Like this one and just got to share it with you. Read this from the Bernama web site just a while ago.
Adressing His Royal Highness' subjects at the Perak state-level Maulidur Rasul (Birthday of Prophet Mohamad) celebration in Ipoh this morning, the Regent of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah Sultan Azlan Shah (picure) advised the country's leaders to refer to the records of world history to learn from the causes of the fall of many empires and governments, and even monarchs and national leaders.
He said there was historical evidence that many people were given the opportunity to become leaders but only a handful of individuals rose to be successful leaders who charted history and built civilisations.
"This happened because many of those given the opportunity to lead allowed the joy and passion of having power to lead them astray.
"Some among them became complacent, some went astray, some were ill-advised, some adopted wrong decisions and some made miscalculations.
"Such are the historical accounts available on leaders and leadership which the ummah (people) of today should use as the basis of reference so as not to repeat the mistakes," he said.
Although he was speaking at an Islamic religious celebration, the acting Sultan of Perak (one of the 13 States of Malaysia) was also speaking in the aftermath of the just-concluded 12th General Election of Malaysia.
His Royal Highness was obviously referring to the ruling BN coalition's worst showing since the 1969 Malaysian election in which the UMNO-led BN (then Alliance) also lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament and which ended with racial riots and declaration of emergency.
To add insult to injury, the BN also lost power in four States (including Raja Dr Nazrin's Perak) and failed to wrest back Kelantan from the Opposition. For the first time since Independence, Perak, just like Kedah and Selangor, is ruled by a non-BN component party. The 4th State, Penang (or Pulau Pinang in the Malay language) was won by then opposition party Gerakan in 1969. But Gerakan joined BN before the 1974 election. History repeated itself 29 years later when Gerakan was ousted by the DAP-led opposition on March 8, 2008.
Perak's new Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) is from the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) while his coalition government's partners are from the multi-racial Keadilan (Justice) party and the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP).
My Say:
Yes, I cannot agree with Raja Dr Nazrin more. From my observations since I started working at the tender age of 19 in 1973, man's memory is short and sometimes people never seem to learn!
When I first started working, it was still the Usno-led Sabah Alliance government which had ruled Sabah since Independence in 1963. In 1976, the Alliance lost to the Berjaya party which was then only 9 months old. What led Usno to believe that they would win the election was probably due to the fact that the party had earlier defeated the then infant Berjaya in two by-elections in State Assembly seats. Also, party leaders and government officials reported to the then Usno president Tun Mustapha only what he liked to hear, i.e. "No problem Tun, we are going to win."
In other words, the 'Yes Boss' syndrome. But to be fair to the officials, nobody at that time would expect the Alliance to lose. After all, it 'won' ALL of the 32 State Assembly seats in the previous election in 1971, uncontested! Moral of the story: Don't be complacent, as Raja Dr Nazrin pointed out today.
I once served a Berjaya politician who was a former university lecturer in history and who therefore was fond of saying "History always repeats itself". Thus, in 1985 history really repeated itself when Parti Berjaya itself also lost to an infant party, PBS. Infact, the Kadazan-dominated and Christian-led PBS broke Berjaya's record in that it was less than two months old when it won the election!
Just like the good old Usno days, nobody in Berjaya would believe that it would lose to an infant party. After all, in the previous election in 1981, Berjaya swept 44 of the 48 seats! Also, just like Usno time, officials reported to Berjaya president and Chief Minister Datuk Harris only what he liked to hear: "No problem, Datuk, we can win". Moral of the story: Don't be complacent, says Raja Dr Nazrin.
History repeated itself one more time in Sabah in 1994 when the PBS won narrowly with a simple majority. Due to this narrow win, the PBS state government collapsed less than two months later when 3 of its Assemblymen (including one Nominated) switched camp and joined BN through UMNO. The 3 were followed by a few others within days. PBS president and Chief Minister Datuk Pairin had no choice but to resign, paving the way for a new UMNO-led BN Sabah government. Moral of the story: Don't be complacent, according to Raja Dr Nazrin.
So Alliance, Berjaya and PBS all managed to rule Sabah for only 9 years each. But BN managed to break the zinx, having ruled the State since 1994, meaning 14 years already. Infact, despite BN's poor showing at the federal or parliament level and 5 states, the Sabah BN did well in the recent election, losing only 1 parliament and 1 state seat.
May be this is God's will, or may be because BN has governed the State well, or may be Chief Minister Datuk Musa is an excellent leader in view of his corporate background, or may be the 'wind of change' in the Peninsular failed to cross the South China Sea and couldn't land in Sabah. Whatever it is, let's hope that Sabah BN will learn from history especially in the wake of the recent election results elsewhere in the nation.
By the way, Raja Dr Nazrin is my favourite among the Rulers in Malaysia and I believe he is the most popular too among Malaysians especially the younger generation and educated. He is not only handsome, soft-spoken and not arrogant, but among the most educated as well, being equipped with a Phd. Until his marriage last year, the Harvard-trained heir to the Perak throne was the most eligible bachelor in Malaysia too.
Conclusion: Man's memory is short and this is especially true when one reaches 54 like me. I have a pharmacist friend. Went to see him. Told him about my problem. He gave me Gingko Bibloba.Only time will tell if it works. Till then, let's learn from history, as Raja Dr Nazrin advised.
Posts
