The ex- Health Minister was reported to have put the blame on his downfall on working too hard visiting hospitals and grassroots all over the country, or something to that effect and he gave an advice to whoever will be his successor ‘to go slow’.

He also blamed the press for their reporting which speculated that he might go for a higher post.
He implied that people felt threatened and hence plotted to have him removed.

I am surprised that a person like him, with so many years in politics, had not seen the writing on the wall. Perhaps he was too confident of his strength. But in politics, one mistake is enough to kill a person’s career.

His mistake is, of course, not because he worked hard, but rather his own weaknesses and indiscretion. If he is of impeccable morality, then even his foes would have a hard time trying to bring him down. In other words, he has only himself to blame, not others and certainly not the press.

An old hand in politics told me that in Malaysian politics, you can have three ways to go up the hierarchy. One way is to tag onto the coattails of someone higher up, who will become literally your master. When that person moves up, you also move up by clinging onto his coattails.

However, to do that, you have to be like a ‘dog’ and serve your master faithfully and obediently, the golden rule being never outshine your master. You have to have an IQ of a moron (or pretend to have an IQ of a moron, even if you are very smart) and the stamina of a work horse.

You have to be ready to serve your master on the pretext of ‘national service’ pander to his whims and fancies. That way, you earn your loyalty and move up together with him as a team. The master will in turn have his own master and the whole thing repeats itself throughout the whole hierarchy.

Another way to go up is to have very strong grassroots support. Build up your grassroots, and those higher up or those at the same level will come to court you and trade terms with you. Then you form a loose alliance and call your group Team X or Team Y, and then move up together as a group.

The third way is by taking ‘the helicopter’. But this is only for the selected few who have strong cables connected to the very top, either through bloodline or marriage.

There is a Chinese saying that ‘a big tree attracts wind’ meaning that if you are ‘shining’ too brightly, you will become a target of other groups which will try all sorts of ways to bring you down.

This is not unlike throwing a banana to a pack of hungry monkeys. Each monkey will try to pull down the monkey in front in order to reach the banana. The ex-minister has, by his perceived popularity and strong grassroots, inadvertently posed a threat to certain people. Two sets of people may have felt threatened.

Loss of excellence

One set of people may be those higher up the ladder, where they may have felt insecure, sensing the possibility of him eventually challenging them. In Malaysian politics, positions are everything. So if they think their position is not as secure as they would like it to be, some will plan hard to bring him down.

Don’t forget that in Malaysian politics, even the No. 2 person in the country has been brought down.

Another set will be those just one rung down the ladder, waiting to move up, but sense that they are not powerful enough to take on this supposedly popular politician by democratic ways. Those who may be too impatient will start to plot.

Anyway, some among those one or two rungs down the ladder would be rejoicing now and probably have popped their champagne bottles in private parties even though in public they have put on a solemn front and uttered words of condolence and sympathy.

These people may be celebrating because they now have a chance to move up, Hell Ministry or Politically Terminal Ministry not withstanding. This is the reality in politics. This is so because our politics of patronage (as well as money politics) has become a culture.

High offices in the government, which by right should be seen as personal sacrifice for the betterment of countrymen, is no more seen as a national service but rather as personal rewards or a way to recoup, enrich oneself and as a foundation for building a political empire.

The rot started somewhere in the eighties. This culture has resulted in the loss of excellence in our society, a culture of greed, a culture of corruption and the loss of good governance. People are promoted to positions not because of their capabilities or commitment to ideology, but rather because of their allegiance to the leaders.

Those who have committed mistakes and with their 'personal files’ in their bosses’ hands will get promoted over others because they can be easily controlled, since these ‘personal files’ serve as a leash around the neck. In that way, people that should not be occupying high positions are occupying high positions, and this inevitably leads to a lower standard of government as well as governance.

The Vernacular press reported that the ex-minister allegedly uttered ‘others are also doing it, but they are not caught’. He should be in the know and this shows how the political culture has degenerated.

Limit tenure

Confucius teaches that good politics start with self. A person must improve his own self first and be a morally correct person and put his own house in order. When he has put his own house in order, with harmonious relations (no adultery) and financial stability, only then should he attempt to come forward to serve his community and put his country in order.

Self improvement and personal morality is the very first step in the Confucian view of good governance, because if the ’self’ is not moral, it can be swayed and lured into committing corrupt and immoral practices.

Next come the family. If the family is not harmonious, how can the person be committed fully to political office? If he cheats on his wife, how can he have the peace of mind to attend to the business of the nation? A moral self and a harmonious family background, in Confucian teachings, are the requisites for good governance.

To get this type of leaders, we need to overhaul the whole political and social system.
The education system should be overhauled to produce honest people with a high integrity. Eastern values should be taught in schools, colleges and other training institution.

Meritocracy, instead of strings and cables, should be the basis for promotions in all aspects of society, in private as well as public sectors, so that a culture will eventually evolve to replace the ‘tagging-onto-the coattails’ syndrome.

To have meritocracy, we need to have fair competition in all aspects of our lives. Universal values must be adopted in society so that the younger generations can be influenced to nurture a good social political culture.

We also need an agency powerful enough to ensure that the ‘self’ is not corrupt. An independent Commission Against Corrupt Practices, like what is in place in Hong Kong, would serve to nurture a whole new generation of young and dedicated politicians and government officers.

When this group eventually moves up, it would have cultivated a culture of dedication and commitment, much like the culture of our southern neighbor, where incidents of corrupt practices and abuses of power are among the lowest in Asia.

We should also seriously consider putting a limit to the duration a person can serve in high offices. In the US, a person can only serve two terms as president (the exception was Franklin Roosevelt because of exceptional circumstances). This, of course, will have its pros and cons, but in our case, I believe the pros outweigh the cons.

DR HSU DAR REN a medical doctor with interest in politics and socio-economic issues. He believes in the preservation of nature and a green environment.