September 23, 2013
Malaysia deserves better than Najib's Leadership
by Dr. M Bakri Musa
Morgan-Hill, California
"We
must change the nation’s sorry trajectory by dispensing with the
current leadership. The excuse that there is no one else capable may be
solace to Najib but an insult to all Malaysians. Allah would not be so
unkind and unjust as to deprive us of our share of leadership talent. To
get our rightful due however, we must first stop indulging our present
incompetent leaders, beginning with Najib. Only then could we diligently
search for better ones."--M. Bakri Musa
Najib’s
glaring leadership deficiencies have now been glaringly exposed.
Malaysia deserves better. His performance has not been up to par even
when compared to his lackluster predecessor. If under Abdullah Badawi
Malaysia had the modernity of Manhattan but the mentality of Mogadishu,
under Najib, Malaysia risks degenerating, period.
Najib
is not terribly bright or introspective. Like a little child, he always
hunger for approval. He is also severely “charimastically-challenged.” A
leader could survive or even thrive despite having one or two of these
flaws, but to be cursed with all three is fatal.
All
his adult years Najib has depended entirely on government paychecks. No
surprise then that his worldview is narrowly circumscribed. His
solution to every problem is to distribute government checks, well
exemplified by his many “1-Malaysia” handouts. His recent Majlis Ekonomi
Bumiputra was no exception; likewise its hefty price tag.
Not
being introspective, Najib does not and never will recognize his
shortcomings. Consequently unlike his immediate predecessor, Najib will
never resign voluntarily; he would rather destroy his party and country
first. If UMNO does not recognize this, it too will go down with him;
likewise the country.
A
good leader, to paraphrase a hadith, is one who protects his followers
from his hands and tongue. Najib does neither. Functionally, he slipped
his hands into the pockets of Malaysians when he raised the price of
petrol. He wants to do it again with his Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Meanwhile his smooth tongue bribes us with his ever-generous “1Malaysia”
gifts, using the rakyat’s money of course.
While
being smart is an obvious asset in a leader, not being one would not
necessarily be a handicap. Reagan, one of the most successful American
presidents, was far from being brainy. He however, knew his limitations
and duly compensated for that; his cabinet was full of intellectual
heavyweights and individuals of proven achievements.
Incidentally
my comparing him to Reagan, no matter how unfavorably, only feeds
Najib’s delusion. Najib thinks he is super smart; he frequently parrots
the latest buzz words. It is not just an increase but a quantum leap! It
is not just any strategy but a blue ocean one! Meanwhile the ship of
state is headed straight to the bottom. He does not appreciate his
fundamental problem. You cannot scour the ocean on a leaky sampan with a
crew familiar only with the rakit (bamboo raft), and hope to survive.
The
embarrassing caliber of Najib’s cabinet and advisors reflects his
blissful ignorance of his deficiencies. He had over four years to scout
for fresh talent, only to end up with the same mediocre core ministers
he inherited from his equally dull predecessor. I cringe whenever I hear
any pronouncement from them. They are all “half-past six.”
Even on the rare occasion when Naijb picked a bright star like Idris Jala, the former
chief executive of Shell, the sparkle is gone. It is hard to soar like
an eagle when surrounded by turkeys. Idris is reduced to and consumed
with making elegant Powerpoint presentations to any willing audience.
Tasked
with “transforming” the government (note the bombastic buzz word!),
Idris Jala either severely underestimated the enormity of the task or
generously overestimated his talent in executing it. He forgot the
evident reality that the government of Malaysia is not Shell with
respect to size, scope of activities, availability of talent, or any
other matrix. The bureaucratic inertia of the civil service pales the
physical one of a loaded supertanker.
If
Idris had appreciated the enormity of the challenge, or had a wee bit
of humility, he would have focused on only one or two areas, and learned
from the experience. Once successful, he would have minimal difficulty
selling his ideas and initiatives.
If
Najib had been introspective, he would have assigned Idris a specific
portfolio and then let him do his own “transforming.” Idris would then
be able to show instead of just merely tell us his managerial capabilities.
Like
a skillful carpenter, a good leader knows when and where to deploy his
finest tools. Implicit in that observation is that a good leader must
first recognize which tools are sharp and which ones are dull, to be
discarded. It is precisely this critical insight that Najib is severely
lacking.
Najib’s
second weakness, his hunger for approval, is equally crippling. He
tried to ingratiate himself to extremist Malay nationalists by
brandishing his kris dipped in tomato sauce, but to no avail. During the
last election he had his son utter a few words of Mandarin and gave
generous on-the-spot grants to Chinese schools. Likewise, he visited
Rome for an audience with the Pope. At home he garlanded himself in that
outlandish floral arrangement around his neck while visiting Batu
Caves. Voters readily saw through those silly overtures.
Like
a spoilt brat who had grown accustomed to being indulged upon, Najib
could not accept the harsh rebuke that was the last election. He reacted
like the over-pampered kampong kid by sulking; hence his shameful
silence during the many recent crises.
Lacking
self-awareness, Najib has pretensions of great charisma. If contrast is
the essence of art, then his on-stage performance with the South Korean
Gangnam Group, Psy, during the last election campaign was truly, well,
artistic. If that were his only gig, that would be harmless enough. It
was however, mildly funny, even if it was at his expense.
A
charismatic leader could at least attract talent to his cause despite
lacking competence or not being generously-endowed intellectually. Najib
does not attract the best. He confuses endless slogans for substantive
efforts, frenetic activities as decisive actions, and sulking withdrawal
as deep contemplation.
Take his endless sloganeering. First there was glokal Malay (contraction for global and lokal,
Malay bastardization for local). Lacking traction, he shifted to “One
Malaysia.” Streams of slogans later, it is now “Endless Possibilities!”
What’s next? Najib is the leader caricatured by Shahnon Ahmad’s lead
character in his novella, Unggappan.
We
must change the nation’s sorry trajectory by dispensing with the
current leadership. The excuse that there is no one else capable may be
solace to Najib but an insult to all Malaysians. Allah would not be so
unkind and unjust as to deprive us of our share of leadership talent. To
get our rightful due however, we must first stop indulging our present
incompetent leaders, beginning with Najib. Only then could we diligently
search for better ones.
Malaysia deserves better than to be saddled with Najib Razak.
____________________________________________________________________
Bakri Musa’s essays on Malaysian issues have appeared in local publications as The Sun Daily and Education Quarterly, as well as international ones like The Far Eastern Economic Review and International Herald Tribune. His commentary has also aired on National Public Radio’s Marketplace. His latest book is Liberating the Malay Mind.
Bakri
received his undergraduate, medical and masters degrees from the
University of Alberta , and was awarded a Research Fellowship from the
Medical Research Council of Canada to pursue research in transplant
immunology. A published author in his scientific and professional
fields, Bakri is a board-certified surgeon and a Fellow of both the
American College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada
.
Prior
to coming to California in 1981, Bakri practiced in Oregon , Alberta ,
and his country of origin, Malaysia . He used to scuba dive and sail his
sloop Makan Angin in Monterey Bay, but that time is now taken up
tending his Katahdin sheep and free-ranging chicken on his ranch in
Morgan Hill , California.
