great expectations?
One could not help but to notice that the political climate in Malaysia have been a lot warmer than usual for the past few weeks which mainly manifested itself in our politicians exploring their full range of human emotions; there's denial, scorn, resentment, anger, regret and dissapoinment.
The only other place where Malaysians could be treated to such a bizzare confluence of conflicting emotions is in the reality TV show Malaysian Idol or Akademi Fantasia.
Indeed, I find Malaysian politicians to be a queer bunch; their behavior sometimes does not reflect the qualities one normally expects from a leader.
I believe a partial reason for this - and this is my personal view - is that our politicians are unable to fully grasp the expectations which the public have in them. They are unclear about the kind of tasks, the nature of challenges, the amount of workload and the necessary skills which their post entails.
Granted, one does not expect a politician to be extremely well-versed in all of these things before taking the post; a politician also needs to have the willingness to learn and listen, not afraid to make mistakes in order to better themselves besides being able to humbly admit their mistakes.
Therefore, a politician should have both the prerequisite knowledge and skills to begin with and at the same time, must be willing to learn and acquire new ones. Ideally, these two traits are not mutually exclusive. Ideally that is.
When a politician have a clear idea of the things that are expected from them when they take up a certain post, they would at least think twice before complaining of not having enough time, of having too much work to do, of having too little salary to go around, of not being able to lead a normal life far from the prying eyes of the media. They will be a little less hesitant to react irrationally when scrutinized by the public, lashed out at their critics or to make seemingly absent minded comments.
They will put less importance of superficial, cosmetic, short-term and adhoc measures and gains and more on substantial, wholesome and long term measures and gains. They will think less of their own political survival and more on the well-being of the people they are elected to serve.
Politicians will realize that the public are their real masters - not vice versa - and that they are accountable for their every actions.
And even though I used the word 'politicians', I believe that similar arguments applies to leaders or all kinds as well, be it from a leader of a student body to a president running a country.
I always believed that the tasks of a leader are two-fold: first, they must ensure the smooth running of the organization they are leading and second, they must seek to improve and develop the organization itself.
Some people will focus more on the latter rather than the former; they think that the latter will guarantee the creation of their own legacy or imprint their mark on the history of that organization. But I think the former is no less effective in doing that.
It is when they tried too hard to accomplish the latter that they will go to great lengths to gain attention when ideally one should let one's success and achievements speaks for itself; besides, the legacy of good and great leader would naturally outlive the term of the leader in office.
It is precisely when that fails that they start to bear their whole soul to the public, resulting in the desperate, excessive and ugly display of emotions.
The only other place where Malaysians could be treated to such a bizzare confluence of conflicting emotions is in the reality TV show Malaysian Idol or Akademi Fantasia.
Indeed, I find Malaysian politicians to be a queer bunch; their behavior sometimes does not reflect the qualities one normally expects from a leader.
I believe a partial reason for this - and this is my personal view - is that our politicians are unable to fully grasp the expectations which the public have in them. They are unclear about the kind of tasks, the nature of challenges, the amount of workload and the necessary skills which their post entails.
Granted, one does not expect a politician to be extremely well-versed in all of these things before taking the post; a politician also needs to have the willingness to learn and listen, not afraid to make mistakes in order to better themselves besides being able to humbly admit their mistakes.
Therefore, a politician should have both the prerequisite knowledge and skills to begin with and at the same time, must be willing to learn and acquire new ones. Ideally, these two traits are not mutually exclusive. Ideally that is.
When a politician have a clear idea of the things that are expected from them when they take up a certain post, they would at least think twice before complaining of not having enough time, of having too much work to do, of having too little salary to go around, of not being able to lead a normal life far from the prying eyes of the media. They will be a little less hesitant to react irrationally when scrutinized by the public, lashed out at their critics or to make seemingly absent minded comments.
They will put less importance of superficial, cosmetic, short-term and adhoc measures and gains and more on substantial, wholesome and long term measures and gains. They will think less of their own political survival and more on the well-being of the people they are elected to serve.
Politicians will realize that the public are their real masters - not vice versa - and that they are accountable for their every actions.
And even though I used the word 'politicians', I believe that similar arguments applies to leaders or all kinds as well, be it from a leader of a student body to a president running a country.
I always believed that the tasks of a leader are two-fold: first, they must ensure the smooth running of the organization they are leading and second, they must seek to improve and develop the organization itself.
Some people will focus more on the latter rather than the former; they think that the latter will guarantee the creation of their own legacy or imprint their mark on the history of that organization. But I think the former is no less effective in doing that.
It is when they tried too hard to accomplish the latter that they will go to great lengths to gain attention when ideally one should let one's success and achievements speaks for itself; besides, the legacy of good and great leader would naturally outlive the term of the leader in office.
It is precisely when that fails that they start to bear their whole soul to the public, resulting in the desperate, excessive and ugly display of emotions.
posted by wanaimran at
2:45 AM
4 Comments:
I have to agree to what our well-learned friend said in his 'great expectation article?'.
That is why I always belief that a politician is always a representative a.k.a. 'wakil rakyat' of their constituents and not otherwise i.e. 'wakil diri'. That is why they ('wakil rakyat') should have a proper system in running the office of 'wakil rakyat'. If they don't already have, they should have officers (and not "spin doctors") to actually assist them in research work, data gatherings, record keeping, speech writings and public speaking, just to name a few. For example, do they have a detailed breakdown of their contituencies e.g. in terms of economy, so that they can effectively manage the contituency?
They should have a systematic approach in serving their contituents. They should not just give lip service and come and go every five years with no or little progress. Progress in every sense that is.
With all due respect, if you look around you today you will hear a lot of foolish remarks or statements by our politicians. That makes you wonder do they know the responsibility that comes with the office or do they know what they are doing or.........
The responsibility of a politician, or any leader for that matter, is much greater then one can imagine. The responsibility is not only to your constituents but to ultimate Owner - your Creator. If one really know the responsibility.
if such is the case, i think we won't reach the level we are at now...
the problem is that some of them are so out of touch with reality that even such things doesn't resonate with them...
but is it also our fault for selecting them to their positions?
then again, the selection pool is a small one (rather like a paddling pool than an olympic one). capable leaders don't become politicians in malaysia. no one's ever taught us that maybe we should give back to society when we are in the position to. No, we grumble about the apathetic situation and then leave the country... for good. leaves us with nitwits for wakil rakyats - people who want power and respect but can't earn it.
i think political patronage is so entrenched into the malaysian psyche to the extent that most of the malaysian public have grown apathetic to the faults and wrongdoings of our politicians.
at times, we are too busy protecting our own interests which prevented us from truly pursuing the calls of political transparency and integrity.
granted, the calls for greater political accountability and scrutiny have been growing for the past few years, aided by the increasing proliferation of political awareness by a few select members of the public.
but like i said before, as long as malaysians are not willing to wean away from such patronage system AND ensure that our leaders are held fully accountable for their acts - as long as we don't make that choice - real change could and would not occur.
however, i must fairly admit that the malays - which made up most of the government officers and workers - have to make a bigger, more profound paradigm leap compared to the other races; hopefully, the sweeping political reforms we are willing to undertake will induce good and transparent governance where one's abilities carries far more weightage than one's race or connections.
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