The Next Prime Minister of Malaysia
By Bob Teoh (Sin Chew Daily)
In a little while, the fifth prime minister of the country will finally step down before completing his full term of office under pressure from his own party. The party has already arranged for another from among its 3.2 million members to take over as the sixth PM.
Meanwhile, the former PM who has resigned from the party in a huff because the incumbent has earlier refused step down to take responsibility for ruling coalition’s dismal outing at the last general elections in March of last year, has offered his opinion on how the next PM should pick his cabinet
In a nutshell, the octogenarian made the point that the next PM and his cabinet must be people of clean hands.
How then do we pick a prime minister and cabinet ministers whose integrity are beyond question? How do we ensure that every branch of the government – from the legislative, the executive, the judiciary, His majesty’s loyal opposition, the civil service and the fourth estate – perform their duties without the slightest hint of corruption?
What do we expect of someone who wants to be our prime minister? It is all about character.
| "It’s all about character. It’s not about the art of politics but the heart of leadership." |
The Chinese of old has a simple way for this. Confucius is recorded in the Analects IV: 16 as saying: The Master said, “The gentleman understands Yi (义). The small man understands Li（利）.
Yi (义) refers to righteousness, justice, right conduct, morality, duty to one's neighbor, and the like while Li （利）refers to profit, gain or advantage which is not a proper motive for actions affecting others. The idea is that profit is the source of temptation to do wrong.
The Bible puts it succinctly: “Do not consider his appearance or his height for I (God) have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
The context of this verse is that Saul, the first king of Israel, was found wanting and the prophet Samuel was sent to anoint another in his place. When Samuel came across a candidate whom he thought suitable as he had all the appearances of what it takes to be a good king, God told him to reject this candidate.
Eventually, an unlikely alternative was chosen – a shepherd boy called David, who became the most famous of ancient Israel’s kings. Outward appearance or spin failed to impress in this instance, and rightly so.
Thus, the prime minister that we want is someone who is righteous and just and not prone to the temptation of doing wrong. One whose heart must be right before man and God.
Similarly, there are also many more reasons why those who are vying for positions with thick wads of cash must not be given government positions however big their margins of victory in their coming party elections. Only those whose hands are clean can hold public office.
Two things are noteworthy here in the manner the presumptive prime minister is chosen. Firstly, he has not been elected party president. This is because practically no one was allowed to challenge him. Therefore, you and I have no choice but to accept a walk-over as prime minister.
This effectively means that the whole country of 27 million people may now have to live under a PM given to us by the 2,500 power brokers of this party.
The practice of choosing a country’s leaders in this manner is only done in Communist countries. The fortune of the millions in the country hinges on whether such leaders turn out to be benevolent or corrupt.
Surely we cannot gamble away our collective future, and our children’s and their children’s future by taking our chances with who ever the party deal makers give us.
In Malaysia, where we have the supposed right to choose, we want a prime minister who can inspire all of us and one who can command bipartisan support in parliament on critical challenges facing the nation.
Yes, for the past 51 years we have got used to the largest political party in the country giving us a PM whom we have always accepted with grace and in good faith. It’s about time we change the way we run our country; or there may be no country left other than one that looks like Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.
The old controversies surrounding the presumptive PM refuse to go away despite his denial. Most of the details we already know.
Regardless of who eventually becomes the PM, Confucius says he must be a gentleman who understands Yi (义) and not a small man understands only Li (利).
It’s all about character. It’s not about the art of politics but the heart of leadership.
