A PhD (perangai hasad dengki) is a Social Disease

Dr Halili quits PKR after nomination day

The Hulu Selangor by election is over. Much has been talked about the outcome of the election and its results analyzed. Something which happened in the political scenario, or rather at the backyard of PKR's towards the nomination day was a subject of my concern.

Dato' Zaid Ibrahim

PKR decided to nominate Dato' Zaid Ibrahim, the former de facto Law Minister of Malaysia, a renowned lawyer with the biggest law firm in Malaysia and also a well endowed busineesman. He was also known as the former Kota Bharu MP, an ex-minister and ex-Senator.

A few days before nomination day, he was the PKR choice for the P094 HS candidate. A few days after nomination day we heard that Dr Halili of Hulu Selangor, the ex-1999 election candidate and PKR HS treasurer, who was also Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim's long trusted ally and physician, turned an about face, quitted PKR and joined UMNO.

Much speculation was aired about his defection or betrayal. The neurosurgeon pre-emptively denied it has got anything to do with his being rejected as the candidate.

Who do you believe? Well, that's for him and Allah to know, His words of wisdom says "only Allah know what lies hidden and what you portray..."

But my take was the obvious. He was severely unhappy that he couldn't contest, after all he had all the obvious criteria; a local boy, a high qualification, a PKR branch committee, the previous parliamentary election candidate, etc..

In actual fact, often times, the top management people usually have very different reasons for their decision. they usually look at various intangible aspects, points of view or political angles to select a person for the specific job. you could be where you have been for the longest time, but you just did not fit into that job description.

There's a paramount danger to a society's structure of organization when some people arrogantly refused to concede to a decision that has been made. "Arrogant" people could become vicious when they think that a certain social position, a job promotion, an award, or a candidature is owed to them. These people will say that "I have been there since....", "I did that", "I was the one who made it happen", "I was the first...", etc, to make their claims legit.

The arrogance can be simply recognized by these criteria:

1). they like to demean other people, while show themselves off

2). they do not listen to others or become defensive, especially when advice comes from people of a lesser position than them

3). their opinion is always correct and other people is wrong

4). proud of their wealth, their position, beauty or their deeds, their family connections, their qualifications

5). walk with a pround stance

6). only mingle "in their social circles" or with people of their own "standards"

7). likes people to praise them, but angry with criticism and often likes to raise their voice to demoralize other people

8) do not apologize when they make mistakes

..... i guess the list could go on to be longer than this.

It's interesting how Nature makes its selection, and to illustrate this point i'd pen down my experiences in the last few months with people who are not satisfied with the order of "qada' and qadar" and retaliated. In the natural selection process, the weak gets eliminated by choice, virtue or simply by isolating themselves.

Case 1

A senior lecturer with "AP" was passed over for a Deputy Directorship at an Institute.

She went vehemently protesting to the top, to get her points across while at the same time undermining the credibility of the chosen person by spreading through the grapevine. although explanation has been given of the factors why the other person was elected, she was not satisfied and created further havoc. she went on to "test" the person's judgment and intentionally created a much deviated story/situation hoping for a potential unrest to arise among the top management.

when she did not get the results that she had hoped for, she threatened to quit. by all means, her wish was granted and she moved to another place. while in the process, she spread news about her previous workplace which was based on half truths and a lot of unsubstantiated claims of "hidden agenda" and conspiracy to see her fall. this was very mean, disloyal, backstabbing actions which sprung from an "arrogant" mind, putting a front of "injustice" to rationalize an action.

Case 2

A senior nursing supervisor submitted a long leave of absence when she was passed over in the promotion. the position was for the Assistant Director of Reserach in Clinical Service. the reason was because she was almost 100% sure she was going to get the post but instead a newbie from another hopsital with a Masters degree in Research was selected. i did not doubt that qualifications had won in this situation over seniority in service.

Case 3

Two persons with the same degree and qualifications attended a job interview, but one was a senior staff at the department and one was a newcomer from another department. although qualifications and an advantage in the job description was the factors favouring the second candidate, the first candidate felt threatened and could not accept he was not chosen for a promotion due to his seniority. this leads to a lot of dissatisfaction at the work place and further disruption to the integrity of the work ethics.

While i have illustrated the 3 cases with varying circumstances but ending on the same note of disgruntled employees whom could not save their face by accepting decisions and continously display resistance, there are people with strong minds and iman, who did otherwise.

Case 4

A very senior Deputy Registrar graciously accepted the fact that she was passed over in a big job promotion as the University's Registrar to a much younger "junior". when i interviewed her, she responded by saying "I accept the fact that this is God's given rezeki to me and it's what I'll have. i accept there must be a reason for this...". her will to accept this shows the magnitude of her Iman and Taqwa, which are two things that Allah put highly as criteria to ensure Heavenly rewards in the hereafter. Afterall, only your Iman and taqwa matters in the eyes of God, not your riches, your wealth or your position.

A psychiatrist term for the act of mental process to protect your ego and emotion and to survive an anxiety when you have been let down is called "Defence Mechanism". there are several forms of the mechanisms, which everyone could identify with at any point in your life.

For example, "Intelectualization" - a defence mechanism where you use reasoning to block the anxiety/anguish

"Rationalization" - which is a defence mechanism by way of concealing your true motivation in a non-threatening and rational way

"Repression" - a classic defence mechanism which protects you from ideas or impulses which could cause anxiety by not making them conscious

There are many other forms as described in text books, but what Muslims have is the strong faith in God the Almighty. Your belief that what you have in this world are all temporary possessions and they all belong to Him. He might lend it to you on a temporary basis and test you with the possession whether you will still remain faithful and submissive. if He should decide to take it away or give to someone else, well and good, that's a Possessor's prerogative. among these tests, Allah could test you with wives, children, positions, wealth, beauty, etc and just be prepared to not be carried away with His challenges.

Ciao!

BS: has been tested countless times... and the results? Wallahuaklam...