Morality a yardstick of a leader's quality

Morality a yardstick of a leader's quality

Pemimpin dan Kepemimpinan Pemerintahan; Pendekatan Budaya, Moral
dan Etika (Government Leaders and Leadership; Cultural, Moral and
Ethical Approaches)
By Dr. Ermaya Suradinata
PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 1997
xiii + 207
Rp 10,000

JAKARTA (JP): A leader determines how an organization will
fare. This is true of any community, big or small. It is right to
say, therefore, that the development of communal life will be
greatly dependent on the way the leader manages the community.

In this context, the quality of a leader constitutes a basic
requirement. What elements constitute the quality of a leader and
how to attain them? The book under review will offer answers to
these two questions.

The first of the book's five chapters gives a basic
perspective in management and governmental leadership. The second
chapter clarifies the basic concept of leadership and the
essential attitude of a leader. The next chapter gives leadership
variables, which encompass a global vision, the situation and
condition of leadership in Indonesia, a discussion on and
implementation of leadership with regard to government mechanisms
from the village level to the provincial level and a brief
description of leadership systems in other countries.

Leadership functions, which are related among other things to
communication, motivating subordinates or community members,
personal discipline and productivity as well as decision-making
strategies and ethical dimension priorities, are discussed in
some detail in the fourth chapter. The final chapter is devoted
to a discussion on the national leadership system.

According to the author, who is a post-graduate lecturer at
the state Padjajaran University of Bandung, a qualified leader is
a must to ensure that communal life will run smoothly.

In his opinion, a leader's personality, social quality and
morality will reveal his quality as a leader. A leader of quality
will be one who has a definite work schedule, flexibility, mental
stability and openness to all changes (pp 2-3). In addition, he
will be able to cooperate with his subordinates. He will never
wait but will remain actively involved, along with other members
in his organization, in striving towards a better organizational
life.

Most important of all, he must have a high sense of morality
and ethics, which will be reflected in his working attitude and
spirit in which autonomy, inspiration, faithfulness to the
prevailing norms (pp. 54-56, 67, 128) and a high sense of
responsibility (p. 64) will be strongly marked. To the author,
all these ethics-related qualifications are prerequisites to
becoming a leader (p. 51) as they manifest the true identity of a
human being. This is a universal requirement for a leader.

What about the qualification of national leadership? To the
author the requirements set for general leadership will hold true
in the case of national leadership (p. 77). This means that
Indonesian leaders must pay heed to work character, morality and
ethics as this will be reflected in clean conduct that commands
respect. Our national leaders must also base their conduct on the
lofty values set forth in the state-ideology Pancasila and the
1945 Constitution.

According to the late Ki Hajar Dewantara, a national education
figure, Pancasila-based national leadership will reflect three
features, namely ing ngarso sung tulodo (a leader who can set a
good example for his followers through his attitude and conduct),
ing madyo mangun karso (a leader who can arouse self-initiative
and creativeness in his followers) and tut wuri handayani (a
leader who can encourage his followers to take initiatives and
keep a sense of responsibility) (pp. 156-157).

According to the author, these three features must be part of
national leaders' characteristics. The three features will serve
as a moral base for a national leader of a good quality, one who
has strong faith and belief in God the Almighty, is respectable,
noble in mind, imaginative and forward-looking, physically and
mentally healthy, highly disciplined, creative, productive and
efficient, wise, firm in and responsible for his own decisions,
honest, magnanimous, protective to his subordinates and
invariably curious. He will always strive for progress and better
knowledge and give priority to service (p. 160).

This book is written in simple language, a factor making it
easy to digest. Its comprehensive description about the essential
requirements for general leadership, and national leadership, in
particular, make it worth reading. The book is abundant with
ethical, cultural and patriotic values and very inspiring.

Reading the book, readers will be reminded that the quality of
a leader does not in fact rely on his/her position but rather on
how he/she brings forth his/her personality in carrying out
his/her tasks. This means that ethical and moral dimensions
reflected in a clean and respectable personality prioritizing
services constitute important yardsticks for the quality of a
leader. Community members long to see these moral aspects
reflected in the conduct of their leaders. This book, therefore,
will make good reading for national leaders as in it they can
find inspiration and spirit to carry out their duties faithfully
for the sake of the enhanced quality of national leadership.

-- Kasdin Sihotang

The reviewer is lecturer and staffer at Ethics Development
Center, Atma Jaya Catholic University, Jakarta.