Dear prime minister and ministers,
The public accounts committee (PAC) chairperson has resigned together with four others on the committee who have all now become part of the executive under PM Najib Abdul Razak. The attorney-general has had his position terminated. So this effectively delays or buries the special task force’s inquiry and buys time for Najib. Is this acceptable?
What has been done is perceived by many as done in bad faith. Citizens who were waiting for accountability to be upheld are disillusioned. We have the most maligned prime minister in our history helming the nation. Be it the ‘Scorpene submarine’ scandal, the ‘Altantunya Shaariibuu’ issue or the more recent ‘1MDB’ and other scandals, the world is seeing a much diminished Malaysia. Travel overseas and your friends will ask, “What is happening in Malaysia?”
The prime minister says that his decision to reshuffle his cabinet is to ensure that they move as a team. There are those who indicate that all ministers must remain loyal to PM Najib.
This raises numerous ethical questions. Are cabinet members required to be loyal to the constitution and their oath of office or is there a need to be also loyal to the leader? Further loyalty has to be earned and is not a given. If the leader acts in a manner inconsistent with accepted norms than he should be told so, and if this is not acceptable then men of character must reveal that they have a spine and resign.
While to some extent both are needed, the fact remains that loyalty to one’s oath of office always supersedes personal loyalty to any individual. In a cabinet where patronage and loyalty remain entrenched practices, the silent nod is the voice of affirmation. All other factors, values, concerns of the people or what is right will be sacrificed.
Truth in essence will again be the greatest casualty. This is the challenge facing the new crop of ministers and they will need to have an honest dialogue with their conscience.
In this context all ministers should ask themselves fundamental questions. To what are they committed? Even if the response indicates a commitment to race, religion and patronage, then it is obvious that values and standards would be sacrificed to uphold the above.
These are critical questions that must be asked otherwise we will have a lot of sheep in the cabinet who would willingly mortgage their pride, credibility and convictions to a supreme leader even at the expense of the nation.
A soap maker once visited an ‘ulama’ and stressed that religion was of no use. It teaches honesty and values but look around and what one sees is the presence of so many polished crooks. Religion promises peace but look at the state of the world with the many wars going on. “What good is religion?, he posed.
The ‘ulama’ answered that there are so many wonderful soaps in the world and yet there are so many dirty people. “Religion and its teachings, just like soap, works only when it is applied, not recited.” Likewise, ethical values sourced in religious teachings are not just for a sacred time or place. These are the foundations, the touchstones, that give meaning and purpose to lives.
Ethics is everywhere and for all times
Disregarding these precepts and doing wrong or condoning it when we know what is right has far-reaching repercussions and consequences personally and nationally. This in effect is what blind loyalty does. Ethics is everywhere and for all times. There is the need to be honest and to act with integrity. This together with silence and reflection will gift any individual an enlightened conscience.
Without clarity, ownership and application we fall victim to the notion, “It’s okay, everybody does it”. This has been the way for decades and it has worked. When caught for our lapses we then ask the question, “Why has this happened to me”. This unconscious incompetence has plagued our nation and is rooted in the culture of power mixed with large doses of patronage and money.
The next step then is to react and blame external conspiracies, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the opposition, and play the race card. All this highlights the incapacity of the leadership to address honestly the challenges they face.
There is always a choice between loyalty and integrity. Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, the Special Action Unit staff member who is now in custody in Australia, cannot be faulted for his loyalty. Whoever gave the orders to kill, he followed it to the end. That was the creed of his training. He has admitted to the crime of murder.
What he lacked was integrity. Loyalty if it is not attached to a larger cause or purpose but to a person can be very destructive. Blind loyalty breeds corruption, cronyism, nepotism and crooks.
Charles Coulsen, special counsel for the late President Richard M Nixon, says, “When we human beings feel that our cause is just - in my case the cause of a president I respected - we are capable of infinite self-justification. Our conscience becomes not a guide but an accomplice. Intending to do good, we end up neck deep in compromise.”
He further states that a man or woman of character requires something more than an intellectual commitment to noble goals and high ethical standards. What is this something more? It is, he describes, the disposition to do what is right. “It is not enough to know what is good; we must also love the good and have the will to act in accord with it.”
Coming from a man who spent seven months in prison on a Watergate-related charge of obstruction of justice, this is sound advice.
The enlightened members of the cabinet, would, I hope, appreciate this challenge for otherwise they stand to sacrifice their integrity and conscience. Wilful silence on their part cannot be condoned. They hold a special responsibility to quietly advice and suggest and to stand up for their convictions and in the ultimate analysis to resign for the larger national good. Do they have the spine that matches their character?
Requiring guts and courage
Barisan Nasional must ask these hard questions. What is the pervasive culture that now keeps them together? They will have to deal with patronage and money, race and benefits and articulate a new culture that makes a difference.
This will require guts and courage combined with a leadership that is ready to deal with what is wrong presently. This would only be possible if there are those who recognise that the present culture needs to change and are ready to provide an alternative based on justice, democracy and social equity.
One who has put himself under the microscope is former PAC chairperson Nur Jazlan Mohamed. He wants to improve the public perception regarding PM Najib. This can only be done if the truth is out and no amount of painting pictures and telling stories is going to make a difference. Najib has a long distance to travel to gain his credibility.
As the former chairperson of PAC Nur Jazlan is privy with his team to critical information. The fact that many have accepted positions in the government is already raising questions regarding their credibility. For him and others the other critical question is whether their loyalty to BN supersedes the weaknesses of their leader.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has this unique opportunity to gain immense credibility. If they keep to the facts and do what is necessary without fear or favour many will look to them as an effective body to deal with the malaise of corruption that is wreaking havoc in the nation.
The time for preaching, training programmes, charter and statements are over. Walk your talk and deal with the big and small fishes. MACC will then gain immense credibility and be a force to reckon with in the nation.
We need ‘towering Malaysians and Institutions’ who will stand up and be counted for what is at stake is the credibility and trust of the nation. The Business Ethics Institute of Malaysia is with you in this cause. After a period of fasting, praying and restraint, let us have the courage to call a spade a spade and act based on character, convictions and not fear, patronage nor money. Are the ministers with us on this call?
