State of mind when making decisions

How does one know what state of mind one is in whenever one makes a decision?

Tengku Adnan said Lingam must have been ‘drunk or mad’ when he mentioned his name in the famous video. Lingam said his brother, Thirunama, is mad and he had been trying so hard to prove that he was so.

So in what state of mind was Dr. Mahathir when he handed over his baton to Pak Lah? Whatever state he was in, he regretted like mad, with statements like ‘he wasn’t my first choice’ and more recently, ‘he was supposed to serve for only one term’, hinting at an earlier ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ which Pak Lah was quick to deny.

But one thing we can be sure of, and that is, Malaysians are not known to resign even in the face of severe criticisms. ‘Power’ is the key to this ‘hanging on to’ syndrome and is the end that justifies the means in many cases to achieve it. So, if your lucky star dictates that you are right for the PM post at a given time, you grab it without hesitation and you will hang on to it like what the Chinese would say, ‘tah sei tu ng chau’.

In Malaysia, we are unlike in Japan, where we often come across Minister or Prime Minister resigning to take responsibility for certain failures, which according to Malaysian Boleh standards were relatively minor. I still cannot get over Abe’s admission that the real reason for his resignation was his medical condition of severe diarrhoea (sounds like but not Operation Sikap to Cantonese), which made him unfit to carry out his official duties.

Whether there was a gentlemen’s agreement or not, sensitive people would not hang on if the person responsible for your position openly said that you should serve only one term. Blame it on the system of anointment where it is the incumbent, and not the people, who can decide on who shall be the successor.