— Black Swan The Malaysian Insider Nov 22, 2011
NOV 22 — With the debacle that is the NFC and many other issues being hotly debated in Malaysia at the moment, a thought suddenly came to me.
The underlying and pervading issue here seems to be an issue of values. Let me qualify this: I am no psychologist with textbook definitions of values; I am a professional and mother who is increasingly aghast at what is going on in Malaysia.
Values to me are simply our personal guidelines that enable us to distinguish between right and wrong. We would do something that is right because our personal values guide so and we wouldn’t do something because the same values would, again, make us hesitate from doing it.
As the NFC debacle looms larger and politician after politician (from the highest offices of the government) come out and say that this was right and make it all sound very convincing, one then realises that they are saying so because they believe they are right. Why? Their personal values are guiding them.
Which brings to question the entire value system that is being practised. It has nothing to do with religion or race. These people’s values are guiding them to believe that they are right.
When you have politicians saying, “we want to do something because of its political dividend” or “we cannot afford to be ‘picky’” about which groups to align themselves with, and that everything must be done with only one goal in mind — winning the next election — the value system, to me, again comes into question. Isn’t public office about serving the people and doesn’t it require a certain degree of selflessness and humility?
Again, I believe it’s the values. It has become commonplace for the politicians to believe that governing is their entitlement and not a privilege granted to them by the citizens.
I personally believe that these values, distorted though they may be, are so ingrained that it is going to be quite difficult to move away from this. Until people have values that include accountability, transparency and respect for the other human beings at its core, I don’t believe any fundamental change is going to be possible no matter how many laws are passed and how many enforcement agencies or personnel you have.
As long as corruption, cronyism and arrogance are part of someone’s value system, nothing much can ever change. It is going to just entrench itself deeper into the nation’s value system.
Until we, as individuals, can look at ourselves in the mirror and say, “This is wrong and I should not do this,” no fundamental change can happen in the society — no matter how many slogans and billboards we put up.