You can delegate authority, but you cannot delegate responsibility.
– Byron L. Dorgan, former US Senator
President Harry S. Truman had a sign on his desk that read “the buck stops here.” Those four words spell mental agility, accountability, responsibility and response-ability. Read: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the sacking of General MacArthur. That’s genuine leadership regardless of its moral, political, military, ethical, philosophical or legal moorings and underpinnings.
Winston Churchill was another leader who took full charge of the buck. He learned a bitter lesson after the disastrous Dardanelles naval campaign in Gallipoli during World War 1 when he misread the Turkish forces resulting in large losses of British lives. He was demoted, and he resigned from government. In some countries, the shamed go on an urgent pilgrimage hoping for eschatological remedies.
The other side of the coin developed the “passing the buck” strategy as witnessed in the 1930s when the USA, UK, and France hid behind the Munich Agreement to pass the buck to the Soviet Union to confront Nazi Germany. The phrase encompasses power politics where scapegoats, willing and available victims exhibit their innocence and naivete.
It’s called ‘tai-chi’ in Malaysia’s social club culture, when elected management committees strut around like defeathered peacocks instead of soaring like bald eagles. This is what happens when genuine friendship becomes an opportunity instead of a solemn responsibility. Many clubbers will attest to this fact.
The buck stopped at the judiciary when three Malaysian courts affirmed and confirmed the conviction of a former prime minister and sent him packing to prison.
This has been one of those rare occasions when the rarefied air of the Executive was snuffed out without fib, fault, fanfare, fear of favor. It was a watershed moment for Malaysians that, finally, an infallible independent judiciary took refuge in their oaths of office to uphold and defend the Federal Constitution.
American businessman Max de Pree pointed out that “the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say ‘thank you.’ In between, the leader is a servant.”
Hopefully, our ministers will waive their privilege of having motorcades and outriders when they travel over land. As public servants, they must be ready, willing and able to experience the same road rage the general public encounters. Really does the master-servant relationship proud.
Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud believed that most people shun freedom because freedom involves responsibility that’s threatens and frightens.
Freud’s analysis is interestingly and painfully relevant when confronting the weak of spirit and the frail of mind. The Malaysian Opposition, after 1969, proved Freud wrong when its zeal to be free from fear and repercussions established a lasting bulwark of responsibility as it gained more parliamentary seats until 2018 when it wrested power from the incompetents.
Where did the buck stop for the 48 people who died on December 11 1993 when Block 1 of the Highland Towers in Ulu Klang collapsed from a major landslide caused by heavy rains that burst diversion pipes?
A Cabinet Committee aided by a Technical Committee disclosed its findings in 1994. Ten defendants faced indictments.
The blame fell squarely on the developers, architects and engineers who failed to conduct Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) associated with constructing buildings in the vicinity of highlands.
The ninth and tenth defendants, who received, studied, approved and authorized the entire project, were the state government of Selangor and the director of Lands and Mines of Selangor, respectively, upon whom the adjudicating court imposed no liability! Regrettably, the facts, law and justice collapsed as well.
The buck was nowhere near the prime minister’s desk during the 1997 “financial crisis.”
The ‘Look-East policy’ was aggressively spearheaded by the then prime minister’s single-minded push for breakneck growth. Result: Malaysia’s dollar-denominated debt could not be sustained. The ringgit went into a tailspin, the deputy prime minster went to jail, while the prime minister nonchalantly passed the buck and blamed everyone else!
The buck was elusive during the Pan-El scandal, the Maminco fiasco, the BMF scam, the Perwaja Steel steal, and the forex shenanigan, etc., under that machiavellian maverick’s wretched watch. Responsibility and accountability got translated into zero liability.
Fast forward. No. 10 now has to reshape, restructure and rebuild all that was lost. Not an easy feat, nor a herculean task, but with able and capable lieutenants, he should make the buck sit squarely, firmly and steadfastly at his desk while he goes about cleaning house. Nothing less is to be expected. Let’s support him.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
