The Revolutionary Thoughts of PM Najib.

The PM said: - The age of Government knows best is over.

This is truly a revolutionary idea. Allow me to explain.

Why are we so obsessed with the question of leadership?

Here in Malaysia, we have 28 people forming the top echelon of political leadership. We then have 40 people serving as deputy ministers. We will soon have another phalanx of parliamentary secretaries and so forth. We have leaders of the civil service. We have the judiciary. We have the political and non political elites.

The political elite encompass members of the opposition party as they are also involved in the governance of this country. The non political elite include non-governmental organisations or any organisations not having formal political office but are nonetheless involved in the sense of providing political inputs in decision making processes. It may sound self patting, but non political elite would also include bloggers who are increasingly impactful in forming public opinion.

That would also include people who come from and inhabit a certain 'estate' who think they posses some kind of invincibility just because they have a powerful medium to publish their views. Some of them, who continue writing in the new media of the internet become irascible and fanatical media practitioners as soon as they discover, the new media can talk back. They also become highly schizophrenic because they no longer have monopoly over people's thinking.

Taken as a whole, this disparate group represents what? Not more than 5% of the population? This means the destiny and fate of this country depends on a slender group of people headed by the political elite. And within those political elite, power further resides with an even smaller number of people in the form of sitting cabinet ministers. It is this group that spearheads the fate of this country.

The answer as to why we are obsessed with the issue of leadership both as a concept and in practice is because the fate of this nation depends on them. Because of this high degree of link between leadership and fate of the nation, the issue of leadership quality is a pivotal one.

Here is a theoretical paradox. The idea of an elite governing this country, runs counter to the notion of participatory democracy where we visualise the participation of everyone in this country. This paradox is not insurmountable because the two opposites are reconcilable if we view that the aim of participatory democracy which is some form of egalitarianism CAN be implemented by the elite. The elite then become a benevolent leadership that identifies and fights for the interests of the marginalised and less fortunate.

The question that boils down, what is the egalitarianism we are fighting for? For practical purpose, I should think the egalitarianism we are talking about is to usher in equal opportunity for all. Further, equal opportunity must be understood as never to mean equality in outcome. Equality in outcome is achievable only if the government wedges itself in society and forcefully redistribute wealth for example. Certainly such an outcome is utopian in its purest form. It can only be enforced by extreme dictatorship. 

Therefore when the PM says, the age of government knows best is over, I am truly inspired. This short sentence is revolutionary! It is, because it amounts to a declaration that the PM intends to carry out reforms and changes which will be the opposite of what has been practised since 1957.

Since 1957, there has only been one perception of the government. That IT IS  the government that knows what's best for the people. In particular, for the Malays, the government is a rich uncle. The government then, was, is and will forever be the benevolent elite dispensing what's best for this country. Against this backdrop, I am not sure whether Dato Najib's declaration that this age is over is truly over. He may be up against a brick wall.

Is the statement that the age of government knows best signals less intrusion by the government in the lives of the rakyat? In particular, will this mean less patronage by the government on the Malays? The Malays have long accepted the practicality of having a government which knows best. They may even resist any attempts to dismantle the idea.

That is why I say, the short sentence by the PM is truly revolutionary.