Lessons in Politics from Islam- Part 2

Before I continue, let all Malaysians know what a bloody hypocrite Najib is. You can be sure he staged the whole thing. And had the gall and behaved sanctimonious to say he is shocked to see the gathering took place peacefully. 

I am told of phone calls in the dead of the night to some high level UMNO leaders inquiring whether everything is in order for the march of the read guards. 

Najib was constantly making phone cals to Anuar Musa,  Noh Omar, Ahmad Maslan about the Himpunan Maruah Melayu.  

He must be shocked not more than 50,000 came. and that includes the city's homeless and papa kedana( one of his favourite term).

Then why the demand to see report on the petaling Steet incident? Then why fire water cannons? And you can be sure this time, if he says 20,000 gathered, people will believe him. 

Its not a typo error even if  people like Anuar Musa or anybody else say, 200,000 came. I am using the number Najib used to count the Bersih  Marchers on 29-30th August. 

That gathering included the vagabonds and  the city's homeless and destitute herded by promoters of the Himpunan with the promise of money, t-shirts and food just to walk around Padang Merbok. Just to show the number.

Najib must be extremely worried to see the level of support he has. If there were 20,000 indeed, then 20,000 bring shame to the Malays. That would mean, the Malays support Najib’s misconduct and machinations fitting what Machiavelli said.

It only goes to say some fools are willing to excuse Najib for the wrongs he did. These 20,000 will excuse the Ikan Bakar Sekinchan owner if he comes into any of the 20,000 houses and sleeps with the wives and daughters. He is after all a Malay and one of us. Hidup Melayu!

This is the kind of Malays Najib relies to regain lost dignity and perhaps lost virginity.

He is definitely behind the march of the red shirts. He uses the march to divert attention from his own misconduct.

Let’s discuss some better issues requiring some application of the grey matter we have between our ears.

Many successful nations go through a series of development stages. The first generation focused on building hardware- to use a modern term. They built schools, roads, hospitals, and other physical social amenities. The second generation concentrate on building the software. Cultivating talent, wiring up the mental conditions for success, imbibing the correct values, moulding society for growth and development. It develops the culture of development and modernization.

The 3^rd generation builds on the first and second. Continuously improving on the work of the first, acquiring technologies, applying new methods in building infrastructure.  It builds on the second by also improving, emphasizing on quality and maintaining quality to ensure sustained growth.

How do you do that?

My own inclination is you have to put in place high quality leadership. Not the Najib low class and low quality leadership.

Not only an intelligent leadership, but one that is keen and committed and disciplined. Leaders must be visionary and must be supported by the physical empowering infrastructures- an efficient and intelligent civil service, an independent judiciary and an intense legislature.

The successful society is also supported by high quality legitimate coercive forces in the form of the policing and military institutions. A high quality police force and the military. No low quality IGP and buffoon Chief of Army.

In ancient times, we speak of leaders having abundant intelligence and physical endowment. Translated in modern day terminology, good leaders come with high degree of intelligence and empowering physical institutions.

Now everyone will remember the comical response of Najib and his minders in explaining the wealth he has. They said and Najib agreed that he came by great wealth because he inherited it. His brothers quickly doused the fire by saying, the father Tun razak was far from rich.

When Tun Razak died, he left RM500, 000. The money was given to the second brother Johari razak. That was all he had. He left no property. Toh Puan Rahah did not want to go back to Pekan. The government awarded the family a property in jalan Eaton.

It is clear he got wealthy trough unexplained means.

But the point is this. Being wealthy is not a condition to becoming a leader. The high quality leader must have intelligence and support of physical empowering institutions which I mentioned above.

The Quran provided instructions on this.

When Saul got appointed as king, members from his tribe petitioned the other leaders protesting on why Saul, a poor lad was appointed a leader over them.

Saul wasn’t wealthy. He did not inherit any wealth from the family as Najib insisted he(Najib) did. Nor did he acquire any wealth by way of inexplicable means.

God tells that He has gifted Saul with intelligence and strong bodily prowess. In modern day, it means having intelligence, vision, articulate and supported by physical empowering institutions.

See Quran 2:247.

The verse tells the story of Saul who was appointed king over the tribes of Israel. Saul belonged to the tribe bani Benjamin, the smallest tribe among the Israelites.

The others protested as they condemned Saul as being not gifted/talented as they and not even rich. But God says, Saul was gifted with intelligence and strong bodily prowess.

The leader is not appointed on the basis that he claims he is gifted nor is he appointed because he is rich.

So Najib’s romanticised rendering on how he became selected to stand in place of his father which implies that he has talent, is irrelevant to us.

Then I have to come back to the ideas in David C McClelland’s The Achieving Society.

Successful societies had leaders with achieved norms- which means we select a leader on what they can achieve. Backward societies had leaders who came forward with ascriptive norms- meaning they became leaders because they happened to have the right lineage.