Expounding on the topic of leadership
in response to a question, Tun said that
the essence of leadership is the abil-
ity to act in the interests of the people
you lead, instead of making your own
interests the guide. In this respect, Tun
reminded the audience that at times, a
leader needs to make hard decisions for
the benefit of his or her people, even
when these decisions are unpopular.
The internet has also changed the
communications landscape of lead-
ers, with social media now enabling
two-way communication on a daily,
if not hourly basis. “We see more and
more politicians and leaders becoming
more involved and interactive with their
followers on social media. Expect this
to be the norm in the near future,” Tun
said, citing the example of Mr Donald
Trump and his heavy use of Twitter.
“By 2050, the world
population may be 14
billion people. Serving
14 billion people
requires ingenuity.”
Mr Khoo put forward the concern of
machines replacing humans - by 2070,
up to half of the human workforce will
be replaced by machines. Will this lead
to the dystopia that authors such as
Mary Shelley and Aldous Huxley have
written about? What is the future of
humans in a situation like this?
“One thing is certain: the population of
the world will increase,” Tun responded.
“By 2050, the world population may
be 14 billion people. Serving 14 bil-
lion people requires ingenuity. It is for
scientists to think of ways to feed 14
billion people. Science will help us, but
at the same time, the world will become
very crowded. Hence, science must not
“The essence of
leadership is the
ability to act in
the interests of
the people you
lead, instead
of making your
own interests
the guide.”
only solve the supply position but also
control population growth by regulat-
ing the reproductive process. I believe
family planning will become even more
important in future. For example, China
used to permit one family to have only
one child. Now they have increased that
limit to two children per family. With
the new limit, they will be producing 34
million additional people a year. There
may not be enough space for everyone!
So, scientists will have to tackle these
issues and come out with solutions.
Even if our world population doesn’t ex-
plode, we’d still need to produce more
food and provide more habitable space
for people in the future.”
The dialogue segued into artificial intel-
ligence, and an audience member put
forward an intriguing premise: Could AI
eventually replace humans in crafting
policies and governing the country? Tun
Mahathir responded by asking whether
the citizens of any country are will-
ing to be governed by an AI instead of
humans. Also, he pointed out, AI is not
completely free of human error as pro-
grammers are human and may, whether
deliberately or not, introduce their own
b iases and personal agenda, into AI. As
a parallel, Tun reminded the audience
of the flawed systems of government
throughout the world, despite man-
kind’s thousands of years of experience.
Man has still not been able to develop
a perfect governing system, Tun said,
while acknowledging that democracy
remains the “best” in that it is the least
flawed.
The dialogue ended after almost two
hours, when Mr Khoo threw in a final
question to the guest speaker. It was a
question that had been burning in his
mind for quite some time, he con-
fessed.
“Have you ever wished that you had
been the leader of a far bigger and
more powerful country than Malaysia?”
he asked.
The fourth Prime Minister laughed.
“(Given the challenges) I’m lucky Malay-
sia isn’t a bigger country!”
That seemed an enigmatic close to a
dialogue that was lively, diverse, and -
we hope - insightful.
NOTE: Perdana Leadership Foundation will
publish the transcript of the dialogue in 2018
PERDANA MAGAZINE 2017
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