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[3:8] (Mereka berdo'a): "Ya Tuhan kami, janganlah Engkau jadikan hati kami condong kepada kesesatan sesudah Engkau beri petunjuk kepada kami, dan karuniakanlah kepada kami rahmat dari sisi Engkau; karena sesungguhnya Engkau-lah Maha Pemberi (karunia)".

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A GLANCE AT POSITIVE POLITICS

While I was surfing the net, I was thinking, hey can we have some positive politics... and after some search in the internet, well, here are some informations that I like to share with all....
The world today faces new major threats: global warming climate change, international poverty.
And in Malaysia there are some domestic major challenges: crime, anti-social behaviour and the fear of crime, inadequate standards of health, education and transport, businesses losing competitiveness in international markets.
Maybe we in Malaysia is in need of a new more positive way of doing politics. Maybe the time has come for us to return politics to the people and away from special interest. When we can elect people for their values and know they will live by them then we have turned things in a positive direction. We also must seek leaders that can think with the future in mind, who can be conscious enough to be aware of what is needed and what would be for the greater good. We all need to show up as active participants in the process of governing and not just leave it to those we elect. They need guidance and we need to keep informed about the issues. Qualities like wisdom, humbleness, a passion for service, truthfulness, vision, listening, problem solving and compassion are what we need to find in leaders.
These are some of the challenges today faced by hundredth millions of people. And to overcome these challenges, there is a need for the driving motivator and a passion for change. Many believe that the passion has to come from a love of freedom and of family.
In understanding the concept of freedom, most people have different definition and understanding of the word freedom. For some people, freedom is being defined in a negatively way, such as ........ leave me alone, don’t interfere, get government off my back.
Nonetheless, for some others with the positive attitude and the motivation to improve the people around them, freedom is being viewed as a positive thing. Freedom is a word that could provide a new avenue which gives hope, opportunity, prosperity and security. For these people, they believe that people must recognise that freedom is for everyone.
It is a freedom to live our lives and spend our hard-earned income, for us and our families. It is freedom for enterprise to create wealth. Freedom is essential to delivering sustained economic performance. Free markets, free enterprise and free trade. And it is positive freedoms: freedom from the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour; freedom from poverty; freedom from ignorance; freedom from disease. Giving people access to the freedom that comes with good health, high standards of education and eradicating poverty is a positive philosophy of freedom which we have to articulate.
Freedom is not licence. It is not merely the absence of constraint. Positive freedom is about empowerment: it’s about a child being able to go to a school which realises their potential; disabled people not being left out of employment; the single parent given support so the child has the right role model and the parent an opportunity to work. It’s even about giving millions of children in Africa the basic right to live.
If we believe in freedom and give people freedom, we give them hope in the future. Nothing is more important than that.Yet all of these freedoms are not enough. Freedoms give us hope, and opportunity, but not necessarily security. Think of our children. Yes, we do give them their freedom, progressively, and help them to use that freedom to realise their hopes and dreams. But they need for more than that. They need values. They need to learn. They need to be guided. They need to gain their independence within boundaries. As they gain their freedom, they need to know that they are loved, supported and if need be, protected.
Interestingly, some findings from Positive Psychology research that the more people focus on negatives, the worse they feel. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle we need to deliberately break out of.

On the other hand, there are also findings from research that feeling positive (authentically positive, not Pollyanna-ish) has a huge number of benefits: increased happiness and life satisfaction, enhanced productivity, better health, more efficient problem-solving, more creativity, more satisfying relationships, etc……
The desire for power is personal. Competence and political intelligence are the prerequisites for handling power in a healthy manner. Politics is not a nasty word or a set of behaviors that inevitably turns you into a shady character of whom your mother would be ashamed. You need never divorce your own morality from the situation. The choice to improve your political functioning is yours. You always retain the right to play, and you retain the right to decide when to play. But you are a better manager, a better professional, and a more educated person if you can identify what others are doing and how their behavior will impact you. It is not just for success, it is for survival--success and survival on your own terms.

4 comments:

said mirro said...

Salam,
Thanks for stopping by mine.
I think we once used to be dreaming for a positive and better politics. That's in perspective, I think Malaysia has made some progress towards that. Maybe muslims participation in making change islamically is yet to be felt.
Keep on writing...

Alex Yap said...

Good day

Wow such a long writing. In fact, I only understand part of it.

When it come to positive politics, I find it too tough for our politician. Not many of them are actually sincere.

The more power, the more responsibility. This should be the way, but then when a human with more power, power abuse come into picture.

As long as we cannot erase corruption from our politician mind, positive politics is so hard.

Yana Ismail said...

politics:p
don't know what to say...

Ydiana said...

A well thought and written article on politics. Politics are meant to be positive. Only when manipulated and with abuse of power, then it becomes dirty politics.