Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW

Wednesday, September 1, 2010 02:0 P! G!T"0#:00

Published On: 2009-02-21
Strategic Issues
The common enemy
Abu Yousuf Zobayerullah
In a democratic environment after a landslide victory a rise in aura of confidence in the mind of the
leadershi! or in !arty members is "uite natural and #ustifiable$ %nfortunately the victor al&ays
misses the determination to &in the ne't election as !arochial self and !arty interest over!o&ers the
national interest( the interest for &hich !eo!le voted them to !o&er$ )herefore every time a
landslide victory turns into an avalanche of defeat by the end of the term$ *hen a !arty is in !o&er
it has the sco!e to do &ell for the !eo!le but not &hile in o!!osition$ +ut sur!risin,ly it is al&ays the
o!!osition &ho &ins the election not the !arty in !o&er$ *hy is it that every time the mass o!inion
s&ays so much from the !arty in !o&er to the !arty outside the !o&er- If the defeat by the rulin,
!arty is natural then ho& did .yoti +ashu/s communist !arty remain in !o&er in *est +en,al for as
many as 20 years or 1ahathir 1ohammad of 1alaysia for 22 years till he left voluntarily to his
successor- It is not that our !arty in !o&er &ants to retire for ne't 0 years handin, over the !o&er
to the o!!osition( rather they try tooth and nail to remain in !o&er but fail miserably$
)he reality is as lon, as corru!tion !revails in our system the authority &ill fail to !rovide #ustice to
the /have nots/ and they constitute the ma#ority &ho in turn decide the ne't !arty in !o&er$ If the
election is conducted freely and fairly the !arty in !o&er &ith corru!tion has no sco!e to return$ In
fact &hoever succeeds in mana,in, this dee!-rooted virus of our country can be sure to remain in
!o&er as lon, as it desires$ *hen a !arty ,oes after money the !eo!le and !o&er run a&ay from
them and vice versa &hen a !arty is for the !eo!le the !o&er never leaves them$ Isn/t thirty-seven
years too lon, a time to learn the lesson- 2very time &e failed to identify the real !roblem( it is not
&ith the o!!osition the !roblem emanates from &ithin$ It is the inherited basic corru!t attitude of
our !oliticians and their ally bureaucrats that !ush the !arty out of !o&er$ President +ara3 Obama
ri,htly said in his address at 2bene4er +a!tist 5hurch 6I/m not tal3in, about the bud,et deficit$ I/m
not tal3in, about the trade deficit I/m tal3in, about the moral deficit in this country$ It is time to
reinstall the common !henomenon that &e are all accountable for our actions to the !eo!le of this
nation$7 +ein, the most !o&erful !erson on the face of the earth if the President of %8A is
concerned &ith their moral deficit do &e have any choice-
2ven if a victorious leader identifies the root cause of our fundamental !roblem he or she fails to
find the ri,ht !erson to do the #ob$ )he environment has been !olluted so much that it is difficult to
find an honest !erson to lead the country to&ards honesty$ 9inancially honest !eo!le are readily
available but a functionally and administratively honest !erson is hard to find$ )herefore initial
enthusiasm of ,ettin, the country on honest footin, ,radually diminishes &ith the !assa,e of time$
)o ,et the !eo!le on honest footin, &e need leadershi! &ith 2 distinct ca!abilities$ One is !ersonal
honesty and the other is ca!ability of rehabilitatin, the corru!t$ Individual honesty is ,ood but still
inade"uate in creatin, an honest environment if there is a brutal dis!lay of ne!otism$ )he second
ca!ability of 6turnin, the corru!t into honest7 demands combination of : different ,ifted !otentials
these are insi,ht foresi,ht and &isdom$ 9allin, short of any one &ill drastically ham!er the anti-
corru!tion ;A5< effort$
)he misconce!tions that corru!t !olitician are the root cause of our corru!t environment has been
erased by the last careta3er ,overnment$ =urin, that !eriod &ith the sus!ected corru!t !oliticians in
#ail or outside the country and a fully inde!endent A55 in action )I+ re!orts that ,rassroot level
corru!tion increased by 2> in 20 months time$ )he lessons are it is not a !roblem of !olitician
bureaucrats or someone tar,eted for blame ,ame cam!ai,n$ )his is a disease of the heart and mind(
a man ,ets morally corru!t lon, before he acts on it$ Prevention of corru!tion is an insi,nificant
as!ect of the total treatment &hich inde!endent A55 is doin, today$ A55 has failed to ensure
honesty &ithin their o&n institution ho& can they brin, honesty in the country- )he ma#or tas3 of
clearin, the mindset remains absent$ ?ever can &e reach our dream of an honest environment by
only catchin, the corru!t$ )o reduce the ,a! bet&een the as!iration and reality &e need ri,ht 3ind of
e'!erts for the #ob$ President Obama selected a man of 2@ years as his scri!t &riter( &e have a
lesson to ta3e here$ America never ,oes by the halo affect of someone/s !ast record they believe in
real time on,oin, !roductivity$
Auman behavior is observable and therefore measurable$ *ith this t&o distinct "ualities of behavior
it can very much be tam!ered and !rovide desired direction or sha!e$ )his is !ossible by chan,in,
!erce!tion and can only be done by e'!erts not by any honest )om =ic3 or Aarry$ Ai,hly technical
in!ut of !erce!tion in the form of action reaction or inaction can motivate !eo!le to chan,e their
attitude &hich ultimately chan,es their behavior$ *e need to a!!ly that technolo,y to chan,e our
!resent level of corru!t behavior to an honest one$ )he brute and ro&dy attitudinal dis!lay durin, %8
election should !rovide enou,h insi,ht that &e need a ma#or re!air &or3 of our morale fabric our
behavior$ 1a3e the life of a corru!t !erson uncomfortable ris3y and socially embarrassin,$ In the
:rd &orld this conce!t is ha4y but in develo!ed countries they have the e'!ertise to achieve such
ob#ectives$ *e need to build the foundation of a system &here accountability is demanded at all
levels civilian and ,overnment$ )his &ill only &or3 by the a,e old statement 6Beadershi! by
e'am!le$7
5orru!tion is our colonial le,acy and descended &ith au,mented stren,th throu,h Pa3istan re,ime$
8ituation of our nei,hbor is better( occasionally their rulin, !arty comes bac3 to !o&er and the
visible economic develo!ment that they are ma3in, #ustifies that$ As far as selection of aid in the
form of ministers and advisers are concerned one &ould a,ree &ith me that 6there could not have
been a better choice$7 Our forei,n !olicy dictates malice to&ards none but that &ill never !revail if
&e develo! malice a,ainst our o&n !eo!le &ith corru!t heart and mind$ )hat is our &orst enemy and
,enuinely demands to!most attention for our survival$ I ho!e the !resent ,overnment !rovides
sufficient concentration on this and rescues this nation from the historical ima,e of a bottomless
bas3et$ %nder the !resent !arty in !o&er &e ,ot our ,eo,ra!hical freedom( let us ho!e that the
same !arty !rovides us the freedom from corru!tion that &e are endurin, for the last thirty-seven
years$
The author is a freelancer.