On Power

 

During a constitutional law lecture by Prof Shad over a topic that I can no longer recall I remembered as a closing remark of the day’s lecture he repeated the oft referred to cautionary quote on power: Power is like wine. It goes to the head. Or something to that effect in that Indian twang of his.

The lecture was probably about powers and role of the YDPA (Yang DiPertuan Agong) in the government machinery. The quote seems fitting there. I think so. Far from being an absolute High (not that one) King of Malaysia he is bound by the Constitution to act upon advice, most of the time.  

I’ve never had and never will drink wine (I prefer sirap ais) for obvious reasons but I can surmise its meaning in relation to Power. Unlike sirap, once you have a taste of it, it is hard to let go. Calix meus inebrians indeed. You just want to keep on ‘’drinking’’.

The story of Power is as old as time and will continue so long as Man walks upon this Earth. Gilgamesh was a tyrant until Enkidu came out of the wilderness to knock some sense into him (The scribe who scratched the story on clay tablets thousands of years ago was probably shitting on his boss or his paramount ruler) just as much as Madey was until Bang Non came into the picture to do the same or rather until Bang Non turned on him.

History taught us countless of times the dangers of succumbing to the allure of Power that there is scarcely a need to name too many names. You know them. You have heard of them. Yet there are those who naturally gravitate towards Power and its accumulation despite all the warnings. These would be drunks. For them Power is about what you can do with it, not what you must not do with it. It is the sheer potentiality of Power that drives them. They are like a kid with a magnifying glass having discovered what concentrated sunlight can do to ants and anything flammable. You often see them as macais hanging around politicians before they too rose to the top of the dunghill to join the ranks of the smooth talkers, the wily and the bent (Re: Mat Jargon).

Then there are people like Stan Lee who preached the Tao of Peter Parker. That with great Power comes great Responsibility. How apt. It is because Power is a great responsibility that it should be split into pieces, not concentrated upon one person or body alone like the belief of the Romans of the early republican era. Ultimate Power should be broken up into pieces, into the two Consuls, the Senate and other public offices. Not only to avoid the emergence of tyranny, not out of jealousy but also so that each of us should know that we to certain extent, hold Power over our own fate. That there should be check and balance to Power. That having Power means the duty to be responsible to the fate those around and under us until that Power is passed on, or surrendered or Death takes us. The would be drunks often forget this fact. Most of us do. I don’t blame you. I don't blame them. Their cup makes them drunk. Just like it did to the Romans who exchanged their republic with an empire under Augustus Caesar (Princeps my ass!). Power. Ah, Power. Ever so alluring. Forever corrupting

Always we are of two minds. As much as we have the potential to be good, we have the same potential to be evil. Good and evil is in our choice every day but good is often the harder of the two choices. But Power makes the line between Good and Evil blurry. It makes Evil the convenient choice, the seemingly good choice. A teacher of mine once told me, doing good takes times. How true that is. Far easier to surrender to our tyrannical instincts of because-i-am-the-boss rather than to work at being a wise and just leader. Easier to keep silent and plod on mindlessly compared to stopping to admit that we are lost and to take bearings of our direction before trying again. 

That could be the cause. We do not want to wait. We think we have better things to do than wait in this day and age of instant things. We want it easy. We would rather post bullshit and phony pictures of our so called life on social media for the likes than to attend to the dangers of power and it attendant responsibilities as a practitioner. We want it easy. We fooled ourselves into thinking that it is easy. 

Maybe it is too much to expect one who has held power to return to his or her plow like Lucius Quinticus Cincinnatus, or even willingly share power in the name of farming out the responsibility like Marcus Aurelius did but a tall hope that would be. When Power had sunk its talons into you, there is no letting go or sharing willingly. Just look at Madey. Just look at Bang Non. Power is all consuming. 

Perhaps it is the way of the world. That for all good that we intended to do in the beginning, we all surrender to our baser desires and wants in the end because of Power. That we would rather be the hand that hold the whip rather than the hand that mends. That we would rather remain the fool wearing a paper crown than toil like the others because Power has inflated our ego to grotesque proportions.

Ah, Power. Never have I asked for you and now, I wash my hands of you.