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.