Personality vs Policy forum, my take on it
Now that Malaysian Night is over, I am back to my old job, attend to my studies and all. On Friday night, I went to LSE for a forum entitled Personality Vs Policy. Yet another talk on the grounds of politics. For some strange reason, there are awful lot of such talks I've attended since I came here. Perhaps all of this is spurred into motion by the fact that this is an election year, so politicians are really working hard to spread their ideas. As for myself who is most of the times frustrated with my own life and job, being present to talks like these are great opportunity for me to simply sit down, listen to their arguments and go back home to contemplate on them.
The forum was attended by quite a few number. Frankly speaking, I was expecting to see a much bigger audience given that the topic was so exciting, unfortunately I was wrong. The room was barely filled by around 20 people, most of them are students, as always. And just like any other talks I've attended, I barely recognize any of the panelists who came that night. They are all unfamiliar faces, but then again, with myself being a person who barely knows much about this sort of stuff, I am not surprised.
The forum was by far unlike how I'd wish to be like. I was pretty much disappointed by it, but nevertheless, the points brought up by the speakers were indeed valid and interesting.
The personality side: One could argue that a good leader ought to be one which has a good personality, a decent background, clear of scandals and what not. It is true that one should not judge the other from the cover, hence why we referred to their history to see what type of a person he is. It is hoped that someone with a decent history and adequate amount of education would make a suitable candidate to hold the mandate of leading the country. But the question is, how decent is the 'decent' you're looking for? This may be a case for ambiguity, but just as long as his/her background is not going to affect his/her judgement in running the nation, I would say this is sufficient enough. But is having a good track records good guarantee of well minded decisions?
The policy side: A leader does not work alone. This is not a one-man game, it is a team game. He/she will never walk alone, there will always be a group of advisers around him/her to help in making sure that the best available option is being chosen. The ruling party need not only have a candidate with enough credibility, but also a manifesto of policies which are practical for the country. Two is always better than one, thus a brilliant plan is what actually the public is craving for. We all wish for one similar aim, to see this very country we are living in to be a better place, thus a ruling party with a clear cut framework of policies is seemingly a good promise of just that. Ideas always look so promising when put down on paper, but the real question is the whole process of implementation itself? Will it work when put into action? Can it be successful enough to solve the underlying issues it was meant to tackle in the first place? Or will there be bumps along the way of imposing such policies hence limiting its scope of effectiveness?
In the end, we all have our own opinions on how we view our politicians. Be it either their personality or policies we are kin of, our ideal candidate would certainly be one of which who stands in the middle of the two, a balanced one. To say that it is too wishful of a thinking, it may be true given the vicious world we are living in, but mind you, a dream is where the prospect of a better life stems from. Have faith that we will soon see the world better than how we first saw it.
I leave the rest to you.......
The forum was attended by quite a few number. Frankly speaking, I was expecting to see a much bigger audience given that the topic was so exciting, unfortunately I was wrong. The room was barely filled by around 20 people, most of them are students, as always. And just like any other talks I've attended, I barely recognize any of the panelists who came that night. They are all unfamiliar faces, but then again, with myself being a person who barely knows much about this sort of stuff, I am not surprised.
The forum was by far unlike how I'd wish to be like. I was pretty much disappointed by it, but nevertheless, the points brought up by the speakers were indeed valid and interesting.
The personality side: One could argue that a good leader ought to be one which has a good personality, a decent background, clear of scandals and what not. It is true that one should not judge the other from the cover, hence why we referred to their history to see what type of a person he is. It is hoped that someone with a decent history and adequate amount of education would make a suitable candidate to hold the mandate of leading the country. But the question is, how decent is the 'decent' you're looking for? This may be a case for ambiguity, but just as long as his/her background is not going to affect his/her judgement in running the nation, I would say this is sufficient enough. But is having a good track records good guarantee of well minded decisions?
The policy side: A leader does not work alone. This is not a one-man game, it is a team game. He/she will never walk alone, there will always be a group of advisers around him/her to help in making sure that the best available option is being chosen. The ruling party need not only have a candidate with enough credibility, but also a manifesto of policies which are practical for the country. Two is always better than one, thus a brilliant plan is what actually the public is craving for. We all wish for one similar aim, to see this very country we are living in to be a better place, thus a ruling party with a clear cut framework of policies is seemingly a good promise of just that. Ideas always look so promising when put down on paper, but the real question is the whole process of implementation itself? Will it work when put into action? Can it be successful enough to solve the underlying issues it was meant to tackle in the first place? Or will there be bumps along the way of imposing such policies hence limiting its scope of effectiveness?
In the end, we all have our own opinions on how we view our politicians. Be it either their personality or policies we are kin of, our ideal candidate would certainly be one of which who stands in the middle of the two, a balanced one. To say that it is too wishful of a thinking, it may be true given the vicious world we are living in, but mind you, a dream is where the prospect of a better life stems from. Have faith that we will soon see the world better than how we first saw it.
I leave the rest to you.......
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