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RULERS DILEMMA: OPTING FOR SCAMS OR GOOD GOVERNANCE!
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Visits
199
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Visits
199
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Visits
199
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August 05, 2011
“Never appoint your friends and butlers to government posts, as your friendship alone should suffice them. If you appoint them and they do injustice to people and take advantage of resources, you will not be able to punish them. This is so because they are your friends and you have to, unwillingly or otherwise, observe that friendship...” Darius the Great (522-486 BC), the fourth Achaemenid.
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Historical evidence and experience tells that whenever time-tested and centuries old principles of good governance are ignored, it often leads to awful consequences: Bad governance, social discontentment and widespread corruption, like the Haj or NICL mega scams, is manifestations of nepotism, favouritism by extending undue favours to friends and cronies.
Those rulers who aspired to lead/rule the nations successfully had been drawing heavily upon the advice of Darius the Great (522-486 BC), the fourth Achaemenid emperor, to his son Xerxes. He said: “Now, that I am passing from this world, there are 25 countries within the Persian empire...you must try to keep these countries as I have done. This can be accomplished by not intervening in their internal affairs and by respecting their religions and cultures...“Never appoint your friends and butlers to government posts, as your friendship alone should suffice them. If you appoint them and they do injustice to people and take advantage of resources, you will not be able to punish them. This is so because they are your friends and you have to, unwillingly or otherwise, observe that friendship...
“My other advice to you, never let liars or flatterers near you as both tarnish your dynasty. Abandon the liars without mercy. Never let your ministers dominate people. I have created law to prevent their dominance in taxation of people. The ministers and the people will be kept apart if you follow these laws...“Continue the educational programmes that I started. Let everyone read and write to improve their understanding. As people comprehend more, you will be able to rule with more confidence. Do not impose religion; always keep in mind that everyone should be free to follow his preferred faith...“Never be judge and plaintiff at the same time. If you have a grievance, arrange for an unbiased third party to judge the case. The case will not be judged fairly if the plaintiff serves as the judge.
“Do not forget generosity. Second to justice, generosity and forgiveness are the best characters of kings. But forgiveness is only applicable to those who have done wrong to you, not to others. If you forgive a person who has harmed someone else then you have done injustice.“After my death, wash and put my body in a stone coffin. Place the coffin in the grave and leave it uncovered to remind you, whenever you visit my grave, that even your father and the king of 25 countries dies. You will too. This is everyone’s destiny, whether a king of 25 countries or a prickly-bush picker. No one is eternal...”
Immaculate advice unheeded, comments Ardeshir Cowasjee in a recent article. Xerxes embarked upon a series of disastrous military campaigns and then returned to his capital cities, to a life of self-indulgence which sapped the strength and vitality of the Achaemenid Empire. He was assassinated in 465 BC.There are verses in the Holy Qur’an, sayings of the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH) and traditions of the rightful Caliphs regarding principles of good governance. Some of these principles have been outlined by the fourth rightful Caliph Hazrat Ali, in a letter to the Governor of Egypt, Malik Ashtar. Some salient points of Hazrat Ali’s lengthy epistle to Malik Ashtar are reproduced below: “Never select men for responsible posts either out of any regard for personal connections or under any other influence, for, that might lead to injustice and corruption.“The worst of counselors is he who has served as a counselor to unjust rulers and shared their crimes. So, never let men who have been companions of tyrants or shared their crimes be your counselors...“Try always to learn something from the experience of the learned and the wise, and frequently consult them in state matters so that you may maintain the peace and goodwill which your predecessors established in the land.
“Maintain justice in administration and impose it on your own self and seek the consent of the people, for, the discontent of the masses underlines the contentment of the privileged few and the discontent of the few loses itself in the contentment of the many. Remember the privileged few will not rally round you in moments of difficulty; they will try to side-track justice, they will ask for more than they deserve and will show no gratitude for favours done to them...They will feel restive in the face of trials and will offer no regret for their shortcomings. It is the common man who is strength of the State and of Religion. It is he who fights the enemy. So live in close contact with the masses and be mindful of their welfare.
“Remember that mutual trust and goodwill between the ruler and the ruled are bred only through benevolence, justice and service. So cultivate goodwill amongst the people; for their goodwill alone will save you from troubles. Your benevolence to them will be repaid by their trust in you, and your ill-treatment by their ill-will.
“Keep at a distance he who pries into the weaknesses of others. After all, the masses are not free from weaknesses...Unloose the tangle of mutual hatred between the public and the administration and remove all those causes which may give rise to strained relations between them...“Never take counsel of a miser, for, he will impair your magnanimity and make you timid. Do not take counsel of a coward also, for, he will cheat you of your resolves. Do not take counsel of the greedy either: for he will instill greed in you and turn you into a tyrant.
“Remember that the citizens are subject to infirmities and liable to commit mistakes...But, forgive them even as you would like God to forgive you...Do not feel sorry over any act of forgiveness, nor rejoice over any punishment that you may mete out to anyone. Do not rouse yourself to anger, for no good will come out of it...“Your advice to the army will be of no avail, unless and until you show affection to both men and officers, in order that they might not regard the Government as an oppressive burden or contribute to its downfall. Continue to satisfy their needs and praise them over and over again for such services as they have rendered. Such an attitude, God willing, will inspire the brave to braver actions and induce the timid to deeds of bravery.
“Understand well that those immediately about and around you will like to exploit their position to covet what belongs to others and commit acts of injustice. Suppress such a tendency in them. Make it a rule of your conduct never to give even a small piece of land to any of your relations. That will prevent them from causing harm to the interests of others and save you from courting the disapprobation of both God and man.
“Dispense justice fairly regardless of the fact whether an accused is a relation or not. If any of your relations or companions violates the law, mete out the punishment prescribed by law, however painful it might be to you personally: for it will be all to the good of the State. If at any time people suspect that you have been unjust to them in any respect, disclose your mind to them and remove their suspicions. In this way your mind will get attuned to the sense of justice and people will begin to love you.
“When the people as a whole agree upon a thing, do not impose your own view on them...”
The reputation of Hazrat Ali’s treatises, lectures and epistles, numbering about 480 and dealing with philosophy, religion, law and politics, traveled into Europe at the time of Renaissance due to high value of their contents and intrinsic literary worth. Oxford University Professor Edward Powcock (1604-1691) published the first English translation of Hazrat Ali’s ‘Sayings’ and delivered in 1639 a series of lectures on Hazrat Ali ‘Rhetoric.’ If one monitors the investigations into the allegations of corruption in Haj arrangements last year and the NICL scam, it pains one to find out that some minions of the State have been manoeuvring to block and obstruct even the most routine of investigations. Reason: The investigations might expose the misdoings of the dear and near ones of the mighty and land their blue-eyed chaps into trouble. Meanwhile, the public anger and angst is growing and they are asking why the corrupt ones are not being punished?.
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