The Conscience of (Prospective) Leaders

Human life ends in the last breath. What remains is their memory and legacy. Humans set their minds on the struggle to thrive in life and to later be remembered. Only the legacies of true leaders will live on.

Political battles have been drummed up with the announcement of Feb. 14, 2024 as the voting day for the general elections. Political parties across the power axis and other political stakeholders are racing to heat up the political engine. They maneuver, stalking each other's political chess pawns. Each simulates the various possibilities in store.

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Politicians Must Become Statesmen

All are looking for the best potential candidates to be contested in the arena. They map out who will be championed either for the executive or legislative, either for the central or regional administrations. Not wanting to miss out on the momentum, those seeing themselves as likely nominees have rushed to go after popularity and electability. Prospective contestants are finding ways to impress the people that they are the ones deserving to be listened to.

Whatever the intrinsic motivation, one or more of these “prospective leaders” will officially become leader. But one who has decided to move forward to compete must first gauge their own leadership traits.

With the vision of nationalism being merged into self-motivation, a leader will be difficult to be sabotaged by the clash of interests that inevitably arise.

Prospective leaders must possess supposed pure motivation from the onset. Sincerity in the heart and established integrity will lead to the razor-edged conscience and uprightness that will guide them to the ideals of the nation. With the vision of nationalism being merged into self-motivation, a leader will be difficult to be sabotaged by the clash of interests that inevitably arise.

Leader-people relationship

The relationship between the people and the leader (state) has long been the preoccupation of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Rawls. Their philosophical thinking sheds light on what they call the social contract and justice. These philosophers developed theories on how the relationship between the state and people should be.

Such thinking developed as a response to what they referred to as the state of human nature. As Aristotle said, humankind is characterized as the zoon politikon (political animal). According to Friedrich Nietzsche, humans in essence are driven by the will to power. Regulations are created to bring about justice. For the state regulations to work, the quality of the leader is imperative.

A system is the hardware, while leadership is the software. Leadership is about feelings, admiration and pride.

The election of a political leader is a matter of determining the choices of one person among many others. One person acts as the leader overall members who are (forced) to "resign" themselves to fate.

Incompetence in holding the pressure of conflicting interests coupled with self-interest can lead to an integrity deficit.

Stale Einarsen et al (2007) identify the dark attributes of a leader as destructive, abusive, derailed, toxic and so on.

Instead of a great leader being born, quite often what appears is a leader who betrays the people’s trust. Stale Einarsen et al (2007) identify the dark attributes of a leader as destructive, abusive, derailed, toxic and so on.

Political leaders seem to be stepping a potentially entrapping path. Precaution is needed in order to be safe. True leaders are those who move not for their own safety, but to save people. A leader whose conscience fades will turn people's dreams merely fictitious.

Public opinion

To guard the noble ideals of the nation, leaders are given the national ideology of Pancasila as guidance. Pancasila is the philosofische grondslag (philosophical foundation) that underlies the way of living in Indonesia. For the leaders of this country, there is no choice to embrace anything other than the values of Pancasila. The conscience of Indonesian leaders is Pancasila-guided conscience.

Conscience can be truly sharpened only when leaders connect ideologically with Pancasila. Indonesia's would-be leaders must be able to answer the question of how they commit themselves to Pancasila-guided conscience.

Mohammad Hatta, in his book Memimpin dengan Teladan (leading by example), published in 2018, said the most urgent task of leaders today was to run a clean government and governance, which does not abuse power, authority, opportunity, and relationship. For leaders, such virtue is imperative. With it let loose, the leadership will be doomed. Straightforwardness in leadership will grow trust, while a vague attitude will bear suspicion.

Susan T Fiske and Federica Durante, in Power, Politic, Paranoia: Why People are Suspicious of Their Leaders (2014), asserted that public distrust in politicians was due to the faltering relational accountability. In this case, the people do not feel conviction about the will of the politicians. The people are suspicious about what is conveyed.

This relationship is like a coin. On the one hand, a leader has a goal or interest, on the other, people have expectations. People wonder what the leader is really up to. Is there a hidden agenda behind their attitude? The intimacy between a leader and the people should not be short-lived. It should not be like the bride and groom who go on a honeymoon only to end up breaking up later.

A leader guided by conscience proves himself or herself as an ethical leader. Such a leader lets their attitude be guided by certain values believed to be true. The Handbook of Fraud, Scam and Swindles: Failures of Ethics in Leadership (2009) states that a leader without an ethical foundation is a hollow leader. For leaders, ethical grounds should drive their existence, far beyond any other formal prerequisites.

An unethical leader will only bring about calamity and destruction due to an artificial and unrooted, relationship.

Revered politicians

There is a difference between a politician and a statesman. Politicians must strive to forge themselves into the level of statesmanship. For Indonesia, the absolute prerequisite is a politician who holds a Pancasila-guided conscience. A leader must understand how to live in accordance with divine precepts, respect human dignity, foster the nation’s unity, practice democracy substantially and envision justice and welfare.

The challenging question as to what and whom they fight for must be answered. If leadership turns out to be rhetorical-political, let alone partisan-opportunism, it will only make things worse. Erica Benner, in Machiavelli's Ethics (2009), raises Machiavelli's view about politics that says an important way to defend oneself is by knowing how to manipulate words and appearances. It is extreme, yet possible.

In social media, the profiles and personal activities of potential leaders go viral. For the public, it is not easy to distinguish between the real and the gimmick. Truth is a rarity in a post-truth society. The tendency toward rhetoric is even greater. Bruce McComiskey calls such a phenomenon unethical rhetoric.

So, who else can stop the negative communication if not the leaders themselves?

In his book, Post-truth Rhetoric and Composition (2017), McComiskey says the rhetoric used by Donald Trump during the United States presidential campaign illustrated two shifts. First, the emergence of those who had the power to use unethical rhetoric to achieve goals. Second, the emergence of an induced public who believed the unethical rhetoric. This means that unethical leaders emerge and public deception occurs. So, who else can stop the negative communication if not the leaders themselves?

Hoping for a statesman may be akin to hallucination, but leadership is needed. For (prospective) leaders, there are at least two things that must be kept in mind.

First is the underlying motivation. What accountable morals will they rely on when are in power as a leader. As Viktor Frankl frames it, as a human being, what is the meaning of life that motivates them to gain power? This motivation will determine the characteristics and style of leadership.

Second is the approach to and treatment of the people. Are they seen as voters, objects or merely “distant” partners? In the face of a storm of political pressure from various interest-vested stakeholders, how much will they sacrifice for the sake of public interest?

Leaders must possess a pure conscience and committed respect for the universe and what is inside it. Leaders may learn from the message inscribed on the tomb of philosopher Immanuel Kant, which reads “… the starry heavens above me, the moral law within me.” Leaders are invited to always reflect on what will be done for their legacy to live on.

Ignasius Triyana,Lecturer on Leadership at ASMI Santa Maria Yogyakarta

(This article was translated by Musthofid)