Saturday 29 December 2012

Character and Leadership



The Government of a nation itself is usually found to be but the reflex of the individuals composing it. The Government that is ahead of the people will inevitably be dragged down to their level, as the Government that is behind them will in the long run be dragged up. In the order of nature, the collective character of a nation will as surely find its befitting results in its law and government, as water finds its own level. The noble people will be nobly ruled, and the ignorant and corrupt ignobly. Indeed all experience serves to prove that the worth and strength of a State depend far less upon the form of its institutions than upon the character of its men. For the nation is only an aggregate of individual conditions, and civilization itself is but a question of the personal improvement of the men, women, and children of whom society is composed.

Samuel smiles wrote the above. Every leader of any nation has grappled with the issue. What is the secret ingredient of a good government? Samuel Smiles had the answer- the secret of good government is having good people heading it. Lee Kuan Yew tackled this issue a long time ago, and set out to cultivate good people to lead the Singapore government. He must have done something right, because Singapore is now the richest country in the world.
North of the causeway, the UMNO leader who ruled for 22 years as PM and many years as Minister and Deputy PM, must have done something wrong. Our country is getting top placing for the wrong reasons. Mahathir has admitted his failure to improve the Malays, yet the Malays still want to support him? Mahathir has admitted that after 55 years, Malays are still beggars in their own country; Malays are urged to continue supporting UMNO? Are Malays political masochists? You get high as you are abused more. You want people molded after Mahathir’s image to come back and lead us so that they can whip us further to get us high?
We are looking for people with commitment, deep-seated beliefs in democracy, resolute in putting the interests of others before self. These traits are not inherited. Otherwise we will not have Najib Razak and Hishammudin Hussein. They didn’t inherit the characteristics of the fathers.
Just look at the state by which we are governed, it is clear that indeed the worth and strength of a State depend far less upon the form of its institutions than upon the character of its men. We are like this because our leaders lack character and integrity. The man, who says he is PM to all, keeps quiet when citizens are set upon and harm inflicted upon them. The home minister in charge of the police is equally mute suggesting that he has no character and integrity to hold such office. The rakyat are being bullied and set upon, the characterless people leading the State, the Ministry, the institution keep quiet.
Tun Razak, Tun Dr Ismail and Tun Hussein will never countenance these things.
We look around us, we don’t see Malaysia being deficient in the number of institutions that we have. We have the judicial institutions, the law enforcement, we have the state legislative councils, we have parliament, and we have kings. Indeed we have everything. What is missing is the character of them men heading those institutions.
11.
Where is the democratic right to move freely across this country? Interests groups are stopped from going into felda schemes because some supporters of the government will not allow NGO’s opposed to Felda to speak to settlers. What is there to hide? If the people doing the explaining break the law, charge them under that particular wrong. The felda settlers are people who can think for themselves. When I wrote about the FGV listing a long time ago, I received many e mails suggesting that I was envious of Felda people getting money. Now, Felda people are realizing that have been conned into transforming their tangible assets into paper assets tradable in the stock exchange where control over the assets depend on the quality of people managing those assets. Well, you have people like Isa Samad and his sycophants watching over the Felda assets, I am sure settlers can sleep peacefully at night.
Opposition parties hold ceramahs under the watchful eyes of the police, and the police did not stop other groups from causing disturbances and bodily harm. We know these trouble makers are UMNO people- yet the PM for all the people, maintains his silence on this infringements of democratic rights. Is UMNO, which is now led and headed by many people lacking in character and integrity, condoning violence and aggression on people?

111
I was listening to an old video clip showing Zainudin Maidin’s response to questions posed to him by Al Jazeera. The TV station showed scenes of demonstrators being fired upon by water cannons and teargases. The response ex tempore, by Zainudin as minister of information minister then would make any Malaysian citizen cringe in embarrassment. An information minister talking like a person with a passable lower certificate of education.
Not only could he not answer the questions in a rational sounding manner, he went immediately into a tirade accusing the media of manipulating the news. How could a person of this caliber represent Malaysia as an Information Minister- he was simply gibberish. Fast forward to now, we can get a clear picture as to why the same person, not a Minister any longer can give the answers he gave when asked to assess former Indonesian President’s visit to Malaysia recently. Only a person of this mental caliber can come up with similarly hostile and hopelessly incoherent statements about BJ Habibie’s recent private visit to Malaysia.
And the PM of Malaysia, equally vacuous and pathetic, rationalized the incident by saying that these deranged statements are to be expected during `erection’ year.

20 comments:

  1. Umno Baru behaves exactly like the British in colonial time.
    Mahathir love to divide and rule...bully and steal with no fear.
    To be free from them....we must follow Mahatma Gandhi's method...how he freed India..non violence with disobedience.
    People Power will protect all with their lives.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rouges and thieves have no characters.
    What character Mahathir has?
    His skin is as thick as cowhide...feeling no shame at all.
    Najib is his tool.
    We are dealing with rouges and thieves...disguising how caring and sharing they are....out to fool the Muslims only.
    How come...so many Malays are supporting Umno Baru?....good question.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kupasan yang baik untuk mengingatkan orang2 Melayu yang masih berpegang kepada kepercayaan "Umno itu baik, cuma pemimpin2nya tak baik".Kerajaan atau parti adalah seperti sebuah rumah dan pemimpin2nya adalah penghuninya. Jika sebuah rumah itu cantik,banglo mewah, tapi penghuni2nya adalah penyamun, pembunuh dan perogol adakah anda ingin tinggal dalam rumah tersebut? Hanya manusia jahat yang sama jenis suka menumpang.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Please Drum it into UMNO racist and their tools like 3 line, perkasa, rela, PDRM, Army, MSM, Banks....that there will Be CONSEQUENCES for whatever actions they take...

    We are learning daily from those who Oppose Gadaffi, Mubarak, Assad....and even new Egypt PM Morsi.

    We Will make sure that the Consequence is like that of family Gadaffi IF you try the same TRICK when you got rid of Singapore.

    Ruling elite, Royalty...just make sure you are on the RIGHT side of the Rakyat......like Libya and Syria....Citizen Rakyat knows in the eyes of ALLAH, you are also Orang Biasa!!

    INI KALILAH

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dato,our neighbour up South,Singapore had the right leader LKY to lead them.And he train and mould his surbordinates to be like him.With honest,hardworking and good politicians under him,the small island,a red dot on the map like our leaders like to call them was able to prosper and be one of the richest countries on this planet.

    Malaysia had good leaders too.But along the way ,one of our former PM choosed the wrong deputy.And when this wrong choosen deputy finally took over and became the PM,all hell broke loose.Corruption and cronism became rampant and the norm of the day.And the country has gone downhill since then.Except for the people in power,their offsprings and cronies all became billionaires and multi millionaires.And Malaysia,a country so blessed with abundunt natural resources,became heavily indebted and one of the top countries in the world's corruption index.

    Singaporeans are trained to be discliplined people.Just look at their streets,cleaner than our backyards.Their taxi drivers are so polite.Robbed somebody and you will have the whole block of people chasing after you.

    But of course some people will succumd to temptations.That is human nature.Like some politicians caught for corruption.They went flying out of high rise building's windows like UFO's,and on their own free will.In Japan they called it 'harakiri'.And politicians caught in sex scandals,resigned immediately and applogised to their spouses,families and constituents.

    In Malaysia,ministers and politicians try to out do the others in corruption.And when caught,they turned around and accused their accusers of being the ones corrupted.And they even sent their hired goons to c4ed you if they do not get their ways.

    And politicians get caught in sex scandals laughed it off as if they are angels.Even a CM caught in raping an underaged schoolgirl was only asked to resign.And his reward for raping an underaged schoolgirl was to be appointed chairman on a GLC.And a CM found guilty of money politics was appointed chairman of another GLC,FGVH.And a federal minister accused of raping his maid is still a federal minister.And these creatures are still in power.

    This coming GE,which has to be called within the next hundred days,has the corrupted regime in their sights.And if they are still in power the night of the election,the people who voted for them please stick your heads in the donkeys asses,and try to figure out why you voted for these creatures in the first place.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Umnoputras are no match for their counterparts down South.Our PM's from Mahathir downwards will smell dust from the Lee's boots,in terms of honesty,intergrity and self respect.Leadership wise our leaders are no match for them.

    Their ministers got more class than ours.At the sight of scandal they called it a day.We have ministers who are not only corrupted.We have murderers and rapists as ministers too.Only in Malaysia,the land on the bolehs.

    ReplyDelete
  7. the gaffe guy who knows29 December 2012 at 09:23

    Character and leadership.

    We have a PM and his lembus indulging in money politics, bribing the rakyat to vote for them.

    We have ministers as bigots playing racial,religious and scare politics.

    We have politicians accused of murder and rape,serving as ministers.

    We have ministers whose spouses shopping sprees for wear and tear can buy houses for the poor and homeless.

    This is what is called Malaysia's character and leadership.I called these donkeys babies.

    ReplyDelete
  8. the toothless fella.29 December 2012 at 09:43

    "Erection year".

    Erection year in an election year.First of all,we have to order a jug of the purple diamond pills for our favorite whore chasing president of Mca Datuk Chuah.This is his New Year's gift for a last hurrah,before the fat lady sing's.

    For Muhidin,we have to present him with a cow,so that he doesn't have to moo the whole day.Instead he can hear the cow moo and shiok sendiri at the same time.

    Hishmuddin,we will present him with a pair of girlie skates.So instead of running and chasing after the phamtom activists,he can ice skate down the monsoon drains into the ocean.

    For Najib,we will present him with dresses and a set each of lipsticks and makeups.He needed them for being such a weakling of a sissy and a champion flipflopper.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Umno leaders have lost their sense of directions.Instead of leading their people and country to new heights of development and prosperity,thet have run it into the ground.

    Their greediness for riches and lust have led them to betrayed their own countrymen.They have not only sold their souls to the beggars,but their asses too.Such shameful people we called our leaders.Shame on us,the rakyat for electing them to represent us.

    Fool us once,shame on them.Fool us twice laugh at them.Shame us thrice,offer our backsides to them.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bruno, very well said. Blatant denial after denial. Not worth 2 cents. To be brutal about it, these GOONS to be thrown into the zoo and let the tigers and lions 'siat siatkan' badan mereka kerana perangai mereka binatang. Lansung tidak perasaan malu malahan bertambah angkuh. Lihat sahaja pada Nazri Aziz dan Ibrahim Ali yang terang2 berlagak gangster dalam parlimen. Ini belum lagi kita sebut lagak the Six Million Dollar Man dari Pasir Salak. Angkuh dan sombong walau pun silam sangat kotor. Pada suatu ketika setiap hari angkut ratusan ribu ringgit ke Genting untuk berjudi. Salam

    ReplyDelete
  11. When have gangster 'leaders'.

    They hate law and order and always act above the law to exploit and manipulate for their self-interest.

    The country must hit rock bottom before any real, meaningful and significant change will happen.

    ReplyDelete
  12. the toothless fella29 December 2012 at 11:42

    Umno is full of corrupted leeches.Those not corrupted are the ordinary members with no position or powers in the party.These are the flags and playcard members called blind followers.These members consists of Quiet Despair and his crony uncle Kampongman.Without these sworn followers,Umno will like a three legged horse.No wonder it is a goofy party without character and leadership.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Actual Conversation with a Japanese colleague many years ago:

    Asa san: You Malaysians having erection next month?

    Me: Ya, silly buggers, only once in five years. What about your country?

    Asa san: Same, why silly burglars?

    Me: First, because... because, Qiang Zemin in China said to Bush, "We have erection evely morning." Second, burglars spend so much time stealing they forget about erection.

    Asa san: OK, time, back to work.

    Me: You Japanese really very hardworking, work, work, work, no time for erection.

    Asa san: Telima kasih

    ReplyDelete
  14. bludy busy misybodies29 December 2012 at 12:37

    Zainuddin Maidin is rumoured to be the twin of the present minister of misinformation.Both of these jokers are meant to be circus clowns,but somehow they managed to worm themselves into cozy positions in the cabinet.

    If these clowns can get to be ministers,just have to wonder how smart their bosses are,bigger and more matured clowns.

    ReplyDelete
  15. the gaffe guy who knows29 December 2012 at 13:03

    Najib and his band of robber barons kept reminding the Malays to vote for them or else end up as nobodies at the hands of the Chinese.

    But they forget to tell the Malays that Mahathir said that they are beggars in their own countries.And Najib is doing the same to them.Throwing titbits and 10cent coins into their tincans.

    Or giving them 3 or 4 50 ringgit notes once every five years.That equals to 1 or 2 cents a day.Must be like a bullock cart wheel is worth 50 or 60 years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  16. bruno ; you are just another lky ass licker. But yet remain in Malaysia.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Dear Sakmongkol

    This is a good time to talk about character and leadership because we are about to vote in GE13. One of those MPs will become prime minister. We don’t quite know who he might be. Najib Razak thinks it would be him. But Deepak, the carpet seller, has just about torpedoed his chances. Notice the complete silence from the First Couple? If this were Singapore, and someone said such horrible things against LKY, like taking bribes, the poor man would find himself in court the next day sued for millions. That’s because LKY is clean as a whistle and he won’t let such good-for-nothing types, such as Deepak, to smear his reputation and character. Not so our PM. You can allege all sorts of things against him, but no harm will come to you because the accuser probably spoke the truth. So it is no surprise how a righteous government in Singapore run by a cabinet of righteous men have in 45 years outdistanced us economically.

    Muhyiddin Yassin reckons he has a shot at being PM too, by kicking out the smooth, public relations operator that Najib really is – all p.r. and no substance. But is Muhyiddin a man of character himself? Could someone aspire to national leadership if he is a racist at heart? Do we remember, “I am Malay first, Malaysian second”? He clearly wants only to lead the Malays, not Malaysians. But when those inappropriate words were uttered, in effect sinking Najib’s 1Malaysia idea, nothing bad came to him. That spoke directly at the weak character of Najib. He cannot take a stance on anything worthwhile. Muhyiddin’s insubordination did him no harm, but showed up Najib’s limp character. Deepak can say anything he wants, too. As for Muhyiddin himself, people in the know are aware of the crooked dealings in southern Johore when he was MB Johore and about his immense personal wealth. So much for character.

    So are we offered a Hobson’s choice of a weak and corrupt leader (Najib) or a stronger (propped up by that duplicitous Dr M) but equally corrupt leader (Muhyiddin)? The good people of Malaysia surely deserve better choices – and Pakatan Rakyat offers many excellent ones. But if we choose to remain ignorant we deserve to be ruled ignobly by the corrupt. Wake up Malaysia!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anon 29 December 2012 13:50

    Everybody has to be as ass licker at least once in his/her lifetime.Even those with blue or purple blood.Just look at how Umnoputras kissed Mahathir's ass.

    But you belong to the special breed.The ones who will go the extreme to shove their heads into the donkeys asses to really get the taste and smell.

    I can remain in whatever country I wished.At least I do not get to be like you,hiding behind a line of tincans waiting for your political masters for a handout.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Bruno should avoid hero worshiping Singapore or Singaporeans.
    He should remember Singapore is not what is today without the thousands of smart Malaysians working there.
    Back in Malaysia...we do have Malaysians much smarter than Singaporeans....and Bruno should know Singapore is also not what it is today ...without foreign power's help...especially the Jews.
    Mahathir took the role to belittle Singapore...for his own selfish reasons.
    As Statesmen .recognized as a noble smart Statesman.. from other countries....Mahathir has none compared to Lee Kuan Yew.
    That's a fact.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wahai Good people Tuan YB Sakmangkol, Lee Kuan Yew has done right and make Singapore the richest country in the world.
    Anak Syaitan Kerala nama TUN has done even better and righter (Ha Ha mind the language) Anak Mamak even better he make his whole family the richest in the WORLD. Malaysia Boleh.

    ReplyDelete