It is all in the genes

What I am going to tell you today is a true story.  Different versions of it has been acted out in different times; and it will still be played again and again as long as greed remains as one of the hallmarks of human traits.

This was the story of a tycoon, a very rich person but not much educated . His was a rag to riches story so common among those first generation tycoons.

Because most of his time were spent on building up his empire, he did not have much time for his children, and the bond between father and children wsa not very strong. His children were much better educated, many of them graduated from overseas universities.

Like all the Chinaman family, all the children worked in the father’s company, where each built up his/her own small fiefdom. There were lots of company politics , but as long as the old man was at the helms, there were undercurrents but none surfaced to be noticed by the old man.

One day, the old man was diagnosed to have end staged cancer, and was given a few months to live. Everything changed overnight. The children started to stab each other in the back, jostling to get the attention of the old man and tried to tell the old man that he or she was the best person to take over. None was bothered about the health of the father, and none was bothered about the future of the company and its thousands of workers…

The jostling was so intent that when the father became unconscious and comatose, none of the children spoke to each other and all trying to see the content of wills left with the family lawyer. None bothered about preparation for funeral and so on.

A similar scene to the above story is now being played out in one of the component parties..

 Even before the dust has settled from the EGM last Saturday, jostling has begun. The few so-called next-in-line started to tell the press that the next leader must be  from one of them , with some openly declared that they are ready to take over. SOme of the ex-‘Greats’ had joined in asking for fresh election so that  these supposedly retired politicians can come back, contest  and ‘save’ the party..

Dinners were arranged and intense trading has started, and new alliances being formed,  even before the head has declared his intention; even when the constitution has stated in no uncertain terms that he needs not resign constitutionally, since a sitting president can only be removed in a 2/3 majority.

I find the situation for the party almost hopeless and nauseating. I almost vomited blood when I read and heard about the horse-tradings that had started.. 

Power is intoxicating, like marijuana.. Once they have tasted power, these people simply would not put the party’s , community’s or national interests above their self interest.

 It is so obvious that everything they do now is about self interest. It is most nauseating that when everyone outside the party knows they are doing this for self interest, they ae still trying to project a ‘saviour ‘and ‘holier than thou’  image when talking in the media.

I wonder whether these people would be so heroic when it comes to fighting for the community or the country. Will they be as  hypocritical ‘heroic’ and be the first to come forward if  Malaysia is at war with another country and asks for volunteers to be deployed in the battlefields?

2 days ago,  I mentioned that a new leader might be able to patch things up, and prevent a major split. I am not so sure now looking at the jostlings. There will be a lot of leg pulling, as a result of which , new factions will be created, new enemies made, and whoever goes up will not be commanding enough to prevent factional infighting.

The self  serving culture has been so ingrained in the party , it is like a  dominant gene. The gene is passed from one generation to another and with every generation, it is manifested and no one can escape from tis effects.

This is the sad fact facing the party, and like genetic disorders, there  is really no hope of a cure!