When we think about heroes we see personalities, not organisations. The titans, the legends, the tigers, lions, eagles, and whatnot. The great men and women who have dedicated themselves to a life of service for the nation to make our country a better place, at great risk and sometimes harm to themselves. While not wanting to take anything away from the stupendous work that these people have done, it however steals some attention away from the work that’s being done under the radar.
The planning, the organisation, the logistics, the catering, the whispered persuasions at a local kenduri, the volunteers manning phonebanks checking in on local residents, the analysts preparing reports and recommendations; these are just some activities that make up the mechanisms and systems required for change although they hardly attract attention or plaudits.
Strong systems and institutions are also necessary to rein in the whims of an individual leader, which if not held in check can lead to deep negative effects, or even collapse of an organisation or society. These systems, and the work that goes into them, need to be properly recognised.
The work we don’t see
Wherever you look in Malaysia, you will find that the Pareto principle is in full-force in Malaysia, perhaps even more extreme. 80% of the work will be done by 20% of the workforce, while most of the glory and rewards (monetary or otherwise) fall to an even smaller percentage, elsewhere. As brilliantly captured through the satirical tweets by Lumrah Lanyard ( https://twitter.com/LumrahL/status/1368728221823475712) on KL’s corporate world, the need to chase for ‘visibility’ independent of actual work has created dysfunctional work cultures where important fundamental issues are relegated to hushed conversations among the worker bees.
Impressive buzzwords (Impact! Sustainability! IR 4.0!) are thrown around in ‘townhalls’, but there is no follow up. Strategies and blueprints are drawn up but they lie flat because there is a lack of investment into building and maintaining the processes that would allow for their proper execution. What is left then is a boulevard of broken blueprints, as we shift from one deadline to another, wondering what went wrong, and which other consultants can we hire next.
That this keeps on happening in government is especially strange, if only because the auditor-general releases their report multiple times a year. There one would be able to find a laundry list of everything wrong with the government spending, quarter after quarter, yet still not able to find anything that can be corrected beyond that. If a problem has been discovered, and there clearly is something wrong, why has there not been anyone held responsible? Why are the same mistakes allowed to happen again the next year?
Most importantly, are the same people still making the decisions? Should they be the only ones calling the shots?
The paths to accountability
If we were to move from being a nation beholden to our erstwhile heroes (or the current term in vogue: our ‘Abah’s and ‘Pak’s), we have to refuse to reward the bare minimum. A single person cannot expect their individual expectations to be able to pressure decision-makers, but collectively as a society, we can make it our agenda to not accept anything but good and competent service.
Recently we’ve seen the use of online petitions and social media outrage as a tool to reprimand and pressure authorities, and it can work sometimes. However, people can only have so much outrage before they get tired of feeling angry all the time, so a more systematic approach for demanding accountability (and performance) needs to be cultivated. Even when online anger transfers over to the streets, as seen through the democracy protests in Thailand and Myanmar, it needs a solid system of organisation and support to keep the fire burning. Perhaps we have as much to learn from our past and the experience of local trade unions and pressure groups, as we have from the activities of present-day organisations, movements and collectives around the world. There are many models for us to explore and develop for this purpose: study circles, co-operatives, spiritual orders, informal workers movements, digital communities, activist funds, and others. We have been fortunate to live in an age where the range of civic participation has been wide, and we have access to technology that allows us to learn and organise beyond our immediate neighbourhoods, even if we are unable to physically leave them.
The pandemic’s impact have been multifaceted, responses need to reflect that
Accountability is much needed, given the frustrations that Malaysians have today, but our responses cannot be limited to only that. We have seen how the pandemic has revealed how vulnerable many people are economically and socially, as a result of entrenched inequalities of wealth, power, and status. Remedying this will require movements, platforms and organisations that approach our present situation broadly, rather than only focusing on reprimanding and replacing incompetent individuals.
Citizen-led movements that fight for inclusion, autonomy, and empowerment, which themselves embody the values that they call for, are needed to course-correct our society and culture. These movements need to be able to shine a light on existing inequalities, contest the status quo, and propose alternative models, for the purpose of improving how things are currently done. We simply cannot afford to wait for the brilliance of leaders or captains of industries for solutions to these problems. Again, we can learn a lot from the experience of others, and we need the boldness to experiment with new approaches, as well as listen to the ideas and suggestions from all levels of society.
It is clear now that great men alone will not be able to save our society from the many harms around us. The pandemic, especially, has shown how unforgiving crises can be when we are not adequately equipped to face them. Many lives have been lost, while many more will be affected by long-term sickness, loss of income and opportunities for many years to come. Strong systems, voices, and society are necessary to make sure that we are headed in the right direction, which hopefully leads to better outcomes for all.