It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. The New Straits Times lead photograph and headline story on Friday, (March 4, 2005) may be worth a million words. It captured the prime minister reviewing the rape of Bukit Cahaya (i.e. a hill of light!) greens without even a \”a single tree standing nor a blade of grass\” remaining.
The picture graphically captures the PM\’s notebook open for jotting notes and his views about the whole episode. Gently, the writer also mentions that the Selangor menteri besar (the CEO of the jurisdiction) and the minister of agriculture (trustee of the hill of light) being with the PM on this hands-on monitoring (rather than \”enforcement\”) of the real situation on the ground, as the PM is known to do since his first 10 days in office. An excellent picture worth a million words!
The photograph captures the essence of the PM\’s leadership philosophy which he chooses to demonstrate by action, and not just words. I call this style, \”lead-do-ship.\” It involves leading by doing. He is also helping us redefine \”enforcement\” not merely as fault finding after the fact, but rather an attitude of vigilance even before the destruction of the environment, as the specific problem.
Other writers have also captured their theses in their own opinion pieces. For example, Citizen Nades does so in the Sun in his regular column pointing to the rule of law on this matter of green rape. The point of the storyline is simple, \”do not allow illegal activity, and try to monitor them before it is too late.\”
Using the \”force\” of law after the fact, is really too late. Prevention is better than \”enforcement,\” whether with illegal immigrants, traffic offenders, green rapists, or even loan defaulters. The vice-chancellor of USM goes even one step further in his column in the New Sunday Times to state that it is not just rape of the environment but even \”murder\” because the damage to Bukit Cahaya is permanent, and more severe than even green rape.
\’We are not responsible\’
But, very sadly, all the relevant followers and team members of the PM\’s team have each in their own ways cried, \”we are not responsible, the others are perpetrators of the crime.\” For instance, in the case of \”green rape\” of the Hill of Light, the state leadership pleads innocence, ignorance, and even surprise!
The fact that the 45 different projects were concurrently being developed around the Hill of Light and directly or indirectly destroying the Green Lung but was \”unknown\” to the state leadership is simply incredible! More importantly it lacks credibility. It may be that everybody in the state leadership is living in the world of darkness rather than that of light! In which case, why are they providing leadership for the state in darkness!
Neither is this an isolated case. Let us reflect on another three identical cries of the plea of innocence by other agents and assistant executives of the government! Take the case of illegal immigrants.
In 1993, I approached the then DG of the Registration Department to \”protest\” that my then Indonesian maid had received a \”red IC\” within two years of landing, by simply paying RM1,500 illegally at the Sungai Besar landing site to perpetrators of the crime. He said, \”that problem is a million ringgit underworld operation and that even he did not know the real answer!\” Today, we may be closer to the answer.
Inside officers are colluding with external parties to commit this crime! Or, take the case of the demerit system of JPJ (Road Transport Department). Good laws and even better policies, but what good is it if the authorised jurisdictions do not know \”how to enforce\” before it is too late. Prevention is surely better than cure!
Finally, there is the case of the loan defaulters of the government\’s Higher Education Loan system. Another brilliant policy and programme to address our need for more knowledge workers, but what good is it if the soft loan programme was viewed as a development and welfare agenda rather than a financial programme to support and nurture responsible stewardship of opportunities?
Again, a case of poor leadership blaming the benefitting student recipients for the problem of repayment defaults, after the fact. Able leadership always plans for and motivates good followership with effective follow through!
Somehow, after one year of the PM\’s leadership, cracks are becoming visible as many leading public servants and political leaders appear to assume that while it is their \”god-given right\” to \”govern\” in any way they want, they are not to be held accountable when there is obvious and strong evidence of poor governance. Wrong. Good governance is the joint-stewardship responsibility of all public officials, and they are fully accountable for poor leadership.
What the PM expects is responsible and competent leadership. The more traditional \”saya yang menurut perintah\” (one who follows orders) model may no more be relevant. I believe the PM expects a \”saya yang penuh bertanggongjawab\” (one who is responsible) model of leadership and followership. But, where can we find such \”leadership?\” Let me conclude my reflections on this issue with a real case-story in my own backyard of \”how\” this rape (or murder) of our environment actually happens on the ground.
The sorry truth
Before I bought my house in Kampung Tunku, I went to the then MPPJ president and enquired about the green lung open space and playground behind the house I was to buy. The then president said, \”It is a green lung as it is marked green on every published map of PJ.\” The maps are still green but the lung has been raped and murdered.
The real problem was that the green lung was never gazetted even after a directive from the former housing and local government minister based on a cabinet directive! It appears state governments are above the cabinet, in matters related to the \”their\” land. Then, two elections ago and rather expediently, two weeks before the elections, earthworks started and the rape of our legal and legitimate 30 year old green lung began, all in the name of \”development.\”
Today, 10 years later we wonder why our children have to be \”raided into submission and humiliation\” by Jawi (federal territory religious department) because they hang out in the \”wrong places!\” I wonder who is to blame? We raped their playgrounds and green spaces, and chased them into the malls and nightclubs, and now we wonder why they are in the \”wrong spaces!\”
May I propose therefore that unless all public officials follow the servant leadership model of the PM when he says, work with me and not for me; and take responsibility for the reshaping of our environments, we are destined to remain a developing country well past 2020! Sorry, but this is the truth.
A developed nation needs responsible agents, actors and citizens but not poor leadership which always blames everyone else but themselves for their own irresponsible stewardship of opportunities!