The illusion of power: Why we must remain humane no matter our role

 IN life, many of us take on roles that carry influence and authority – whether as judges, lawyers, ministers, CEOs, police officers, or public servants.

These positions command respect, sometimes fear, and often come with perks that give the illusion of personal greatness. But therein lies the danger: it is easy to be carried away by the outward respect and forget that it is the position, not the person, that is being honoured.

Since my teenage years, I have had a keen interest in observing people and the unfolding of their lives. I noticed how some were gentle and humble in power, while others became arrogant, cruel, or dismissive of those beneath them.

Over time, I also began to see how life has a way of humbling even the most powerful – especially those who allowed the intoxication of authority to get the better of them.

I find it sad to have observed that many individuals fall into the trap of losing touch with who they really are. They become so usurped by their roles or positions that they mistake their titles for their identity.

It is a dangerous illusion. Because if they live a long life, they may eventually be subjected to the silent torture of being alone with someone they do not know – themselves.

The outer world fades, and what remains is the question: Who am I without the power? And for some, that question becomes unbearable.

History has shown us that not only have highly revered political leaders suffered unhappy and hollow final years, but many others with prestigious positions – senior judges, senior civil servants, corporate giants, popular leaders, celebrated academics – have met similar fates.

Their earlier years may have been filled with recognition, influence, and admiration. But when retirement comes and the applause fades, many are left restless, bitter, or even depressed – especially if they had never cultivated their inner lives or relationships beyond their titles.

Take, for example, the stories of once-feared leaders or senior government officials. Many of them, upon retirement, find themselves lonely or forgotten.

The late President Suharto of Indonesia, once one of the most powerful men in South-East Asia, spent his final years in near-isolation, facing public anger and legal scrutiny over corruption.

The reverence that once surrounded him turned into silent disapproval and, in many quarters, public disdain. It wasn’t just political backlash – it was the natural reaction to the way he exercised power.

In Malaysia, we too have seen powerful individuals – ministers, corporate figures, enforcement officers and so on – who once appeared untouchable, but ended up facing court charges, social rejection, or quiet retirement without the fanfare they once enjoyed.

The respect, the headlines, the invitations – all of it vanishes quickly once the position is gone. And for those who did not prepare inwardly – who mistook the prestige of the post for personal greatness – it becomes a very bitter realisation.

Compare this with individuals who remained grounded even at the peak of their careers. Former South African president Nelson Mandela, for instance, is remembered not just for his political role but for his humaneness, his humility, and his ability to forgive. Even after stepping down, he continued to be revered – not for his title, but for the character he embodied. Then there is Mahatma Gandhi. That is the kind of legacy worth leaving behind.

One can also think of those in simpler roles – teachers, nurses, smalltown mayors –who treat people with kindness, dignity, and fairness, despite not having national recognition or massive power.

Strangely enough, their legacy often lasts longer in the hearts of those they touched than the fame of those who climbed higher but treated others poorly.

Ultimately, it is not power that defines us, but how we behave when we have it. Life has a rhythm that cannot be avoided.

Old age comes. Retirement comes. Even memory fades. And the inner punishment for those who were cruel or self-absorbed in power often comes not in courts or newspapers, but in silence, regret, and the emptiness of a soul that spent too much time chasing applause and too little time nurturing humanity.

So let us remind ourselves: no matter our role in life – whether as a senior judge, minister or a street cleaner – treat others with basic human decency. Be kind even when you don’t have to. Be humble even when people praise you.

Use your influence to make others’ lives easier, not harder. Because when the world stops clapping, all that remains is the truth of who you are.

And that is what life eventually reveals.

Knowing this, for those who choose to take the seemingly difficult but righteous road, I say: continue. Walk it with quiet strength. You may not always be praised, and you may even be misunderstood. But at least you have avoided the delusion.

You are living in alignment with your conscience and with the laws of nature that favour balance, integrity, and inner peace.

That, in the end, is the real success.

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Senior lawyer Dato Sri Dr Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos is the founder of Rapera, a movement which encourages thinking and compassion among Malaysians. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.

They Don't really Care About US !!!

If you really think about it, the powerful and influential do not really care about us.

Peace !

Biadap itu Biadap tanpa mengira kaum atau agama.

1. Allah swt tidak mengkhususkan kebaikan bagi satu kaum dan kejahatan bagi kaum yang lain. Ada orang baik dan jahat dalam semua kaum.

2. Kesalahan, kebiadapan dan dosa tetap kesalahan, kebiadapan dan dosaa tanpa mengira kaum atau agama. Yang baik tetap baik dan yang jahat tetap jahat.

3. Jangan kerana seorang manusia daripada kaum tertentu itu bersikap jahat atau biadap, maka kita hukum keseluruhan kaum itu sebagai jahat atau biadap.

4. Allah swt lah yang mencipta kita pelbagai bahasa, kaum, warna, budaya dan sebagainya. Kepelbagaian ciptaan ini mencerminkan, diantara lain, kebesaran dan rahmah Allah kepada kita.


5. Kita dicipta pelbagai kaum, bahasa dan budaya bukan untuk bermusuhan atau untuk mendiskriminasi manusia lain berdasarkan kaum atau budaya. Kita disuruh saling berkenalan dan sentiasa berlaku adil dan mengejar untuk melakukan perbuatan baik.

" Hai manusia, sesungguhnya Kami menciptakan kamu dari seorang laki laki dan seorang perempuan dan menjadikan kamu berbangsa-bangsa dan bersuku-suku supaya kamu saling kenal mengenal. Sesungguhnya orang yang paling mulia di antara kamu di sisi Allah ialah orang yang paling bertakwa di antara kamu. Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mengetahui lagi Maha Mengenal". (Quran 49:13)

6. Yang biadap atau jahat bukan kaum Melayu, kaum Cina, kaum Rusia, kaum Eropah, kaum Venezuala, kaum India, kaum Jerman, kaum Uzbekistan, kaum Arab dan sebagainya. Yang biadap dan jahat ialah individu yang biadap dan jahat.

7. Oleh yang demikian, jauhilah daripada bisikan Iblis dan syaitan untuk memporak perandakan masyarakat dengan menjadikan perbuatan orang jahat dan biadap sebagai satu isu perkauman.

 "Orang-orang yang beriman, dan tidak mencampuradukkan iman mereka dengan kezaliman; bagi merekalah keamanan, dan merekalah orang-orang yang mendapat petunjuk yang benar" (Quran: 6:82)

Salam.

Why write nothing on the UMNO Elections?

This is one of the questions my friends have been asking me - why have you not written your thoughts on the UMNO elections? None of my very close friends asked me this as they know me very well.

To begin with, I have been busy trying to get justice for my clients. Also, my NGO activities have been keeping me occupied. More importantly, I developed again the "cannot write virus".

I simply could not write anything on any of the issues my blogger friends are writing about. I am not saying they are wasting their time or they should stop writing - but I just could not.

What can I possibly write about the impending elections? Write about the candidates? Well, quite a number of them are my friends and quite a number of others are known to me. 

I admit, there are a few new and potential faces in the competition.

But I always ask the wrong the question - fundamentally how is the current political system (with the emphasis on patronage, lineage and money) ever going to change anything fundamentally for the Malaysians? 

Well, since this is an UMNO election, the question is: how is it ever going to change the fate of the Malays and the bumiputras fundamentally?

The way I see it is that everyone keeps complaining about the traffic jams and then each politician champions the cause to build bigger and better roads. Every blogger and columnists gets into a frenzied discussion on which politicians' "vision" of bigger and better roads are better.They start looking at the history of road buidling by the politicians. The academics join in the fray and present papers on it. The clerics also join in discussing the "Islamic" roads and the halal and haram aspect of the roads. The whole nation gets frenzied and busy.

But no one looks at the root of the problem - holistic long term planning ! No one cares to see that there are so many factors which are inter-pendent affecting the traffic jams - town planning, transportation planning,  accommodation planning, vehicle production planning and so on. These take too much thinking and planning are are just too long term.

So, everyone takes the short cut - just focus on the short term - to expand the road or not?

Likewise with the UMNO election. Generally speaking, what fundamental, dramatic and far- reaching impact do we expect from the election that is going on?

Have we heard any thing earth shaking from any of the leaders or is it generally toe the line and use the rehashed strategy that they have been used to all along?

If we keep doing things the same way we have been for the past 50 years, do you think it will be any different the next 50 years?

Apologies if I wasted your time reading this.

I told you - nothing that is happening at the moment is inspiring me to write.

Peace !

You have been sentenced to Death.

Imagine that you are in a courtroom. There are people who know you waiting anxiously for the Judge to come to announce the sentence that you must face. Then the court officer announces “All rise” and the Judge takes his place. You are stand up waiting to hear the sentence. 

Then the Judge looks straight into your eyes and says:

“By the powers vested upon me, I now sentence you to death”

How exactly would you feel? How exactly would those who are around you and care for you feel? What would you do now that you know you are going to die – just waiting to know when exactly?

What would those who care for you do that they know you will someday no longer be with them?

I am sure all sorts of unimaginable emotions may arise in you.

Being sentenced to death, however is not a novel thing. We all are.

The day we are born, the only thing that we are certain of is that we will someday die. We know that a death sentence has been passed on us – we only do not know when, where and how. We can do all we want in life but we can never avert this death sentence.

We can be kings or peasants, rich or poor, beautiful or ugly but we all carry the death sentence.

I am not being gloomy here but trying to be honest about life. When I was 12, I imagined how it was to be a lonely, old man waiting for death to come.  Or worse, some sort of sickness that I may have to suffer before death at even an earlier age. I imagined my still body on the ground totally helpless and at the mercy of those who are alive. How powerful or wealthy I may one day become (which is uncertain), I will certainly be absolutely helpless and dead one day.

We are overwhelmed when we hear a death sentence being pronounced on others without really being aware that we are waiting for our own death sentence to be executed. 

Despite the death sentence that we carry, we are busy with our lives segregating human beings on the basis of race, religion, culture, economic status and so on. Some of these differences we even institutionalise and make them laws to live by. We are busy, at all costs, preparing and consumed with the life that we must leave one day.

What would a person who is fully aware that he will die someday do with his temporary life on earth?

What would you do with your death sentence?

Peace !

Which Hat Are You Wearing?

Many people fail to realise that roles in life takes over your life most of the time - as I said, without you realising it or not wanting to realise it. Of course it seems almost trite to say that we take on many roles in life – parent, worker, friend, citizen and so on. That’s trite and is of no problem. It does not cause you or others any problem by itself. We are naturally multi-tasking creatures even before the word “multi-tasking” was commercialised.

However, when I say “people fail to realise that roles in life take over their life”, I indicate something sinister, something that is not so nice and can be monstrous most of the times. People always have a main role that they invest of their life in, relative to the other roles that they play. Many a times, for the ordinary person who thinks he is going on with his life blissfully; his main role has been forced upon him – only because he has chosen to NOT think and/or to be a slave of others in life.

When I was 16 and in form 4, I was troubled by the adults’ insistence about a lot of things. Ranging from how one should bersalam or handshake to the “importance” of schools and higher education. Quite frankly, even then I could not see how those things are important as they exist and even now I think I am correct. Just to digress for a bit, take the handshake or the bersalam, which require physical contact between your palms and the others’ palms, which is projected as an “accepted” way of greeting someone. I used to be paranoid about it (and still am) because I have seen many times what happens in the men’s toilets! This is over and above all the scratching, touching here and there and then transmitting to you the bacteria on the pretext of “good social behaviour”! To top it all, some even go so far as to sell the idea that a firm handshake marks self-confidence – this would put Tun Dr Mahathir as a person with no confidence as he has a gentle handshake (which I approve).

As I was saying, in form 4, I realised that adults are very preoccupied in “forcing” onto you roles that you should play and some of my peer-mates were already subtly indoctrinated. Some of the kids will play the role of bullies and some others will have to play the role of the victim. When you belong to a group (as you must in school), you are expected to take on certain roles too. You are either the one making fun of the other members or the one who is being made fun of. This role stays so long as you want to be part of the group. If you beong to one group, you cannot belong to others. I recall I never belonged exclusively to one single group but belonged to many, diverse groups, including the ones considered the “best” and “worst” in school.  This was a taboo but I got away with my charm, my tongue and my understanding of perceptions of “reward and punishment”.  Ah-hem. Ah-hem. Furthermore, Geminis get bored with uniformity and familiarity very fast!

This obsession with playing a role to the extent of it being completely unrealistic, “unidealistic”, damaging and mostly ludicrous continues into most people’s adult’s life. It has become so common that this sickness has been accepted as normal, acceptable behaviour.

Hence, if you have a strong interest in religious issues and religious studies, you are not “allowed” to dance, sing and have a good time in public. This interest in things “godly” is supposed to divorce you from things “worldly”. What if you happen to believe that everything, I mean everything is indeed godly and hence, you want to talk about God in the pub? Sure, this is going to cause discomfort on both sides, I mean to those who say “tsk, tsk” and those other who say “er…I am feeling guilty” but that proves my point.

BUt this sickness has reached a societal scale such that the whole society frowns upon a “religious” person dancing on stage. Frankly, one of my many fantasies has been to do a moon walk on stage as an introduction or an interlude while I am talking about the beauty of the Quran as a guidance for humankind. I am so sure, those who can’t even pronounce “Michael Jackson” will be on my case saying I am insulting the religion! Why must I allow these misfits to undermine my multi-talents???

It is both a blessing and a tragedy of life that you often meet people with whom you cannot have fun talking intellectually nor can you have fun just being silly. Often, people do not get it that there is a big difference between choosing to be silly for fun and being stupid as a matter of ignorance. Too many try to impose roles out of ignorance but appear to succeed because the ignorant are usually in the majority – victory by brawn not by brains. Are these not school bullies grown up into positions of power?

So many will themselves into “adult behaviour” by sheer imitating of other adults who themselves have never thought about what is “adult behaviour”. Hence, you have ignorant adults creating values and modes of behaviour for others to follow. Being an ardent reader of history and human behaviour all my life, this worries me – the sub standards set by sub-standard minds when they are in the majority! We have to wait a lifetime or more for them to understand and mature. In the meantime, the cast us into the role of a “rebel” or a “trouble maker” or an “impractical person”.

Needless to say, politicians are always the best examples of what is wrong in society or examples of anomalies of human behaviours. They not only are role-players, they are comical at that. They become comical because they forget what they say or was asked to “stand for” (by their advisers) when they play different roles. So, you have a politician for example, talking about press freedom at the Press Association dinner and then passing laws in parliament literally restricting any form of freedom of expression. You have them talking about democracy and then denying freedom of faith. And the list goes on. This is not surprising because, most of what they say does not come from their heart nor from knowledge. It is all about populist stances and protection of vested interests.

The sick obsession with dominant role playing that I cannot understand is among Muslims. They play the “role of Muslims” faithfully when they are in the mosque or at a “religious function” or attending “religious rituals”. However, they become very different when they play other dominant roles, for example at their work or business or profession or career. For instance, is there or should there be any difference in behaviour between a Muslim enforcement officer and a non-Muslim one? How about Judges, businessmen, lawyers, doctors, civil servants, politicians, and so on? Should there be a difference between a Muslim and a non-Muslim one? Or does the role matter? Being a Muslim, I cannot help but feel completely irked whenever I have to deal with a Muslim enforcement officer or civil servant who behaves in a very “unIslamic way”.  To me this is a result of confusion about roles.

Anyway, there is so much more to write on roles, especially something which, at 16 years old, I labelled as “the victim of categorisation”. I now know that this label can be aptly applied to analyse how we relate to classification and stereotyping of races and so on. But that has to wait another day – if.

But for now the question is – why are we not free to wear all the hats that we choose?

Peace !

Boleh Kah Pemimpin Bangsawan Faham Nadi Rakyat Biasa?

Mengapa orang nak masuk politik - untuk kuasa dan kekayaan atau untuk berkhidmat kepada Rakyat?

Boleh kah mereka yang tidak pernah alami kehidupan Rakyat kebanyakan menginsafi keperitan dan cabaran kehidupan mereka?

Boleh kah mereka yang tidak pernah bergelut serta menangis semata-mata untuk mendapatkan kerja bagi membiayai keluarga mereka faham betapa pentingnya peluang pekerjaan diwujudkan?

Mampukah mereka yang tidak pernah mengambil pengangkutan awam atau menunggang motosikal bersama tiga orang anak memahami betapa pentingnya pengangkutan awam yang efisien dan mampu untuk rakyat marhain?

Bolehkah pemimpin bangsawan menyelamai keperluan Rakyat kebanyakkan untuk memimpin mereka?

Tanyalah diri secara jujur.

Salam!

Happy Merdeka - Are you truly merdeka???

Without the slightest of doubt, we are certainly happy that we have been freed from British rule. This means that we are now free to decide the future of our own Nation and how to distribute the Nation's resources.

We are also free to decide how we want the Nation to be developed and how we, as citizens want to be developed into human beings.

But....

Who is the "we" that is free to decide on the future of this Nation? Is it you and me, the common folks in the country or is it merely the elitist class together with the capitalists?

What is the point of being free from the bondage of British rule only to be enslaved by the elitists, the capitalists and the elite religious class?

Is that the kind of freedom or merdeka that your forefathers imagined for you?

That, at the end of the day, you life should be confined to the dictates of the capitalists who will decide how and where you live? AT the mercy of the "economy" designed by the wealthy elitists which makes you a slave to the banks, to the mega supermarkets (that determine how and what you eat) and so on?

That at the end of the day, if you are fated to belong to the low income group, that you shall be housed in pigeon holes called low cost flats and that too crowded in one area?

That at the end of the day, even how you want to relate to your own creator will be decided, not by your own conscience, but by salaried religious officers? And often times under pain of punishment by the law for not confirming to the State's definition of what your religion should be and how it should be?

Can you be truly merdeka when you cannot even decide what's good for your own soul?

I am happy that this Nation is free from British rule.

I only wish we can be free to be human beings.

Peace and Happy Merdeka.

Nothing is Business, It is All Personal !!!!

Some people like to do all the evil and wrong things and then say that "its just business" or "I am just doing my job". Sometimes, that do not work if you meet the wrong person !!!

Peace !

What does it take to change a Bully?

Owning Earth, By Whose Authority?

Raperas, watch this video and deeply reflect on it.




Peace !

Pawns on the Chessboard

Those who wrote about these things never really “succeeded” in the normal worldly sense. They never made the pot of gold which they could, judging by their intelligence and perceptive ability. They were either written of as mad people by the majority or made to be seen as insane by the powerful institution. Either way, it is business as usual for those who fear to b exposed.

Who are these people? Other than “mad” or “insane”, they have been labeled as “poets”, “conspiracy theorists”, “philosophers” or just plain trouble makers.

For example, if I was to tell you that in the capitalistic democratic society, your choices have actually been well pre-planned for you, you will certainly call me a nut case. You will point to many of your own personal experiences where you actually find that you actively make choices. You just went to the supermarket and bought the groceries that you choose. You bought the car that you wanted with the loan from the bank that you chose.  

You even chose the type of house that you wanted win the location that you chose. 

And you will tell me many more of your experiences just to shut me up and prove me wrong – that you actually have choices and that you actively make those choices.

Well, let me ask you this – if you create a maze with only five exits, and then you place two white mice into it.  One of the mice comes out of exit A and the other exit D, would it make any sense for the mice to argue that the each made their own choices which exit to come out from? Possibly, we could grant the mice that. They did make a choice. However, did they have the choice of being in the maze or having to chose only from 5 exits or even the structure of the nature?

NO. I am not talking about divine determination. That is completely another thing. I am talking about the act of determining how you live by a select powerful and very wealthy few.  That your lives are purely accidental and consequential to theirs.  

Let me ask you this and please put the so called market forces argument aside. Did you actually have a say in the supermarket, the roads, the houses, etc, etc that is affecting your lives and your families?

Did you vote that the houses that are being build and at those prices are exactly what you wanted?

I suppose you cannot really confidently say that you thought out or agree to the bank loan system of house ownership and the kind of health care that we have? And the list goes on.

I have not even talked about whether you have a choice over your beliefs.

Sit back and honestly think to your self – how much choice did you exert in shaping the environment that we live in?

Can you even dream of doing that? 

Madness !!!

Peace.

‘Serangan JAIS’ Ke Atas Gereja: Tanya Diri Kita Dulu!

oleh Dr MAZA

"Saya belum ingin mengulas tentang ‘serangan’ atau serbuan JAIS ke atas sebuah gereja di Petaling Jaya seperti yang disiarkan oleh berita beberapa hari ini di sudut tindakan ‘serangan’ itu. Cumanya, seperti mana yang kita ketahui bahawa tiada manusia yang bertamadun yang boleh menerima tindakan provokasi yang boleh mencetuskan permusuhan antara penganut agama tanpa alasan yang sah. Saya ingin menyentuh tentang orang-orang Islam yang hadir ke majlis tersebut yang dikatakan oleh pihak media hadir mereka terpengaruh dengan agama Kristian disebabkan sikap baik penganut agama berkenaan membantu mereka. Difahamkan bahawa orang-orang Islam yang hadir, terutama ibu-ibu tunggal terdiri dari kalangan mereka yang amat daif dan miskin. "

Teruskan baca disini! - Minda Tajdid

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Menunding jari tanpa muhasabah diri
oleh Jahamy

"Oh umatku,
mengapa asyik menunding jari,
tiada erti kah muhasabah diri?

tiada melekat kah dihati
firmah Maha Ilahi
tiada ditukarnya apa yang pada suatu kaum
sehingga mereka menukar apa yang dalam diri sendiri?

Masih kah tidak difahami
firman Maha Suci
Tidak diubah rahmah yang diberi
sehingga diubah apa yang dalam diri?

Tengok cermin, tanya sendiri,
tak kan asyik menunding jari?

Salam.

THE SHAME IS ON YOUR SHOULDERS !!!

1. When it comes to being a human, a person, a father,a  mother, brother, a sister, friend or a Citizen, it does not really matter whether you are UMNO, PAS, DAP, GERAKAN, PKR, SUPP or any political party.

2. It matters if you let your political affiliations or preferences overcome your sense of humanity, decency and principles.

Then you become a shameless human being. Then you are no different from the vultures that feed on dying bodies.

3. It matters if you spin lies, condemn fellow human beings and insult them as if they do not matter and you, and you alone are entitled to breathe the air that God has given all. Is not telling lies to the people akin to telling lies against God? No true believer will spin the truth to mislead others.

(Quran 39:60)  On the Day of Judgment wilt thou see those who told lies against God;- their

faces will be turned black; Is there not in Hell an abode for the Haughty?

(Quran 39:61)  But God will deliver the righteous to their place of salvation: no evil shall

touch them, nor shall they grieve.

Whatever that you want to take for yourself to the exclusion of others will be taken away from you in the most painful way possible - be it wealth, power, influence or health. Whenever you think you are high and mighty and your worldly cohorts conspire with you to falsify and spread msichief knowlingly, you will not be spared by God. He may let you enoy your illusionary happiness for a while. This is what God promises.
 

014.003  Those who love the life of this world more than the Hereafter, who hinder

(men) from the Path of God and seek therein something crooked: they are astray by a

long distance.

016.106  Any one who, after accepting faith in God, utters Unbelief,- except under

compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith - but such as open their breast to

Unbelief, on them is Wrath from God, and theirs will be a dreadful Penalty.

016.107  This because they love the life of this world better than the Hereafter: and

God will not guide those who reject Faith.

016.108  Those are they whose hearts, ears, and eyes God has sealed up, and they take

no heed.

Is there a true believer of God who can insult, oppress, and condemn someone whom he does not know? is not such a person a true defamer, a pemfitnah, a munafik?

The day you visit oppression and a feeling of helpness on another fellow human being, that is the day you free many souls. Free souls can move mountains, so to speak.

A person who has betrayed his own soul can never understand the power of the soul that cannot be bridled.

And no one , but God alone who has dominion over a person's soul.

Watch and you shall see.

Peace !