Tommy Koh.says cctv recording Najib with Altantuya he said of P.M Leadership with no Inspiration

Tommy Koh.says cctv recording Najib with Altantuya he said of P.M Leadership with no Inspiration

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said READ MORE Cut and paste! Najib Razak insisted today that 1 Malaysia concept is his own creation was not a carbon copy from another country

A leader is a person who inspires, by her actions, her followers to dream and do the impossible. A leader is a person who makes extraordinary things happen. A leader is a person who is very influential and has a high degree of influencing skills. A leader is inspiring by his thoughts, his deeds, his words, his actions. A leader by definition, makes things happen and does not stand by on the side while things happen.

Take any leader and you will see that this is so. If these things are not happening, then I would doubt very much if the said person is a leader.

A leader takes responsibility for the actions of the persons hesupposedly leads. A leader does not say, "I don't know". The leaderknows that the buck stops at him and takes full accountability for thesame. Two examples from Indian history stand out in my mind.

Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle

Over the weekend, a series of cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and published in Australia’s ‘The Sun-Herald’, disclosed discussions between senior US officials and their Singapore counterparts Peter Ho, Bilahari Kausikan and Tommy Koh.

All three Singaporeans gave damning assessments of Malaysia in the period 2008 and 2009.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak avoided the press on Sunday, when the Wikileaks revelations first appeared in the Malaysia online news portals.

A day later, Najib issued his first public statement about the disclosures and told Malaysians to ‘ignore contemptuous regional neighbours and focus on achieving the country’s goals instead’.

“We can show to our neighbours, that although sometimes they make disparaging remarks about us, that Malaysians can actually achieve. The greatest achievement is when we can be a developed nation by 2020.” said Najib in a speech at the 1 MCA Medical Foundation fund-raising dinner.

Surprisingly, none in Najib’s administration have come to the defence, either of Najib's leadership or of Malaysia. Could it be because there is a 'blanket-ban' on the words Altantuya and murder?

In the end, it was left to the ‘lone ranger’ Ibrahim Ali who claimed that the Wikileaks expose revealed the island republic’s “jealous” nature.

The Perkasa president believed that the island state had long held a “grudge” against Malaysia, and that the disparaging comments of its senior government officials betrayed its “true colours.”

“I am convinced that they (Singapore) are really jealous of Malaysia as they are not happy with Malaysia on many things. I am not surprised with the WikiLeaks report about Singapore... they are the ones that actually practice ‘politik sempit’ (narrow-minded politics),” said Ibrahim.

The Singaporeans officials had reportedly said “Malaysia’s decline” was fuelled by incompetent politicians. Other less than complimentary descriptions about Malaysia’s prime ministers, past and present, were also made. One of them called Najib “an opportunist” and referred to his alleged involvement in the Altantuya murder.

Ibrahim also alleged that Singapore had vested interests in wanting to cause discord in Malaysia.

“I think they have their own agenda, and they also have political allies in Malaysia. The DAP was once part of Singapore’s PAP (People’s Action Party). They just want to mess around with Malaysia because they are not satisfied with Malaysia’s achievements,” said the Pasir Mas MP.

The Singaporean officials’ remarks have already strained ties between the two countries.

Najib may have shown great restraint at the accusations hurled at him and his administration, but is that enough? What happened to the show of support from his cabinet or fellow politicians to condemn the Singaporeans for calling Malaysia and its leaders, names?

Regardless of whether the accusations were true or not, although many believe them, the Malaysian politicians should at least show that they are not meek. Couldn’t they have at least come to the defence of their country, if not their leader(s)?

Many of us would hate to admit it; at least Ibrahim Ali did admonish Singapore, even though they were all for the wrong reasons.

Mahatma Gandhi (the original Gandhi) undertook a fast unto death afterthe Chauri Chaura incident. Why did he do that? It was because he felt(and this is important) he was culpable for his followers actions withresulted in the burning down of a police chowky and many deaths.

Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1956, offered his resignation after a railwayaccident at Mahbubnagar that led to 112 deaths. However, Nehru did notaccept his resignation. Three months later, he resigned accepting moraland constitutional responsibility for a railway accident at Ariyalur inTamil Nadu that resulted in 144 deaths. While speaking in the Parliamenton the incident, the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, stated that he was accepting the resignation because it would set an example inconstitutional propriety and not because Shastri was in any wayresponsible for the accident. Shastri's unprecedented gesture wasgreatly appreciated by the citizens.[Wiki entry, here]

Look at history and you will see that leaders rarely share credit forvictories but share all the blame when anything goes wrong. Andincidentally both these leaders are with the party that today heads the government.

Today the two people from this very same party who head the government - one official, one unofficial - are leaders of a different nature. One has no idea what is happening under his watch or atleast claims to have no knowledge of what is happening under his watch. He has the certificate of integrity provided by all concerned. And the person he reports to, unconstitutionally, has nothing to say, except take potshots
at the opposition. What about the lakhs and crores looted? Why was your government sitting on all these scams? And these reports were out by atleast one newspaper in 2008 itself.

It beats me - a government that is reportedly the "most corruptgovernment ever to have ruled India" - its leaders should be accountablefor it at the very least? Time after time the party has rewarded those who have indulged in corruption. Today it is Ashok Chavan who after being ousted from Chief Ministership is now eyeing theRajya Sabha despite being in the limelight of the Adarsh scam. AndSuresh Kalmadi was busy enjoying yet another junket at tax payers expense - the very same taxpayers whose money he helped spend gainfully as part of our hosting the CWG games. And people by their very nature respond to incentives. And in this government, there is no incentive to stay away from corruption - indeed it is rewarded. And loyalty, surely, seems to matter more than corruption. Indeed, it is prized over ineffectiveness as well -see the curious case of Shivraj Patil. In my books, if corruption is overlooked it is because the money benefited in some way. After all there is no such thing as a free lunch is there?

Take any organization - if someone reports to a superior, the superior is accountable for all actions that is undertaken by the junior. Every single one. The superior cannot hide under, "I did not know" or "I was
not aware" or "I am honest, those who report to me are not." As asupervisor, you are entirely accountable to what your minions do. If this is true in any random private company it is sure for those who claim to be heading nations and governments? And when your reportee hascheated the exchequer of an enormous sum of money, you are accountable for it. And you better stand up and say that - as party head and government head. Instead what we see is theatrics, conspiracy theories, lengthy articles on the integrity of the Prime Minister, a quasileadership that is forever missing in action or a leadership which will run away the first time a difficult question is asked.

I don't get it - how can the leaders (designated and quasi) of thegovernment with the despicable "most corrupt government ever" tag be honest? It beats me. Can someone enlighten?