'We must each always think first
of Malaysia, of the national need and least of ourselves. Everyone must try to
help and see that the people are one-minded,
with loyalty and one aim, to make
Malaysia – the land we love-a happy
abode for all of us. If we all do this then we can guarantee liberty, security,
prosperity, and happiness for the future.’
Tunku Abdul Rahman
Our founding father of this
nation had a clear vision for our country. Even though, we are independence
state but our minds still by colonized by ‘modern’ domestic imperialists. As Tunku
has quoted we have to put the interest of this nation above own interest.
Our love for this nation is
unconditional. Further, he has aspired that if all Malaysians can work together
than the country will be prospered in future.
Our paramount duty as the
citizens of this nation is to keep the sovereignty and create a better place
for our next generation.
Whether our country is on the right
path to achieve this aspiration?
Do we have the visionary and
patriotic leaders to materialize this aim?
We are just the ordinary
citizens. We don’t understand the political games. But, we care for this
country. We desire to have leaders who are care for this beloved nation.
Our current and future economic
situation is so bleak. Ordinary people lost their jobs. Now, families with more
than three children in a real hardship. Rural folks facing unprecedented
adversity.
We just wanted to know from our
leaders, is there any solution for these problems?
Nelson Mandela in his
autobiography has cited that the most enduring example of leadership and
affirmation of human dignity in the face of racial oppression (during the
apartheid era), lies in the transformation that he underwent during almost
three decades in jail. Further he stressed that his contribution is to be
assessed as somebody who carried out decision taken by that collective.
Nelson Mandela is a statesman who
scarified his life for his people and to his nation as a whole. In Malaysia,
our founding fathers including our first Prime Minister had such a quality. Most
recently, we have witnessed, Tok Guru Nik Aziz possessed such an eminence.
Leaders must or at least willing
to sacrifice for their nation. Great leaders like Mandela, Gandhi, Tunku, Jose
Rizal and Tok Guru Nik Aziz had shown this characteristic. Therefore, they are
highly revered as the ultimate asset in their country.
Al-Farabi, one of the greatest
Islamic philosophers, had alluded that a good state is a natural state and it
is only natural for human beings to want to be happy and further he said it is
the responsibility of the state to insure that its citizens be happy.
As the citizens of this nation,
are we happy now? The answer is no.
With the current political and
economic uncertainty, we are not happy. In accordance with Al-Farabi, it is the
state’s/leaders’ obligation to make its citizens happy.
For an example, recently, the
notion of rule of law is not been observed properly. Even though the law must
treat everyone equally and the law must be supreme but lately these notions were
become less eminent.
We are enormously understanding
the difficult phase facing by this nation. We are willing to do anything for
the benefit of this nation. But, we also expecting our leaders to contribute by scarifying their personal
interest for the betterment of this country.
Political morality is a practice
should have possessed by all leaders. Some good statesmen like Mandela, Gandhi
and Tok Guru Nik Aziz had infatuated with such a quality. Their political judgments
and policies are based on the political ethics.
Further, a good leader should
also have the character of accountability, transparency and integrity. In past
three decades, we are lacking of such leaders in this country.
In a democratic process, the
leaders are representative of their people. They are voices of people. They
must listen and accommodate to the public wishes. Not the other way around. They are servants
to the people. A good leader will command his people wisely but an autocratic
leader will rule his own people deviously. The latter will be enthroned
unexpectedly and the punishment will be austere.
In a mature democracy like in United
Kingdom (UK), the people role to determine their destiny is very essential.
Former Prime Minister, David Cameron had a referendum on 23 March 2016, as a part
of his election promise. He is very much in favour for UK to be remained within
European Union (EU). But, the people went against with his wishes. He resigned immediately
and Theresa May becomes the new Prime Minster.
In 2017, she called for a snap
election to get a good mandate from people to execute her plan for Brexit. But,
her conservative party’s lost majority in Parliament. Later, her proposals were
defeated. In 2019, she resigned and Boris Johnson elected as Conservative
leader. He becomes new Prime Minster. He called for a snap election with one
promise that he needs a full mandate to take out UK from EU. His party won
landslide victory and on 31 January this year, UK is out of EU.
This Brexit saga shows that the
leaders have to obey and accomplish the aspirations of people. If they fail,
then through the general election these leaders can be voted out by the same
people.
Most of the corrupted and
autocratic leaders have had the mind of imperialist. With the power and money,
they possessed, they falsely believed they are supreme. The history had proven
in multiple occasions that these leaders will be removed and punished by
people. For example, Charles Taylor from Liberia and Ferdinand Marcos.
John A. Hobson is an English
economist. His book, Imperialism was published in 1902. He argued that, ‘the
services offer the cleanest and most natural support to an aggressive foreign
policy; expansion of the empire appeals powerfully to the aristocracy and the
professional classes by offering new and ever-growing fields for the honorable
and profitable employment of their sons.’
The ruling class always has the
mind of imperialist. The elite group in any society wants to control the public
and nation for their own political and economic gains. For them, the
‘outsiders’ are subservient to them and they have the right on them
forever. They will control the public
with money and reward them with aids. Further, they will use race and religion
as factors to influence the public’s mind by creating anxiety and fear to get
their support to rule them.
Immanuel Wallerstein is a sociologist.
He defined "a world-system is a social system, one that has boundaries,
structures, member groups, rules of legitimization, and coherence. Its life is
made up of the conflicting forces which hold it together by tension and tear it
apart as each group seeks eternally to remold it to its advantage. It has the
characteristics of an organism, in that is has a lifespan over which its
characteristics change in some respects and remain stable in others… Life
within it is largely self-contained, and the dynamics of its development are
largely internal."
Based on his theory, his
political arguments are firstly, the States are used by class forces to pursue
their interest. Secondly, imperialism means the control of dominant countries on
the weaker states. Thirdly, hegemony define as the dominant state briefly outshining
others and conserve power for their gain. This power is impermanent as to the
class struggle which will flow with technical rewards. He concluded that it is
a class tussle.
The rise and fall of any dynasty
or empires in the world theater is inevitable. When they fall, they will create
a hostile environment to be retained in power. Naturally that will work against
them. The fall of British and Mughal empires and the political parties like Kuomintang,
LDP and Congress are the evidence. This theory illustrates that position and
power in politics is not perpetual. The good deeds that the leaders have
contributed to the people and country is always well reminisced and they are considered
as the statesmen.
In a nutshell, Malaysia needs
good leaders. These leaders must be noble and patriotic people. They must be
visionary. The sovereignty of this
country is paramount. The leaders must protect the interest of this nation from
emerging new neo-colonialist. The main reason for many failed states arisen from
leaders who are incompetent, corrupted and egocentric. These leaders put their
interest more than state’s interest.
© Copyrights Reserved. 2020.
19.05.2020
Kuala Lumpur
Comments