Message for our leaders

 

Today’s is not the usual prose I write in my regular columns. It is a shortlist of suggestions for our current leadership. By leadership, I mean all our leaders, of various ethnicities, faiths, and linguistic backgrounds. If you read it, you might either be irritated or pay attention and reflect upon my message. It is my hope that you reflect. It is also the end of the month of Ramadan, the context within which I write this scathing appeal.

Ramadan is a month of abstinence and not just from food, water and sexual relations. During Ramadan, Muslims are supposed to abstain from lying, gossiping, stealing, corruption, engaging in lecherous staring and passing lewd comments to deliberately hurt another.

It is a month to reinforce the fundamentals of ethical human behaviour and decency in social interaction. This behaviour must be adhered to throughout one’s lifetime, not only for one month during the Muslim calendar. Ramadan is a month-long reminder that consistent ethical human behaviour is a lifetime endeavour. Ramadan also reminds us that ethics transcend mechanical religious rituals. The message of Ramadan is also not religion, culture and race-specific.

Obviously then, the values promoted by Ramadan apply to all of humanity. This is what makes Islam universal. The problem in Malaysia today is that the message of universal Islam has been hijacked and defiled by unethical, hypocritical, and selfish leaders. My message is for all of you, including our non-Muslim leaders of similar traits.

All of you, take a step back and reflect. If you cannot read and understand English, translate my message. All of you have easy access to resources, so use them for a good cause. Your “good cause” today is to assimilate what I have to say about today’s leadership. Remember, it is still Ramadan, so it is advised to be humble.

The following is my list for you to reflect upon. I hope you do not dismiss it because you do not want to go down in history as a leadership that is arrogant, disrespectful, and egotistical. As for me? I am a conscientious citizen who, like millions of other Malaysians, have had to put up with decades of bungling chaos due to an uninspiring leadership.

First, please stop misleading the people. Use the media responsibly. Our return to identity politics since March 2020 is part of the “untruth” prevailing in our society. Be honest about our current national ideology. If it is first and foremost, Malay nationalism and Malay supremacy, declare it so. If this is truly what you envision for our multi-ethnic and peaceful nation, be forthright and publicise it openly.

Do not sugar-coat your media messages with conceptual salad dressing. It would only imply tasteless “unity in diversity” rhetoric. The thinking public is fed up with such confusion. As for the non-thinking public who do not question their leaders? I suppose our leaders would rather speak to them, but it remains to be seen how this will benefit the nation in the long run. If you want unity, be explicit. Do not hide behind phrases like “protecting Islam” and “shielding the Malays”. It is confusing.

Second, please delete your over-inflated egos. Stop dishing out mixed messages about Covid-19 SOPs during this period of emergency and extreme public anxiety. Mixed messages are possibly due to the authorities being pressed for time, disorganised and “did not do their homework”. They scramble, nevertheless, to issue a national directive on SOPs, movement control orders, conditional MCOs, etc., to give the impression of attentiveness.

This scrambling about and lack of seriousness is an insult to the public. Coupled with this is the obvious political infighting in the corridors of power. We, the public, are obviously not taken seriously. Instead, you may feel your egos need pampering. You may need to fight off your political enemies. This will not do, because the virus rages on and infections and deaths are on the rise.

Sense of desperation

Third, please buck up and start educating yourselves. Instead of aping the developed countries about the wonders of a “global education”, ask yourselves what you know about Malaysia’s education philosophy and its relevance for our economy. In fact, ask yourselves why there are thousands of unemployed graduates. Ask yourselves how much you really know about “education” and “philosophy”.

Ask yourselves why we as a nation are losing out to Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. If you do not like these questions, that is part of the reason we are a nation in decline. Our universities are blinded by ranking metrics. It is time to change. Almost 50 years of declining education quality in Malaysia is enough to drive Malaysians out of the country. The brain drain is a real crisis.

Please stop blaming vernacular schools for this situation. Start blaming the low standards of the national schools and many of our public universities. Start questioning the efficacy of the high number of private higher education institutions in the country.

Fourth, please give up the theatrics and the fake attempts to show compassion. If you really care about the country, there would be no double standards. Every citizen who does not follow the rules should be punished. Every criminal, regardless of economic status or political connections, must be punished.

Remember, in some countries, VIPs and politicians are executed for corruption. In other countries, the media shames them openly, without any vulgarity or lewd language. The media are professional and armed with facts, not emotions. 

People in government accept it, knowing that their legal systems have integrity. They will not get away with their transgressions. Shamed leaders often resign as a symbol of their humility and wrongdoing. These are countries of integrity. What about Malaysia?

Recently the number of letters, opinion pieces and social media postings reveal a greater sense of desperation among the public. Leaders should pay attention. They should not keep blaming Covid-19 for this angst. Our anxiety runs deeper than the pandemic. - Mkini

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SHARIFAH MUNIRAH ALATAS is an academic with zero tolerance for corrupt, arrogant and frivolous leadership.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.