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By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright December 2022
There is an old joke about a CEO newly appointed to replace a predecessor who despite his disappointment was willingly to accommodate his successor when solicited for advice even on his last day in office.
"Do you happen to have any tips for me about running this conglomerate?" asked the new CEO.
"Funny you should ask!" replied the retiring CEO. "I have prepared three envelopes for you that you ought to refer to everytime you face a challenge in the organisation. They are in the central drawer of the big fancy leather covered executive desk in your office!"
With a firm handshake he bid goodbye to his successor, picked up his old briefcase that had seen better days, off he went to his retirement home he has built for himself on a remote beach in Bali.
The new CEO has been having his honeymoon on the job partying, hugging newly found colleagues and smooching with all board members before he faced his first major challenge.
After the first month the Chairman of the Board enquired "What are your plans?"
He quickly went back to his office, opened the first envelope left behind by his predecessor.
Written in bold print on a fancy letter head, From the Desk of the CEO are four words; BLAME THE PREVIOUS MANAGEMENT!
So for the next six months he was safe. He went from one division to another finding faults with the previous management and reporting back to the board how awful the company was under his predecessor.
This was followed by investigations and endless reports. He couldn't have looked any better. The board was impressed.
The following year the Chairman of the board raised more or less similar question "So what are we going to do about all these?"
He rushed back to his drawer again and pulled out the second envelope. This time there was only one word in bold print REORGANISE!
He summoned all division heads and they went into reorganisation mode. The CEO hired well known consultants who prepared voluminous reports on how to reorganise the large company.
For the next 18 months the board is extremely impressed with the reorganisation exercise.
That bought the young CEO more time. By this time the CEO has been on the job for more than three years. The Chairman of the board and stake holders are asking the CEO when they may expect some results. This is the third major challenge he faced in his career. Without any ideas of his own he went in search of the last envelope.
When he opened the envelope the message read 'TIME TO PREPARE THREE ENVELOPES!'
We are watching Anwar's new government taking shape blaming everyone from previous governments.
It looks like they too followed the advice in the first envelope; blame the previous government. This has become a daily affair since PH government came to power.
The moment you switch on the TV or click on Newswav, the fast expanding news aggregator, you will see on your screen or read about the blame game being played out by the government of the day for the public gallery.
Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK) for instance took a swipe at the new PM saying that the latter ought to act like a head of government instead of continuing to play his former role; an opposition leader.
RPK suggested that the new premier ought to focus on what is to be done about the economy like fixing the price of eggs or stabilising the ringgit or addressing the problem of educating the young, rather than spending time venting frustrations at the opposition or finding faults just to get even with old foes.
First it was about RM600 billion spent by a previous government then there's the rice monopoly by Bernas and now a legal suit filed against a former PM over a RM15 million alleged advisory fees from Selangor state.
I am certain there are more suits and counter suits coming before long. It looks like we are on the way to becoming a more litigious society in the near future.
A government embroiled in legal suits might get bogged down and be distracted away from the business of governing the country.
The rakyat is tired of listening to one story after another as to who did what to whom. Enough is enough. Let's move on!
PM10 ought to have skipped the blame game after the first few days in office. Instead he should now be focusing on envelope no 2, i.e. to reorganise. Even the cabinet appointment is yet incomplete.
Perhaps once assistant ministers are all in place the government will be ready for the full reorganisation process. The first 100 hundred days are crucial. They will show some of the immediate results that we long to see.
If that turned out to be promising it would be more than a couple more years before PM10 would have to worry about preparing three envelopes himself. Hopefully not sooner!
Good luck Bro! Or may I address you as Saudara?
You told us not to call you Papa or Bapa so and so...I guess Saudara is good enough?
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