Money and Leadership Quality

 

Today, I read a report in the NST about the reluctance of UMNO delegates and leaders to attend briefings by MACC. This reluctance can only be an indicator that corruption in UMNO is endemic. It has reached such an alarming proportion, that UMNO leaders dare not listen to the truth. In the immortal words of Colonel Jessup in A Few Good Men, they can't handle the truth.

Only the numbskulled and belligerent UMNO leaders will deny that money politics are not widespread in UMNO. Every single post at the cawangan, bahagian and next, the MKT are won or loss on the battlefield of money politics.

But this general reluctance on the part of UMNO leaders is symptomatic of something more sinister. It reflects the fast diminishing quality of leadership. Over the years, there developed a relationship between the use of money and quality of leadership. Perhaps it can be used as an axiom with explanatory potential. The nature of the relationship can be written as: there is an inverse relationship between the use of money and leadership quality. Where more money is used, it is almost certain, the leadership quality declines.

There are rational reasons of such an inverse relationship. People with questionable character, lacking and shortcomings, will resort to using money to cover these weaknesses. The more weaknesses they have, the more money is used. Money is the universal language where even the illiterate and mentally challenged can understand. Money is the great leveler of the playing field. It allows the political moron equal chance with the political don. It sanitizes the morally depraved and passes them as political saints.

Once this inverse relationship between the quantity of money and leadership quality is established, it can be used to set up some policies. Less amount of money used indicates higher leadership quality. The man with character, determination and mental abilities will be less inclined to use money to advance his position. Instead he is willing to allow delegates to evaluate him on his merits. The better person will want to use less money knowing that he obtained them through his hard efforts. Frugality in the usage of money is also an indicator of personal discipline.

How then can the system be managed so as to provide ease for the more capable to rise? First we raise the difficulty bar for those with deep pockets but empty minds to contest. One of the ways is to make it exceedingly costly for even those with deep pockets to advance their cause. Selection of leaders can be made costly if we allow (a) all the delegates at cawangans to vote (b) the delegates at Bahagians to vote. The General assembly does not vote. Since money is taken out of the equation, this will force UMNO members to choose candidates based on their merits. No one, mindful of the cost will want to pay 2 million delegates at the cawangans to get elected.