OF YOUTHFUL IDEALISM AND IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

The young man, looking like he was still in his late teens, seemed to know exactly what he wanted to be and do in life – not doctor, or lawyer, or accountant, or architect, but a politician, and God-willing, the Prime Minister no less. His motivation was simple – he believed many things were not as they should be in the country and that he could do a better job of handling it.

I was impressed, very impressed – impressed by the calm confidence, his matter-of-fact demeanour, the certainty in his voice, and most of all by what he articulated.

“I would ensure all the races are at the same performance level with about similar performance capacity, strong work ethics, and a common value system. I want to make sure corruption is wiped out and there is a blossoming of trust and goodwill all round. I would assume direct responsibility for the effort and the entire machinery myself to ensure that everything is run fairly, efficiently, and effectively. I would work to get the support and trust of the entire nation and use our total wisdom and energy for the effort, while ensuring everyone understands, adheres to, and works within the existing established ground rules until the objective is fully achieved”

Wow, I said to myself, all that sounded so, so good!

I was so tempted to believe in him and all that he planned to do but, understandably, my mind almost immediately dismissed all that as mere fancy words and youthful idealism. After all we have had many noble-intentioned, high-flying, well-positioned, capable, young party aspirants with such all-fired idealism who have sidetracked along the way. And, of course, the real question is “Is it possible to achieve all that?”

As if in a "fast-foward" and as if reading my mind, he calmly said, “Of course – don’t you realise that we have actually achieved most of them since I actually took over? We have become more efficient as a nation; corruption is way down and on its way out; our delivery system is one of the best in the world; our leaders are the very epitome of what is honourable, fair, honest, sincere, wise, knowledgeable, and committed, with the interests of the people and the nation at heart and above everything else, always – and the Wakil Rakyat are all now behaving and performing in Parliament the way Wakil Rakyat should. See for yourself!”

And, somehow, we were suddenly at the Parliament House (at the visitors’ gallery in the Dewan Rakyat, in fact), and I could actually see what he meant – the House was full; the Wakil Rakyat were virtually in full attendance with everyone properly and impressively dressed; and they were conducting themselves with such decorum and dignity; and the lively debate was civil and dignified, truly impressive and of such high quality… I just could not believe what I saw and heard! They were conducting themselves exactly as in my poem “Trust and Expectation” (see my first posting).

“How did you manage to do all these?” I turned to him and asked. He smiled and replied, “I’m the Prime Minister and I only have to sincerely and honestly …” but just at that instant the alarm clock went off and I woke up – ending what was really a wonderful, wonderful dream. I couldn’t help being impressed by the articulate teenager who believed and calmly argued he could run the country better than it is being run today. Not only was I convinced, I actually saw what could possibly be achieved and I actually felt reassured.

The trouble with dreams is that we cannot count on them – at least not for certain. And not unless we do the necessary to make them happen!