Action eliminates doubt.
–Nashid Sharrief, American educator
The Man In The Arena (M-I-T-A) is a powerfully inspiring speech delivered in Paris, France, on 23 April 1910 by the then US President TheodoreRoosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Since 1957, Malaya, and thereafter Malaysia, the electorate tried its utmost to find a political leader who could live up to such expectations. We should not ever stop trying to find, or support, such a man or woman.
It’s one thing to criticise for the sake of innovating a news article, but the critic who has never been in the arena is usually the loudest tin kosong.
One must be battle tested in the unfriendly political wilderness with blood, sweat, dust, and tears. That translates to winning for self and nation. Military training would certainly be a plus.
General Douglas MacArthur, supreme commander of the Southwest Pacific theatre in World War II, harboured a huge ambition for political leadership. But General Dwight Eisenhower beat him to the chase by becoming the 34th US President.
The Man In The Arena has to be someone who will not allow the undermining of Malaysian values, traditions and customs that underscore the rule of law – come hell or high water.
Equality is commanded in the Federal Constitution, but ethnocentricity is the official formula. Fair enough. But so should proportional representation and apportionment be since we are a multi-racial heterogenous society anyway.
We are still missing The Man In The Arena even after GE-15. Worthy causes and high achievements, like hurricanes, hardly happen in Putrajaya. But rhetoric and polemics with a huge dose of hubris is undeniably the staple diet suggested by weak leaders.
Cold and timid souls (milquetoast types) should not even think of entering politics. If they do, they are of unsound mind inadvertently invoking the constitutional disqualification of Article 48 (1)(a).
Promises to combat and eradicate corruption, for example, suffer from the Hawthorne effect which psychologists say manifests in people who are being studied, evaluated or monitored for effective change and reform.
Fortunately, we had an able and capable leader in the person of the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong who had to keep the nation on a steady course despite the political cataclysm causing three successive – not successful – governments.
Article 153 Federal Constitution posits the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as the unquestionable Man In The Arena. The buck literally stops at Istana Negara when a major political decision is warranted under the Federal Constitution.
The Agong hasultimateexecutive – not ceremonial – authority as Supreme Head of the Federation, Parliament, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces; power to declare an Emergency; summon, prorogue or dissolve Parliament; grant pardons, reprieves and respites, and generally be responsible for every citizen.
The Agong is up, above and beyond partisan politics. He wields more power and authority than the King of England answerable to Parliament which is so supreme that it can ‘make or unmake any law.’ By June 2025, Parliament will eliminate hereditary peers from the House of Lords.
It should be pure political suicide for tired and timid souls who have the gall to question the constitutional authority and power of the Agong and the Conference of Rulers. Our adat frowns upon it.
The recent spate of disrespectful viewpoints and dubious opinions about the Royal Addendum is nothing but lese majeste that should invoke section 4(1)(a) of the Sedition Act 1948.
The next generation may produce a man or a woman who could support a future Agong to right the wrongs, drain the swamp, steady the ship, traverse equality and equity, and restore normalcy in our heterogenous culture.
Our Agong’s responsibility and accountability are aptly underscored in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part II, “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”.
Trump 47 mentioned a dire need for “a revolution of common sense.”Robert Green Ingersoll hammered home the point: “It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.” A great lesson for wannabe leaders.
The Man In The Arena must be made of sterner stuff. He will be even stronger if the constitutionally mandated acceptance of Cabinet advice is proven to be untainted by political overtones.
M-I-T-A must ushermetanoia – a journey of changing one’s mind, heart, self, or way of life, a spiritual conversion. Not for tired and timid souls but for the tough, thorough, tried, true and tested leader.
The electorate’s sole patriotic duty and function is to diligently comment, motivate, suggest, recommend, encourage and support The Man In The Arena.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune.
