Suck your way up the ladder

Raja Petra Kamarudin

If you can remember, one of the crucial factors for the fall of Perak was the State Secretary. He was the one who summoned the police to prevent Nizar Jamaluddin from entering his office. In fact, State Secretaries have also played a role in bringing down governments in other states as well, Terengganu being one of them.

I was counting the days when the Selangor State Secretary would retire but now that he has I find that the appointment of the new State Secretary is outside the hands of the state government and is a man who is another Umno stooge.

Umno Selangor is in deep shit. With the Khir Toyo corruption matter -- and talk that two Barisan Nasional state assemblypersons may also be involved in the murder of the Indonesian millionaires -- things are not going too well for Umno Selangor.

It seems the Indonesians are pissed about what they perceive as a cover up of the murder of one of their nationals (like how the Mongolians were earlier) and now with talk in the Umno Blogs that the Minister who raped the Indonesian maid is Rais Yatim the government may be hard-pressed in covering up this scandal any further.

So Umno needs their man in the Selangor State Government and if Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim can’t convince the Selangor Sultan to reject the appointment of this Umno appointee then things may be very tough for Pakatan Rakyat.

Anyway, as they say, a rumour is never confirmed until it is official denied. So let’s wait for the official denial.

On another matter, politics in Malaysia is moulded after the Umno example. All political parties copy what Umno does. But then Umno is an expert at the game which they invented so to copy Umno means you are playing with a huge handicap.

In Umno, leaders are not headhunted. They work on the system of popularity contests. You start as a member then move up into the branch committee, then branch leader, then division committee, then division leader, then state committee, then state leader, then national committee, then national leader, and so on.

You serve your time and work your way up the ranks by becoming popular with the grassroots. You could be a postman or railway crossing guard or whatever but as long as you know how to play to the gallery you will make it after 10 or 20 years climbing up the ladder.

In Umno they work on the 30:70 formula. You must show 30% loyalty to the party and 70% loyalty to the leader. Shahrir Samad is a good party man. He will live and die with Umno. He shows 100% loyalty to the party. But that means he shows zero loyalty to the party leaders. And that is why he can’t go up.

If Shahrir had practiced the 30:70 ‘code of conduct’, today he would be the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. But Shahrir is not that clever (I know because I went to the same school as him -- as also did Nazri Aziz, Anwar Ibrahim, Sanusi Junid, etc.). He does not know how to suck dicks so he has been sidelined. So now Muhyiddin Yassin instead of him is the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Singapore does not practice this system. They don’t believe that those who pandai cakap (clever in talking) and know how to suck dicks should become Singapore’s leaders. They headhunt their leaders.

Singapore has a strict criteria and a high-powered committee vets the potential candidates. The candidates are then interviewed by people such as the founding father of Singapore. And by the time the final list is decided they would have gone through every potential leader with a fine-tooth comb and counted every hair on their backside. Nothing gets past them.

Whether these people are party members or not is not the issue. Party membership is not the overriding criteria. It is your capability and integrity that will decide whether you become a Singapore leader.

Now you know why when you compare Malaysian leaders to Singapore leaders you can see a world of difference. And can you see the secret of Singapore’s success?

Okay, that may work in Singapore but that does not mean it can also work in Malaysia. That would be the first response from most people.

And why not?

Is it because Singapore is run by one party while Malaysia is run by a coalition of 14 parties?

Is it because in Singapore capability and integrity are important factors while in Malaysia it is how you suck up to the party leader?

Is it because Singapore has zero tolerance for corruption while in Malaysia corruption is not just a way of life but a religion with money as God?

Is it because in Singapore you are judged by what you are whereas in Malaysia you are judged by who you are and the titles you carry (or have bought)?

Is it because Singapore is colour-blind whereas in Malaysia priority must be given to Malays and then only if they are Umno members?

Is it because Singapore is a republic while Malaysia has ten Rulers?

Which of the above reasons is the reason why they can do it in Singapore but not in Malaysia?