍奉还”与“废藩置县”事件。明治维新初期，日本处于“内忧外患”之际，但仍面临封建藩镇割据。1869年，中央政府为了实现国家现代化与中央集权，明治政府与藩主们协商，以国家利益为出发点，劝说藩主主动放弃世袭领地所有权和特权地位，换取政府的高额俸禄。

以上所举两个例子，似乎好像说明废除特权都得靠由上而下之举措，而非由下而上推动的果实。细想起来还真是如此！以法国大革命来说，纵使农民要废除封建特权，但没有开明的贵族和教士带头主张放弃封建特权，反而是采取镇压农民行动，结局还不知道会如何。由下而上推动的农民革命，中国历代案例多的是，陈胜吴广之反暴秦、汉末张梁兄弟的黄巾造反、唐末的黄巢起义，以至明末的李自成和张献忠的反叛，都不可能出现废除特权的模范。因为他们如果成功，就直接变成新的全国大地主，需靠维护特权来统治万民。朱元璋推翻元朝建立明朝，其朝纲较前朝更为专制残酷，屠杀众多贪腐官僚不过是为巩固家天下长期统治而已！

废除旧制改创新制在现代东亚社会也有新例。从台湾地区的的民主化过程看，即使在蒋介石掌控时期有过雷震等的民主抗争形成一股政治压力，但如蒋经国不在1987年就开始由上而下解除戒严、开放党禁与报禁，台湾的民主化转型、促进公民社会成长和重用台湾本土精英是否已经发生还真难说。

以上历史事例告诉我们，由上而下的路线对改变既有社会不公正政策非常关键。对当前政局混乱和族群分裂的马来西亚来说，国家最迫切需要的是马来高级知识分子的带头，把“国家利益至上”取代“种族利益至上”以及“法律面前人人平等”的理念，深入向马来中底层民众宣传，深深影响其精神和内心世界，揭穿马来种族政党常挂在嘴边扶持马来人的虚假真面目，才是最有效的方法。

因为一旦马来中底层民众有了觉悟，他们才不会再受马来种族主义政客的煽动和道德绑架，把选票投给他们。就像当年法国大革命一般，马来中底层民众联合华、印族冲击代表马来上层利益的政府，这样才能最终带来取消政府的种族偏袒政策。取消种族特权的好处非常多，它换取了政权的稳定，外资和国内资本的安全和国际竞争力的提升，根除拥有特权者对政府的高度依赖性，改变人生观、积极努力参与社会贡献力量，靠本身努力取得成功。从此，种族之间的和睦关系将逐步获得改善，马来中底层民众也会在自动自发努力、各族互相配合下，生计获得巨大改善。

黄大志《历史上有特权阶级自动放弃既得利益的吗？》原文：Have there ever been instances in history where privileged classes voluntarily relinquished their vested interests?

In ancient agrarian societies, privileged classes referred to feudal emperors or kings and their noble aristocracy. They possessed vast tracts of the nation's best arable land, cultivating it through serfdom and tenant farming, reaping the bulk of the crop harvest. Serfs received only a share just sufficient to sustain their reproductive capacity for survival. Kings, nobles, and religious leaders were also lawmakers, and the laws they created primarily protected the rights of the privileged group. The privileged classes needed religion because it reinforced the authority of the law and granted them legal status through divine authority. However, the privileged groups’ greatest fear was foreign invasion, because defeat and the fall of their kingdom meant the loss of all their rights, often resulting in the destruction of their families and homes. Have there ever been instances in history where privileged classes voluntarily relinquished their vested interests? Of course, but these were generally forced upon them by circumstances, a result of unavoidable circumstances.
Historical precedents of privileged classes voluntarily relinquishing their rights

The rise of privileged classes typically relied on initial political and military advantages, followed by control over religion and law. In ancient China, religion was considered "the Mandate of Heaven." Ancient Babylonian, Greek, and Roman religions were polytheistic, with temples dedicated to deities. After the Roman emperor, Constantine converted to Catholicism in the 4th century, a monotheistic God gradually replaced the original polytheistic religions of Europe. In the Islamic world after the 7th century AD, monotheistic Islam also merged with the theocracy of the privileged class, forming two distinct privileged classes with separate political and military authorities and those responsible for worshipping deities.

Under feudal systems both in China and abroad, the privileged classes enjoyed lordly privileges and tax exemptions. However, there were times when these privileged classes would voluntarily relinquish their privileges. Historically, such events typically occurred when the ruling class faced a significant external revolutionary threat, or when internal struggles within the ruling class were necessary to secure national survival and legitimacy. The French Revolution is a prime example. In the early stages of the French Revolution in 1789, peasant uprisings stormed feudal manors, and urban poor attacked prisons and government troops. To save the nation from crisis, some enlightened nobles and clergy led the advocacy for the relinquishment of feudal privileges. In an atmosphere of intense conflict and compromise, the opposing sides, through parliamentary debate, announced the abolition of privilege laws, thus realizing the principle of equality before the law. It is crucial to note that the idea of equality before the law had already been widely circulated in France before the French Revolution, through the works of philosophers such as Rousseau, deeply influencing even socially conscious nobles and clergy.

Another example is the "return of land and property to the emperor" and "abolition of feudal domains and establishment of prefectures" events in the early Meiji Restoration period in Japan (1869-1871). At the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, Japan was facing both internal and external threats but still struggled with the fragmentation of feudal domains. In 1869, to modernize the nation and centralize power, the Meiji government negotiated with the feudal lords, persuading them, based on national interests, to voluntarily relinquish their hereditary land ownership and privileged status in exchange for high government stipends.
These two examples seem to suggest that the abolition of privileges requires top-down measures, rather than bottom-up initiatives. Upon closer examination, this is indeed the case! In the case of the French Revolution, even though the peasants wanted to abolish feudal privileges, without enlightened nobles and clergy leading the way in advocating for their abandonment, and instead resorting to suppression, the outcome would have been uncertain. Throughout Chinese history, there are numerous examples of peasant revolutions driven from the bottom up: Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's rebellion against the Qin Dynasty, the Yellow Turban Rebellion of the Zhang brothers at the end of the Han Dynasty, the Huang Chao Rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and even the rebellions of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Nevertheless, none of these rebellions could produce a model for abolishing privileges. This is because if they succeeded, they would directly become new nationwide landowners as new emperors who would need a privileged class to help maintain their absolute rule over the masses. Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and established the Ming Dynasty in 1368 was even more autocratic and brutal than his predecessors; his massacre of numerous corrupt officials was merely to consolidate his long-term dynastic rule.

In modern East Asian societies, the abolition of old dictatorial systems and the creation of new ones also have some examples. Looking at Taiwan's democratization process, even during Chiang Kai-shek's rule, the democratic struggles of figures like Lei Zhen did create pressure for political change. However, if Chiang Ching-kuo hadn't initiated the top-down lifting of martial law, liberalization of political parties and the press in 1987, it's questionable whether Taiwan's democratic transformation, the growth of civil society, and the promotion of local elites would have occurred.

These historical examples tell us that a top-down approach is crucial for changing existing policies of social injustice. For Malaysia, currently facing political turmoil and ethnic division, the most urgent need is for senior Malay intellectuals to take the lead in replacing "racial interests first" with "national interests first," and to deeply instil the concepts of "equality for all races before the law" in the Malay middle and lower classes. Doing so would profoundly educate their spirit and influence their inner world outlook, thus exposing the falsehoods of Malay racial-biased political parties' constant claims of supporting Malays. This is the most effective method. Once the Malay middle and lower classes are awakened, they will no longer be swayed and morally blackmailed by Malay racial-biased politicians and will no longer cast their votes for them. Just like the French Revolution, the lower and middle classes of Malays, together with the Chinese and Indian communities, come out to challenge the government representing the interests of the Malay upper class. Only in this way could the abolition of racially biased government policies be achieved. Abolishing racial privileges has numerous benefits: it ensures political stability, the security of foreign and domestic capital, and enhanced international competitiveness; it eradicates the excessive dependence of privileged individuals on the government; it changes their outlook on life, encouraging them to actively participate in society and contribute to society, achieving success through their own efforts. From then on, harmonious relations between races will gradually improve, and the livelihoods of the lower and middle classes of Malays will be greatly improved through their own voluntary efforts and cooperation among all races.

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