But our leaders steal ... How?
Time to exercise political will
ALONG THE WATCHTOWER
By M. VEERA PANDIYAN
Courageous leadership and commitment to do the right thing is needed, even in the face of criticisms or risks.
IT DOESN’T get any simpler than this. The strength of every society hinges on the quality and calibre of its leadership.
Successes and failures of nations can be easily traced to the roles and influences of their leaders.
History enables us to recognise the competent, dedicated, visionary leaders who rose to the occasion during times of trouble and uncertainty, along with the ambitious, vain, selfish and greedy ones who eventually messed up their countries, condemning millions into backwardness, strife and poverty.
Leaders play a crucial part in the political processes of countries, especially during turbulent times when changes for the better are desperately needed.
Leadership is not just about the status quo of those in power doing it in a different way.
It’s the ability to wield meaningful influence that extends beyond the scope of their authority.
The prerequisite for exerting such leadership is to clearly understand the nature of that particular society and the root problems that need to be fixed.
If leaders don’t understand the problems, or choose to turn a blind eye to them for political expediency, there won’t be any solutions.
In the case of Malaysia, that has been the case for too long.
For, most of the issues the country is grappling with now – good governance, education, economy, crime, racial and religious extremism and of course, our bloated civil service – the problem has always been not understanding the problems, or looking at the wrong places for solutions.
In his latest posting, Blogger Sakmongkol 47 – former Pulau Manis (Pahang) assemblyman Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz – wrote eloquently on the root causes of the ills plaguing the country, with special emphasis on the state of our civil service.
Among other things, he says: “We tweaked the system the wrong way, allowing those with lower abilities to come forward.
“Instead of excellence, which the PM desires, we are saddled with mediocrity. Why?
“Then we have those cunning characters, those who cut corners, those whose vocation is to be Man Fridays to superiors and rise to the top.
“We then have a civil service dominated by talent-deficient people.
“As it is, something must be terribly wrong with the elements of that foundation, if something such as that happened in Penang recently, where a senior government servant could speak ill of an elected head of the government.
“That such a character, if representative of the civil service as a whole, exists it means that the civil service can be potentially insubordinate.
“The elected political leadership cannot operate with an insubordinate civil service or even with a public servant that appears to be insubordinate.”
Sakmongkol 47 describes the character of the Malaysian civil service as “haughty at the top and mediocre at the lower levels”, adding that no politician has had the guts to say that it is rotten.
The no-holds barred commentary, now going viral over social networks, has drawn many responses, including some constructive comments.
As one reader of the blog put it, the blight is unlikely to be cured soon because of its complexity and that it was unlikely that the present government would “commit suicide”, as it would if it tried to do so.
For those who support the Opposition, the proffered solution as always, is to change the government, never mind the fact that a fair share of civil servants come from their ranks and therefore are part of the problem.
But there is no other time than now for political will to be exercised firmly.
There must be courageous leadership and commitment to do the right thing even in the face of criticisms or risks.
For the past three decades, we have had an endless stream of slogans – from Bersih Cekap Amanah and Malaysia Boleh to Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang and Work with Me, Not For Me to the current 1Malaysia.
There is no need for a survey to show that Malaysians are tired of such slogans.
There is little appetite for more verbal fodder if there are no tangible changes in attitudes or mindset.
Associate Editor M. Veera Pandiyan likes this Lao Tzu quote:
“To lead the people, walk behind them.”
ALONG THE WATCHTOWER
By M. VEERA PANDIYAN
Courageous leadership and commitment to do the right thing is needed, even in the face of criticisms or risks.
IT DOESN’T get any simpler than this. The strength of every society hinges on the quality and calibre of its leadership.
Successes and failures of nations can be easily traced to the roles and influences of their leaders.
History enables us to recognise the competent, dedicated, visionary leaders who rose to the occasion during times of trouble and uncertainty, along with the ambitious, vain, selfish and greedy ones who eventually messed up their countries, condemning millions into backwardness, strife and poverty.
Leaders play a crucial part in the political processes of countries, especially during turbulent times when changes for the better are desperately needed.
Leadership is not just about the status quo of those in power doing it in a different way.
It’s the ability to wield meaningful influence that extends beyond the scope of their authority.
The prerequisite for exerting such leadership is to clearly understand the nature of that particular society and the root problems that need to be fixed.
If leaders don’t understand the problems, or choose to turn a blind eye to them for political expediency, there won’t be any solutions.
In the case of Malaysia, that has been the case for too long.
For, most of the issues the country is grappling with now – good governance, education, economy, crime, racial and religious extremism and of course, our bloated civil service – the problem has always been not understanding the problems, or looking at the wrong places for solutions.
In his latest posting, Blogger Sakmongkol 47 – former Pulau Manis (Pahang) assemblyman Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz – wrote eloquently on the root causes of the ills plaguing the country, with special emphasis on the state of our civil service.
Among other things, he says: “We tweaked the system the wrong way, allowing those with lower abilities to come forward.
“Instead of excellence, which the PM desires, we are saddled with mediocrity. Why?
“Then we have those cunning characters, those who cut corners, those whose vocation is to be Man Fridays to superiors and rise to the top.
“We then have a civil service dominated by talent-deficient people.
“As it is, something must be terribly wrong with the elements of that foundation, if something such as that happened in Penang recently, where a senior government servant could speak ill of an elected head of the government.
“That such a character, if representative of the civil service as a whole, exists it means that the civil service can be potentially insubordinate.
“The elected political leadership cannot operate with an insubordinate civil service or even with a public servant that appears to be insubordinate.”
Sakmongkol 47 describes the character of the Malaysian civil service as “haughty at the top and mediocre at the lower levels”, adding that no politician has had the guts to say that it is rotten.
The no-holds barred commentary, now going viral over social networks, has drawn many responses, including some constructive comments.
As one reader of the blog put it, the blight is unlikely to be cured soon because of its complexity and that it was unlikely that the present government would “commit suicide”, as it would if it tried to do so.
For those who support the Opposition, the proffered solution as always, is to change the government, never mind the fact that a fair share of civil servants come from their ranks and therefore are part of the problem.
But there is no other time than now for political will to be exercised firmly.
There must be courageous leadership and commitment to do the right thing even in the face of criticisms or risks.
For the past three decades, we have had an endless stream of slogans – from Bersih Cekap Amanah and Malaysia Boleh to Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang and Work with Me, Not For Me to the current 1Malaysia.
There is no need for a survey to show that Malaysians are tired of such slogans.
There is little appetite for more verbal fodder if there are no tangible changes in attitudes or mindset.
Associate Editor M. Veera Pandiyan likes this Lao Tzu quote:
“To lead the people, walk behind them.”
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