What does it mean to be a good political leader?

by Farah Nisa Sa'adon

Characteristics of a good political leader are subjective and varies from individual to individual. Some may think an honest political leader is good, but some may think differently. To be honest, we do not really care of their specific characteristics but rather, we care more on how he or she can lead their people.

Of course, a good political leader should be able to lead the people well, avoid corruption and controversies. People are depending on their leader to manage the country. As a democratic country, in Malaysia, when we vote for them, they should be able to deliver their service to the people and prioritise the people instead of their own good. However, some of them failed to do so. Which made me think, what does it mean to be a good political leader?

I was once asked, “If you were a political leader, is it better to be loved or to be feared?”. Honestly, at that time, I could not think of an answer at all. However, sometimes, I look back at the question and ask myself, what would I want to be? To be loved? Or to be feared?

For me, is it not better to be loved by the people than to be feared? When a political leader is being loved by the people, indirectly, it means that people also respect them as their leader. To be loved and respected is what proves that a leader has a close relationship with the people. The closer the leader to the people, the better because he or she can hear the voices and concerns of the people. For example, the closest to us is our Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. He is a leader that is both loved and respected by the people up until today. He heard the people’s concerns, the suggestions and tried to solve it for a better future.

However, Niccolo Machiavelli viewed it differently in his book, ‘The Prince’. His view is that, when love and fear cannot be in the same context, it is better for the leader to be feared than to be loved. This is because, if the people feared their leader, they fear to betray, however, when it depends only on love, the love will fade away.

In conclusion, this writing is just my opinion on what a good political leader could be, and some may disagree with me. No matter what, whether they are being loved, feared or both, as a leader, they should do their job, serve the people and make the country better. If you were to be a leader one day, ask yourself, what kind of a political leader do you want to be?