To our leaders: Can we trust you?

 

In my years of doing business, I have had my fair share of failures. When it happened, I told myself that there is no shame in this if I learnt a lesson. I picked myself up, brushed myself off, and carried on.

But once, I had a crooked foreign partner who absconded. I lost all my savings and was in debt for two years after. Ironically, this was the only partner who started every sentence with the prefix: “…believe me, Shankar!”

Now, isn’t this a little bit like our leaders at the moment?

After 15 months of movement restrictions, Malaysia still finds itself thick in the throes of this pandemic. While other countries control the catastrophe, we create plan after plan to sort things out, but to no avail.

Through a combination of wonky leadership, ill-advised strategies, indiscipline and of course, unbridled self-interest, we have, once again, been offered a new recovery plan.

And like all its predecessors, this plan raises more questions, ambiguity, and leaves much to the interpretation of the “little Napoleons” tasked with its execution.

Malaysia is in crisis mode!

The nation is cracking, with a lethal combination of a health disaster and a collapsing economy. It is unprecedented in our 64-year history. We need to resolve this now, or we simply fail as a nation.

I am neither a healthcare professional nor an economist.

However, I know that our country has a wealth of experts who need to come together, put any polarising differences aside, and work as a team to lift us out.

But through all of this, Malaysians need to have the trust that our leaders will do all that is necessary and get things in order as quickly as the mess requires.

So, the question that you and I need to ask our leaders is this: “Can we trust you?”

The Dalai Lama once said that you cannot buy trust in the supermarket. Similarly, by repeatedly telling the nation that this time we will get it right, doesn’t augur well for trust-building.

In fact, after all the faux-pas over the last year, with the self-created spikes in the virus for political expediency, it’s now the “re-building” of the trust that is already lost.

Our world is held together by just a few fundamental forces.

And, I reckon that the most important glue that holds any society together is trust. Malaysians of different walks of life, culture and religious beliefs, stick together because trust allows us to feel safe and be part of this melting-pot nation.

When we trust our leaders, our communities flourish.

When there is a trust-deficiency, it causes disintegration, and conflict. In some parts of the world, we can see that it leads to civil wars and in extreme cases, even ethnic cleansing.

The textbook definition of trust is “a firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something.” It is often somewhat hard to pin-point trust, yet we all know when it is lost.

And right now, that’s the feeling.

But the irony is that trust is the biggest requirement for on-going survival.

What do our leaders need to show us right now, so that we can actually trust them?

Be reliable and dependable, please.

If you are true to your word and fulfil your commitments, we will begin to trust you.

This means, think your plans through and get input from the real experts, not your sycophants. Be clear about how you want the plans to be executed.

And for heaven’s sake, the rules must be for all, and not for some. Show us your courage in enforcing them without capitulating and pandering to the high and mighty. We will salute you and start to trust you.

Be transparent, please.

Everyone is anxious and nervous. When we are uninformed, we assume the worst and start panicking.

If you keep meeting in secret and don’t share important information, people become distrustful.

When you share data and allow people to share their views, we will all begin to hear each other, and trust flourishes.

Appoint competent people, please.

If the people think that a leader or the officials appointed to oversee the execution of plans are not capable of doing what they are supposed to do, trust dissipates instantly.

If the person speaking on behalf of leadership is not authentic and is unable to inspire or engage, how do you expect people to feel reassured?

Regardless of whether a person is seen as a good person or has good intentions, and even if we like them personally, if they look like the task is too big for them, or if they’re not capable of doing what they promise, people won’t trust them.

Act with sincerity, please.

Everyone senses disingenuity and insincerity. As eloquent as you are, if you are not authentic and don’t have congruency, people will not believe what you’re saying.

For example, it is hard to believe someone who says that they are concerned about the welfare of people, yet don’t seem to have a plan to help ease the economic woes that the very same people face, by offering blanket financial help when it’s needed the most.

Sometimes leaders think they can camouflage their true intentions, but they should not underestimate the people whom they lead. We can all detect a lack of sincerity and that is when trust is eroded.

Admit your mistakes so we can move on, please.

If a leader never says they are wrong and doesn’t acknowledge their mistakes, it is not a show of strength. It just shows weakness and an inability to genuinely lead.

Leaders who do wrong in the eyes of the public, and then rant about being wronged themselves and threaten all manner of repercussions, will never get the trust of those whom they are charged to lead.

Yet a timely admission of making a mistake is a powerful tool in rebuilding trust.

In our current state of affairs, the dynamics of trust between the people and our leaders is delicate but more important than ever before.

The loss of trust in our leadership will be costly to all Malaysians. It will damage the health of the nation and will also financially drain us.

So please, can our leaders show us that we can trust them? - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.