To General George Patton Jr., the colorful American world war hero is oft attributed the story that in ancient Rome, when conquering emperors entered the capital after a conquest of yet another territory, a slave stood at his back in the imperial chariot, holding a golden laurel above his head.
While enjoying the adulation of cheering crowds, the emperor was constantly reminded by a whisper from the slave, who uttered, “sic transit gloria mundi.” Thus passes the glory of the world.
The tradition was carried over to the Holy Roman Empire, such that newly elected popes are interrupted by a papal master of ceremonies as he walks from the sacristy of St. Peter’s Basilica who intones, “Pater Sanctae, sic transit gloria mundi,” reminding the supreme pontiff about the temporary nature of power and authority.
The widely known Latin phrase came to mind as I read about the raid on the house of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah a few days ago. The report I read from the New York Times described containers filled with boxes of Hermes’ Birkin bags and designer suitcases filled with cash and jewelry, among other mementoes of ostentatious luxury.
I guess they are now mementoes, as in “memento mori.” Which is another way of expressing “sic transit.”
Razak, who has survived a scandalous expose on his mishandling of the One Malaysian Development Fund years ago, and has tightened his grip on power by stacking the recent electoral exercise with every possible hindrance to defeat, suffered a devastating blow when despite all these, Malaysians rejected his Umno at the polls a scant 12 days ago.
He was defeated by 92-year old retiree Mahathir Mohammad, who had to partner with his vilified arch-enemy, Anwar Ibrahim who he himself threw in jail and Najib kept imprisoned, in a new coalition built for the purpose of deposing Razak.
Mr. Najib was called the “Man of Steal,” a play upon the description of Superman, by one of Malaysia’s top newspaper cartoonists. Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque caricatured Najib’s wife Rosmah with a giant diamond ring on her plump finger.
Najib reacted with virulent anger, and charged the cartoonist with nine counts of sedition, which could put Zulkifli behind bars for 43 years.
After the results of the recent elections were announced, Zulkifli said “this is the happiest moment of my life.”
Anwar was immediately granted royal pardon at the behest of the triumphant Mahathir, and will one of these days succeed Mahathir as prime minister. His wife is now deputy prime minister. How Malaysia has turned full circle is a lesson in politics that has happened elsewhere, even in this country. But somehow, lessons are not learned, and history does repeat itself in various transmogrifications.
Rosmah and Najib remind us of many other Filipino politicians, past and present. But while Najib is surely on his way to prison, in our country, they do not die, they do not get incarcerated, they get resurrected to power.
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There is a lesson all public officials must learn, as they transit from anonymity to glory, or from private to public, insofar as the “spoils” of power are concerned. Sometimes we learn too late; sometimes we are forewarned.
An economist-friend who served with honor under the Marcos era once intimated: “Graft is a function of wants. If you keep to your needs, and do not indulge in wants, then the temptation towards graft becomes less and less.”
He said it in jargon economic students can relate to. But what he said is both a moral lesson and a practicum in political praxis.
Najib had everything he needed even before he became prime minister after Mahathir retired. Educated in the best British schools, an aristocrat sired by a former founding father of Malaysia, he and his wife need not have indulged in more wants than they needed.
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Take a close look at Rodrigo Roa Duterte. He is well-loved because despite all the power that he has accumulated as mayor of Mindanao’s premier city and the nation’s largest, followed by an astonishing victory in May of 2016 that brought him to Malacanang, he still knows how to distinguish between need and want.
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What will happen in the Senate, as Sen. Ping Lacson states, is not a “coup” against its present leadership, but a slow and simmering brew. Months before, we were tempted to write about it, and weeks ago, when the inevitable had been writ, we were also tempted to write. But events were transpiring: the denouement in the Supreme Court against its Chief, followed by the untimely demise of Senator Ed Angara.
We congratulate the incoming president of the Senate: Tito Sotto.
We were classmates in primary school, along with former Bataan Gov. Leonardo “Ding” Roman and Commission on Appointments Secretary General Hector Villacorta.
In those days, “acceleration” was still in mode, and although all of us qualified, especially Villacorta, I opted to skip Grade 5 and was thus accelerated to Grade 6. Hence, I graduated a year ahead in high school, with Tito’s older brother Valmar (who became a Parañaque councilor) as classmate.
Those who denigrate Tito because of his show-biz background must know that even as a young kid, he excelled among us in elocution contests. He had native intelligence, but made a detour from scholastics to music, when he and his brothers founded the “Tilt Down Men,” in our time one of the country’s top bands.
Later, while I was in business and Ding Roman was slowly imbibing his father’s political hold of Bataan, the Sotto brothers together with another friend, Joey de Leon, under the tutelage of another schoolmate, Tony Tuviera, entered showbiz television, and became a hit.
But Providence writes straight in crooked lines. Soon enough, we all found ourselves in public service, at about the same time frame, after the Edsa revolt.
I am very happy for incoming Senate President Tito Sotto. Arriba!