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Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : CROWN PRINCESS HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 17/01/96
Tajuk/Title : THE HARVARD CLUB DINNER
I would like to thank the Harvard Club of Malaysia for
inviting me tonight and for the opportunity to talk on the
topic "Leadership Ideals For Malaysia".
2. Whether a nation succeeds or fails or remains mediocre
depends very much on the quality of leadership the nation
generates. Thus many nations suddenly emerge to become
great, to expand into empires and to dominate regions,
continents and even the world. And then with even greater
rapidity they decline and some disappear altogether from the
face of the earth. The great empires of Egypt, Greece, Rome
and Persia, the Islamic Empires, the Mongol Empire, the
Ottoman Turkish Empire and of course the European Empires of
Spain, Portugal, Britain, France and even Belgium, all seem
to have gone the same way. If we want to find the
leadership ideals for our country, we should study the great
leaders of history.
3. When we trace the history of these empires we
invariably discover leaders and leadership qualities which
inspired, which brought out the best in their people,
enhanced their skills in the art and science of governance
and formulated unbeatable strategies. On the other hand we
should study also the leaders and the kind of leadership
responsible for the decline.
4. The names of these leaders are legends. Alexander,
Caesar, the Prophet Muhammad and the early Caliphs,
Napolean, Genghis Khan, Mehmet II, Sulaiman the Magnificent,
Akhbar the Great and others. One of the most remarkable was
Genghis Khan. This chief of a small wild nomadic tribe of
cattle and sheep herdsmen fought, persuaded and welded the
small tribes of wandering Mongols into a great fighting
force and into a nation. Within the space of his lifetime
Genghis Khan conquered and established the biggest empire in
the world, extending from China in the East and Eastern
Europe in the West. His hordes advanced up to Moscow and
south eventually to India.
5. As an empire that of the Mongols was short lived. But
it left behind many great nations and minor empires in
Central Asia, in India where the Mogul (Persian for Mongol)
Empire of Akhbar was established and in some of the West
Asian areas where the Mongols merged with the Turks.
6. It was the leadership of Genghis Khan which made
possible the welding of the wandering Mongol tribes and
primitive herdsmen into a nation. Leadership in those days
required fearlessness, harshness and cruelty and generally
intolerance to those who stood in the way. The loss of
such leadership qualities, the love of comfort on the part
of Kublai Khan, ended the Mongols' dominion over three
quarters of the known world then. Such was the role of
leaders and leadership in the achievements of even the
primitive nomads.
7. Bad leadership is equally as decisive in the
destruction of nations or in keeping the potentials of a
people unexploited. The great caliphs of Islam built an
empire and a religious following that has never been matched
in human history. But the jealousies, bickering and hunger
for power of the governors of the various regions of the
Muslim Empire soon broke it up into warring nations which
cared little for the teachings of the Prophet regarding the
brotherhood of all Muslims.
8. The Turks rescued the Muslim nations and resurrected
the greatness of the Muslim Empire. The leadership of men
such as Mehmet II and Sulaiman the Magnificent ensured the
success of the Turkish Caliphate.
9. Unfortunately the later Sultans were more interested in
a life of luxury and the sensual pleasures of the harems to
pay much attention to state matters. They no longer went to
war at the head of their armies. Instead generals were
chosen to do this, generals whose leadership was equally
questionable.
10. In the early years, the Turks went to war fully
prepared to face the rigours and the hardships of battles in
the fields. But when Cara Mustafa laid seige of Vienna he
had his army set up a luxurious tent city, manned by the
best cooks in Turkey. The most magnificent tents with
velvet hangings and thick carpets was prepared for him. He
was accompanied by his favourites from his harem. Not
surprisingly Vienna did not fall into Turkish hands.
Mustafa executed a number of his officers to prevent news of
his defeat from reaching the ears of the Sultan. But the
Sultan found out soon enough and sent men to execute Cara
Mustafa by strangling.
11. In modern times Hitler and Mussolini destroyed their
great countries almost completely. Mao Tse-Tung, a great
guerilla leader, failed miserably as an administrator.
Obsessed by his interpretation of the Communist ideology and
convinced that he could never be wrong, Mao impoverished his
great country. It was not until he died that China under
the leadership of Deng Xiao Ping emerged from its decline to
become potentially the greatest nation in the world.
12. It is clear that leadership, more even than the culture
of the people, determines the fate of nations. Indeed it
determines the success or otherwise of all human
organisations, be they social, political or economic. And
of course the success of all organisations, big and small,
add up to the quality and the achievements of a nation.
13. One might ask, what are the ideal qualities required in
a good leader? One might wonder even whether there is some
alchemy, some magic formula which a good leader must
possess. If there is then one might despair because this
alchemy, this formula seems to belong only to the privileged
few. These people seem to be born with these qualities
while others are not.
14. But actually the qualities of a leader are the very
same qualities which we generally acknowledge as good
qualities in any individual. If this is so then surely many
people should emerge as leaders. That there are so few is
due largely to most people not caring enough to adhere to
good qualities. Most people give in to their baser
instincts, thinking more of short term pleasures and gains
than the kind of sustained self-restraint required in order
to practise what is good and reject what is bad. Thus a
leader who allows himself to abuse the power he wields is
not thinking of his future good but the immediate gains from
corruption. Of course those who allow themselves to be
corrupted even before they become leaders will never make it
at all.
15. Obviously, if one does all the things that society
condemns as bad, one cannot expect to succeed as a leader.
What society considers as bad is well-known to everyone of
us. It should not be difficult to recognise them. But the
fact is that many who wish to be leaders or who are leaders
quite knowingly do those things which they know society
would not accept.
16. As ordinary people we all condemn arrogance or
dishonesty or selfishness in a leader. But the moment one
becomes a leader, one would display those very traits.
Apparently we are quite incapable of remembering that we
disliked these qualities in leaders before.
17. I have already pointed out that the qualities which
were ideal during the time of Genghis Khan are not quite the
ideal qualities in our age. We live in a more enlightened
era. Ever since the French Revolution the ideals have
changed. Emerging from an era of tyranny, society laid
great stress on "liberty, equality and fraternity".
Interpretations of these have undergone many evolutionary
and revolutionary changes so that attitudes towards leaders
differ from one period to another. Today leaders in the
West are hardly respected. They are often the subject of
scurrilous attacks.
18. The composition of a society, its religious beliefs and
its culture also determine the ideals of leadership. The
ideals in Malaysia are rendered more complex because ours is
a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural society.
It may be that what is approved by one is not approved by
the others. One has to tread one`s way very carefully
indeed.
19. Still Malaysians of all races are a tolerant lot. They
will forgive mistakes made by leaders from other ethnic
groups. They may not be so forgiving if leaders from their
own ethnic or cultural group make the same mistakes.
20. Malays, for example, are quite sensitive and will not
accept being corrected or scolded in public. They may
forgive non-Malays for doing this, but not leaders of their
own race. Nevertheless it would be a mistake for non-Malays
to do this knowingly.
21. And so apart from doing what is approved by society,
leaders must take pains to learn of the sensitivities of the
different races who work under them and avoid trampling upon
these sensitivities.
22. The list of qualities which leaders should have is very
long. There is a tendency to isolate just one quality and
credit it for the success of leadership. But this would be
a mistake for there is no single character or ideal which
ensure good leadership. Rather leadership depends on a
complex interaction of many qualities.
23. A leader may be a pious practitioner of all that is
good but if he is not assertive and ready to defend his
actions, he could still fail. Dedication and singleness of
purpose require a strong character which tends to attract a
great deal of antagonism and opposition. But a leader who
is mild and accommodating, and is popular because of that,
is not likely to achieve much. Clearly there is a need for
conflicting values to accommodate each other, for both
humility and assertiveness to be shown by a leader. This is
not going to be easy. But then if it is, everyone can
become a leader. That only a few succeed in effective
leadership is due to the difficulty in mixing in the right
proportions qualities which are not very compatible. This
is why the number of truly great leaders in history are few
and far between. Despite early signs of good leadership
qualities, many fail to make it.
24. Leaders must of course lead. If leaders merely follow
in the footsteps of past leaders, then they cannot truly be
called leaders. Those who aspire to be leaders in whatever
field must be willing to critically examine the past
leaders, no matter how great they may have been. If they
find the methods of the past wanting in any way they should
be willing to modify or even discard them and initiate their
own strategies or policies.
25. Today mass production is accepted as the obvious way to
meet mass demands and reduce cost. Yet for ages, goods were
manufactured from beginning to end, one by one by
practically the same person. The first man to reject the
old methods and device mass production became a real leader.
In the business sector as well as in Government, the good
leader must look critically at the way things have been done
before and question whether they were correct, whether they
were the only way and whether they were still relevant in
the present situation. If he is any good as a leader he is
bound to discover some weaknesses or inadequacies or
irrelevance. If he is brave enough he would discard the old
ways and devise new ones. If he does this and he succeeds
then he is a leader. Otherwise he is merely follower.
26. To lead it is obvious that a leader must know where he
is leading to. A leader who does not know his destination
cannot really lead.
27. The destination may be obvious in which case he needs
merely to follow the shortest route. But a good leader may
see more than what his predecessors saw. He may then set a
new destination, a greater one than that previously
identified. If he does this and he leads successfully, then
he may be considered a better leader than the others.
28. A leader must therefore have vision, the ability to see
beyond what others see, to determine new objectives and
targets, to assess the capabilities of his followers, to
encourage and arouse them and to guide them to greater
achievements.
29. It does not matter how big or how small is his
following. Whether he is leading a department or a platoon
or a nation is not material. What is important is that he
has the qualities mentioned, qualities which assure, guide
and inspire his followers to strive for greater achievement
and greater heights.
30. The ideals of leadership are many. No leader can have
all of them. But it suffices if some of these qualities are
to be found or are absorbed by a leader. It is equally
important that bad qualities are eschewed by the leader,
unconsciously or consciously.
31. Leaders cannot last forever. But good inspiring
leadership should leave its mark on the followers, so that
even if he is no longer around, the qualities he inspired in
his followers remain. This is the final quality and
achievement of the ideals with which the leader is imbued.
32. Today it is acknowledged that leadership is not
inherent in anyone. It can be learnt. Leadership training
is now common and has produced good leaders. There is
really no mystery about leading and the ideals of
leadership. Everyone knows them. The problem is whether an
individual is willing enough to make the necessary
adjustment and sacrifices in order to be a leader, a good
leader.
33. There is enough material for good leadership in
Malaysia. All we need to do is to identify them and train
them. All they need to do is to be willing to accept the
responsibility and make the necessary sacrifices.
34. You don't have to be a paragon of virtue to lead. But
you do have to give up some at least of your vices.
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