The Servant Who Became The Master
In the old days, we often hear the term government servant. It implies the people working for the government are the servants of the people. As to the proper order of society in a democratic context, this is the way is should be. But is it really?

Malaysians in particular seems to forget that we are not North Korea and a leader in a Constitutional monarchy that practices democracy. A prime minister is just a civilian who is entrusted to run the country for the people’s benefit. That is without exception. He is not a King and he does not own more than he should. Even a King in Malaysia has his powers lifted by the constitution, unlike Kings of old.

At any point in time, the Prime Minister is not beyond criticism by the people because he works for the people. It is a master - servant relationship. And the servant is the Prime Minister and the government. The people are the ultimate masters. If he should oppress even a single national, he will lose the respect of the population and can be replaced through our electoral process. He is never beyond criticism as a servant. If the servant and his family has been stealing. They deserve to enjoy the heaviest of punishment.

But somehow, the tables have turned on the people with devastating consequences. The tycoons and cronies funded a coup that tipped the balance.
The people are the servants and the Prime Minister and friends are the kings. They have hundreds of billions of dollars of budget at their disposal. It’s easy to monetise a fraction of the budget but any form of power can be monetised as well.

Government servants look up, hoping for patronage. Everyone landers to powerful GLCs with huge budgets, hoping to get a piece of the action. We lost our perspective by doing that. That’s why even with the new government, you can see that things have barely changed.

In fact, promises are broken because the tycoons and cronies have married with the new political power to propogate the very things they fought against. The saviours are perhaps not as corrupt as the old, but they are certainly learning quickly. Deals are done at fancy thousand ringgit dinners and at private residences. And monies are transferred offshore.

Afterall, the people are not only unsophisticated and blind, but trusting as well. Because of this, even more so, the concept of the people being the master and the government being the servant of the people deserves to be revisited so that current and future generations understands their rights and do not allow politicians and people in charge of government resources to do as they please for their own benefits.
