Choosing a leader.

When there is a need to choose a leader, we certainly, without exception, must choose someone whom we can respect; someone we believe will never play us out under any circumstances, someone who have great self-respect and a mind strong enough not to be manipulated by other quarters.

The Chinese in Malaysia is reputed to be proud where morals are concerned. However, recently, according to what we read in the media, much support is given to people who do not deserve our respect. There is this man who have admitted to cheating on his wife in a scandal which, at that time, he himself saw fit to resign from all those posts of responsibility he held.

Do we not have sufficient self respect to only want a leader who is better than us in every way? How can we have someone; or woe betide us if there is no other who has not shown his weakness; in a case in which the person has shown his willingness to put at risk his own marriage, his love for someone he had promised to love and cherish, despite the fact that she loved him enough to remain quiet throughout the trauma that must have been hers even when the scandal was exposed? Who are we, compared to his wife and marriage, to think that we would not be considered alright to be sacrificed by him if this leader were to be faced with another temptation?

Then, we have a guy who had already admitted his weakness as a leader, had stepped down due to that weakness, wanting to return to the same leading position because he had the support of the people.

If it is true that he had the support of the majority, then the supporters have shown that they cannot be good at choosing good leaders and such people certainly deserve what they get. If they believe such a leader can lead them to better days, then they have to accept the outcome and face the future that such leaders will bring. They have lost their right to complain when such leaders fail them again.

If we feel that another person of a lower caliber has to be chosen because we do not like the style of another leader, then we have to consider whether it is the right thing to do. What are the consequences? Not the immediate ones but the long term effect on our lives. Sometimes we commit the mistake of having insignificant short term gains over important long term benefits. We throw out someone who is a better leader just because he never shakes our hand and deprive ourselves of a respected leader who can courageously fight for our rights. Which would you choose? How you choose indicates the type of wisdom you possess.

Yes, it is important that we understand the consequences of our actions as people who vote in the leaders. We vote in great leaders who are held in great respect wherever they go because of their capabilities and dependability and we know these people can bring great development to us. Vote in people who merely want to wield power, yet unable to exert that power for our benefit, forever kowtowing to others in higher positions to safeguard their own position first and we know we can end up the losers. It has happened before and it can happen again. The unfortunate thing is that people do not seem to learn from the mistakes they make in choosing their leaders. These people usually would complain a lot in places, such as coffee-shops, where what they say do not make a difference at the time when these leaders fail them. Then, they forget their complains and make the same mistake of electing the same type of leaders again.

Unless a people can learn from their mistakes, there can be no improvement.