.jpg)
Whom Can We Trust to Guard the Guards Themselves if Not Our Corrupted Representatives?
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright January 2022
During the first century, about 2,000 years ago, a Roman satirical poet, Juvenal posed a question that has become central in any democracy and is currently plaguing us, in democratic Malaysia to this very day.
Juvenal’s question in Latin, “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” meaning who will guard the guards themselves, is on the lips of everyone in Malaysia these days because almost everyone whom we chose to guard our assets has appeared to be helping themselves to what we treasure most.
We chose or appointed our representatives whom we expected to uphold our constitution and be the custodians of our national assets, yet these are the very people who have sold us down the river.
The courts are still in process of resolving cases after cases of our representatives, supposed to be custodians but have turned rogues instead and betrayed us.
Political parties that once started with noble intentions have changed their priorities. One, in particular, claimed to have unshackled us from the yolk of colonialism only to saddle us lately with trillions in debts partly because of corruption.
These are the very same people who cloaked themselves in courtly robes after winning elections, taking an oath of loyalty to the constitution, on a holy book’; yet when caught with their hands in the cookie jar, swore in the same manner in a house of worship denying any knowledge of their own wrongdoing.
Juvenal’s question was similarly reflected in an old Malay proverb that has found new meaning in recent years because those whom we trusted had betrayed us; “harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi!” It means we trusted the fence but instead, it ate the padi it was meant to protect.
Our forefathers erected fences along the paddy fields hoping that these would protect our padi from the chickens, yet it turned against us, eating away our harvest. This Malay idiom is as appropriate as Juvenal’s question, for these troubled times. It would be impossible for something like a fence to consume the paddy.
Malay proverbs are ever so subtle. Our guardians were meant to be of strong character built much like the fence solidly designed to protect us and would be unlikely to betray us under any circumstances.
Yet, it has become impossible to trust the representatives we elected to protect us like the fence our forefathers built along with our paddy fields, designed to last generations. The impossible in an ideal democracy has become a reality in Malaysia. In a big way.
Who then should stand guard over those whom we should be trusting? Who would be able to ensure that our guardians would stick to the straight and narrow with unquestionable integrity?
We built checks and balances in our system of governance but these too were raped and brutalised by those in positions of power to their heart’s content, devouring everything in their paths without fear or remorse even when caught.
How then do we demand that the leaders we chose would live a life that is honest and morally proper?
Asking them to take an oath of office promising to be honest and morally proper had not worked. The separation of powers between the executive, the judiciary and the legislature meant to act as a mechanism of checks and balances in our society is already perceived as compromised. This makes us more suspicious of any government that might come into power.
Many Malaysians have lost faith in their government and wanted a system that will keep their politicians, policymakers and judiciary honest and straight. They have even lost hope in an agency that was supposed to keep corruption in check. In fact from their perception, not a single agency is left untainted by corruption. That applies to politicians and civil servants too.
So, we are back to where we started. Whom can we trust to guard the guards themselves, if not elected officials, civil servants and the judiciary?
Malaysia badly needs a guardian angel.
Mihar Dias is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
Register at headliner.newswav.com to become one of our content writers now!
*The views expressed are those of the author. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.