The Man Who Killed Meritocracy

One must do what one must, sometimes inspite of the inability to change anything immediate - for what lies ahead, only the dancing grass knows, yet what our future generations can see in time to come, could inspire and strengthen them. 

Our country held its Presidential election with three contenders this month. With all the political drama and dirty washing, voters were faced with hard choices. 

One had proven to manipulate and use religion as the main vehicle to stir discrimination, primordialism and win votes. Another, most surveys showed to be the strong forerunner and most likely to win the race - who not only had a bloody abduction past but also whose family and cronies delved into rampant corruption and nepotism. And a third, who had a clean record thus far but many suspected would be a puppet to the political party who endorsed him. 

Survey after survey consistently showed the leading candidate was far ahead. The funds available for his campaigns were invincibly robust and widespread. And our population of largely lower middle to lower classes were far from susceptible to money politics. 

Two days before the election, my partner, Nigel, was conversing with our cleaner.

Nigel : Jerri, have you received any money (for the elections) from any candidate this year?

Jerri : No, not yet. 

Nigel : But you did, in the last election 5 years ago, right?

Jerri : Oh yes, yes I did. This time we got some staples.

Nigel  : Ah…staples this time. So no money? Staples like rice, cooking oil..?

Jerri : Not yet. Yes, staples - rice 5 kg, sugar…hehe

Nigel: That’s useful. So do you think you will get some money closer to the day?

Jerri : I hope so (giggles hopefully)

Nigel: So do you think you will vote for the giver? Or unsure…?

Jerri: I will lah. Feel sorry for him, since he has already given us…..

Nigel and I went back to working on our laptops. 

It seemed like the start of long cloudy days ahead. 

Jerri is not alone. In fact, he is one among the large majority within our populous country where the nation’s affairs, corruption and political leaders even, are seen as distinct and separate issues from their everyday lives of making ends meet and getting food on the table. 

The issues of public facilities, health and welfare access, road infrastructure and transportation appear to them as disconnected and as distant to their lives as Japan is to Africa. 

"Disconnected", not in the sense that they do not avail of these facilities or are influenced by the impact of public policies, but more so in the sense of being powerless recipients of whatever has been decided for them, convinced in their inability to affect change. 

In the last two elections I have consistently supported the incumbent. No regrets. During his almost decade tenure, he has build infrastructure and set up many systems for the nation no leader had ever done. 

However when he intervened in the Presidential electorate process through the placement of his brother-in-law as Supreme Court judge to change the constitution and qualify his constitutionally under-aged son to become vice-president elect, the President committed a crime against the people that will forever taint his legacy. 

But much more importantly, why I could never vote for his son, was because they were intently sending the message against meritocracy (a value that the President had ironically consistently and heavily promoted when he first took office as Governor 12 years ago), and for nepotism.

They were again silently, cruely, sending a message to my cleaner, millions like him and their children, that they were powerless and that they cannot never affect change. 

That was what was so distasteful. 

To circumcise one’s ability to believe that we can be the masters of our own destinies. That the voice of one person matters. That, regardless of one’s background, one can develop the ability and power to affect change, and it is not exclusive to only those who have power or money.

Nay, nay I say let the words of William Ernest Henley awaken us to rise up against all maneuvers towards injustice and encourage each of us to do our part and continue to uphold what is right, just as it did for Nelson Mandela when he read that very poem within prison walls, on what should be:

I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.