The Rise of the Officials and Cronies
By batsman
Empires rise and fall. Governments also rise and fall. In a healthy 2 party political system, the fall of governments cause not a ripple. Those governments that have fallen are even assured of rising again under more dynamic leadership and new programmes that appeal to the rakyat. Such systems have much greater stability compared to empires which must maintain their stability by violence and force. Why is this so?
One of the reasons is that empires inevitably give rise to a official class. The official class protects the threads of power within the empire since such power is their means of livelihood – their bread and butter. (It is not the empire these officials protect, but the power that flows from it).
Usually when empires decay, the emperor himself is already cut-off from the administration of the empire. He is usually seen as given to the pleasures of life such as having fun with beautiful Mongolians and/or lets his wife take over the reins of control. Officials in the form of eunuchs and minions organise and tend to his every pleasure and kiss up to his wife (although in our modern days of liberalism, professional eunuchs are not openly seen anymore and it is hard to say whether any obedient wives still remain).
It is not the emperor who gets angry and exacts brutal tribulation against subjects who criticise corruption in the fabric of the empire but the officials. The emperor being cut off from administration of the empire probably does not even know what is happening. Those who exact brutal and cruel tribulation are the officials who see any criticism of the administration of the empire as criticism against themselves. The situation deteriorates and becomes worse each year until sin, corruption and cruelty like a cancer has eaten away the fabric and strength of the empire and the empire dies.
But how does it come to be this way? How did the officials gain so much power? One of the main reasons is that no emperor has the ability to handle all problems in the empire on his own. He has to appoint ministers and bureaucrats.
Unfortunately in this system, there is very little checks and balances. When bureaucrats gang up into cabals and cliques, the emperor loses a little of his power with each crisis or problem. Eventually bureaucrats are able to cover up their own mistakes and crimes. The emperor has no choice but to follow their advice and protect them even when they have made mistakes and committed crimes. This is because there are no checks and balances. The emperor becomes reliant on them to support his own power.
In Malaysia’s case, UMNO has appointed minions and cronies in every position of influence and power. UMNO while being the benefactor in the first place has over time become reliant on them to support its own power. The servants have as a group become more powerful than their master. UMNO therefore has to protect them even when they have made mistakes and committed crimes. This is already evident in the gross abuses of power and the grand arrogance of bureaucrats in positions of influence and power. They take the attitude that nothing can touch them and they are immune from prosecution. This is true in almost all cases. Such situations usually have a tendency to turn fascistic.
Some 3rd class bureaucrat can even be rude to an opposition Chief Minister and get away with it when other officials who stick to their principles of honesty and doing their job in the best and fairest way possible get punished by being sent into cold storage, get charged with ridiculous imaginary crimes and sent to jail, get the sack or even fall off tall buildings.
There are very few checks and balances left in UMNO’s empire. What throws them into a panic is when they think they will lose elections. Then even the president himself starts to recover and introduces programmes that he thinks will satisfy the anger and disappointment of the rakyat. He tries to placate them with goodies and promises as well as try to show that he has their best interest at heart with advertising campaigns, face book websites and such.
Unfortunately in such a system, what is missing is still institutional checks and balances. The president looks all powerful, but is he? He is still reliant on his ministers and bureaucrats to support his power. He therefore cannot help but go along when his officials make mistakes or commit crimes. The appetite for corruption has not reduced one bit. The officials need to compete amongst themselves to help themselves to the proceeds of corruption and sin otherwise they lose out. Corruption remains unabated except among the lower rank officials who are more prone to be used as scapegoats in any scandal or problem cases such as missing jet engines. Life actually improves temporarily for the rakyat.
Unfortunately the basic problems have not changed. This is because institutional checks and balances have been corrupted and have not been repaired. With each cycle of improvements and deterioration, the situation spirals downwards because the downward pressures of sin, corruption and abuse of power is stronger whenever institutional checks and balances are not working and have not been repaired.
One of the institutions that ensure stability of our government is our system of democratic elections. Unfortunately this institution has been abused and corrupted and is in dire need of repair. The UMNO government has been unresponsive and purposefully neglecting repair and reforms in this area. Bersih 2.0 is calling for clean elections and electoral reforms. Bersih 2.0 is therefore a force for good. It is a democratic and patriotic NGO that seeks to repair years of neglect and abuse in our democratic institutions.
What more is there to be said? The NGOs that attack Bersih 2.0 are part of the official class that sees its vital interests in the continued corruption and abuse of our best institutions. If our country is to survive all patriotic Malaysians from all walks of life must offer their support to Bersih 2.0 in the best ways that they think they can. Otherwise the gains of freedom and democracy made by painful sacrifice and strenuous effort will be lost and the future looks bleak indeed under the supreme all powerful rule of a corrupt and sinful official class and an emperor forced to go along and protect them even when they have committed crimes.
