Transforming our old dogged habits

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
My View - The Sun Daily
February 28, 2018

THE Lunar Year of the Dog is here. Many are expecting the "predicted" goodness for the remaining days of the year. But going by media reports of "unpredicted" deaths and disasters – some avoidable – surrounding the auspicious occasion, it signals some unsettling omens and emotions.

Could it be that we have been barking up the "wrong" tree? What with the rush to institute anti-"fake news" laws regardless (as per the column last week), it seems to confirm the same. So how much goodwill is to be expected from all these in the Year of the Dog is something we have to anxiously wait and see. Personally, I am pessimistic and the reason is rather simple.

Let us go back to the days of "surat layang" – the infamous "political poison letters" which coloured our public sphere not too long ago. Except that now we have an upgraded e-version which in essence is still the "surat layang" with all its nastiness and becoming even more viral literally.

Indeed more so as it has a global reach and responses too. The intensity and sphere of influence have broadened instigating the idea for a "new" law despite the collective wisdom against it.

The reality is that if we were unable to put a lid on the "unsavoury" preoccupation previously, what chance is there when it rides on "advanced" technological platforms including the (ab)use of AI? Indeed just last week experts reminded us again of the worst that could be expected from such an eventuality.

What seems obvious is to be more progressive, using the tried and tested alternative of handling the case by being more open and transparent. This will certainly put the "surat layang" enthusiasts out of business because they thrive on anonymity and cowardice. Removing the charade will slash the numbers leaving only those who have the gall to call a spade a spade.

That said, to be transparent however demands an uncompromising grip on morality, integrity and authenticity and not to treat it as something that can be sinisterly "managed".

James MacGregor Burns, the leadership guru, states this well when he characterised a "transformational" leader as someone who races his/her followers to a higher level of morality and motivation.

It implores those with skeletons in the cupboard or with corrupt excess baggage to discard old habits to be "transformative" and not to reduce things only to the physical and peripheral because the core is rotten.

In the words of another guru, Stephen Covey, one must first strive to ensure a "private" victory (read core personal life) before even attempting a "public" one to be truly transformational.

Failing which the well known adage "a dog is a person's best or most loyal friend" becomes a double-edged sword. It can be (mis)used to retard constructive transformation involving mere "lapdogs" who are blindly "loyal" and only bark when told (even up the "wrong" tree). The Chinese refer to them as "zougou" for being so unprincipled that they are more than willing to be manipulated without shame.

This reminds me of what the Malaysian billionaire, Robert Kuok, pointedly wrote in his memoir when it comes to his dog-eat-dog observations tainted by greed and lust for power. As he candidly puts it: "Chinese sometimes regard fellow-Chinese as their own worst enemies ... in public they might seem very warm to each other, almost hugging and kissing ... But in their hearts they had daggers semi-drawn".

Fast forward, looking at the situation that is unfolding, it takes little to guess that the daggers are already fully drawn. And that this is no longer confined to any particular group.

The "hug-and-dagger" hypocrisy has spread far and wide as the "new normal" in today's tail-wags-the-dog "fake" world. Unless one is very conscious and truly concerned to undo it by racing one another to higher levels of morality, nothing will be able to miraculously transform the existing hypocritically dogged habits.

Even then it must be firmly rooted in genuine change of hearts. Otherwise, the Year of the Dog will be just that – a "dog"! That is we remain imprisoned by old habits fit for a dog's life as reflected in the recent Corruption Perceptions Index.