In today's world we have come to understand and better appreciate that perceptions do matter.

Malaysians, including mostly senior citizens, who have had the opportunity to witness in pain and joy the leadership of our three brothers – Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Ling Liong Sik and S Samy Vellu - these past decades, will not shy away from acknowledging their glory and their sins while only singing praises for Kelantan’s Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

Our three ‘brothers’ all seem to have a similar style of leadership – sometimes seemingly incredible and at other times it leaveing one breathless with pain. And the general perception at the market place has volumes being traded about our leaders.

Here are some similarities widely held:

They politically butchered their heirs. Succession planning was brutally sacrificed. Sacking their deputies was the standard operating policy. Anyone who does not toe the line is sliced off the branch of party politics. And so the nation is left paralysed with zero-succession only to be filled in with ‘interim’ fatalities.

They all ensured that someone in their families had a fair share of the baton relay in the race of wealth creation. We cannot imagine how rich their sons have turned out to be - becoming millionaires and billionaires when most youths their age would still be figuring out with green horns the concrete jungle game.

They all ensured that their terms of office wentt unchallenged. Competition was blasphemous to them. The mantra of ‘the best man wins’ was almost non-existent in their seemingly perennial tenure as captains of Malays, Chinese and Indians and not Malaysians.

They all maintained that they will ‘leave at the right time’ and that the time is not right yet as there is ‘unfinished businesses’. And one among the three is battling even to this date to stay on in office.

But if we are to take the case of Tok Guru, the spiritual leader of PAS, the chasm is just far too great to relate in a few lines. Suffice to say, nobody has yet vociferously objected to his staying at the helm.

On the contrary, people from all walks of life and denominations pray for his long and healthy life so that he can continue to inspire the rakyat. This man has been living an exemplary life and history could only record the poignant words of Socrates: ‘A man remembered for all eternity for his humble deeds and simple words’.

Here is a leader who never slammed or decapitated anyone; a man who never inconvenienced the humble rakyat. He never used police outriders even when he was the MB.

Look at his dwelling. Witness how he becomes a servant to the destitute. And when he addresses at public rallies, the silence of the masses bears witness to the rakyat’s admiration and respect.

These are thoughts worth pondering in the face of the troubling legacy that our three brothers have left us with.