.jpg)
By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright December 2022
History never ceases to fascinate me. Growing up in the 60s it was my favourite subject in school.
The rise and fall of the Roman Empire is still an obsession. Until today I often wonder why such large empires succeeded so well but eventually failed miserably.
Recently I stumbled upon the History Channel's documentary on the fall of the Roman Empire. (history.com)
They offer eight reasons why Roman Empire collapsed. I was more attracted to reason number 5 which dealt with government corruption and political instability which I feel has some resemblance to what we now experience in our less-than-empire-like nation. But if we were not careful it could lead to our very own downfall too in years to come.
History Channel says, "If Rome’s sheer size made it difficult to govern, ineffective and inconsistent leadership only served to magnify the problem.
"Being the Roman emperor had always been a particularly dangerous job, but during the tumultuous second and third centuries it nearly became a death sentence.
"Civil war thrust the empire into chaos, and more than 20 men took the throne in the span of only 75 years, usually after the murder of their predecessor. The Praetorian Guard—the emperor’s personal bodyguards—assassinated and installed new sovereigns at will, and once even auctioned the spot off to the highest bidder.
"The political rot also extended to the Roman Senate, which failed to temper the excesses of the emperors due to its own widespread corruption and incompetence. As the situation worsened, civic pride waned and many Roman citizens lost trust in their leadership." (history.com)
Is civic pride waning in our country because of widespread corruption?
Have we lost trust in the leadership of our Parliamentarians the way the Romans did in their Senators towards the end of the empire?
Are we seeing inconsistency and lack of effectiveness in our political leadership?
In 5 years, we have seen 4 Prime Ministers sworn in to lead the nation. The 4th is still having difficulty with forming a cabinet two weeks after the election.
The delay might even be longer given the inability of the parties to come to terms with conditions forwarded by UMNO-BN mostly.
UMNO-BN is made up of 30 parliamentarians who are said to be making impossible demands on the new PM.
Some say it involves freeing those with criminal records in return for support for a fragile minority government.
Doesn't this sound like ineffective and inconsistent leadership and widespread corruption and incompetence that affected the Roman Empire?
Most Malaysians are resigned to the fact that this "horse trading" between political leaders or MPs is no different from the "Roman Senate, which failed to temper the excesses of the emperors due to its own widespread corruption and incompetence."
That leaves the rakyat out in the cold who are yet to lose their pride although many have lost their faith in those MPs who put self-interest over and above that of the nation.
Will we then face the fate of the Roman Empire?
I hope it won't happen during my lifetime although there are already indications that it might happen to us in years to come unless our leaders take the bull by the horns and do what needs to be done, now!
Mihar Dias is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav.
Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
Newswav is solely an aggregation platform and hosts the content. The views expressed and content above including media (pictures, videos, etc) were provided by the author. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.
