PERCEPTION IS NOT THE REALITY

That day a well known figure in our local political circle uttered an interesting phrase during an interview with the media - "perception is not the reality" and how perception or the manipulation of it is so crucial to do well in the political game.

This is very interesting because how a person perceives a situation will influence his thinking and opinion on the subject matter and can have an effect on his subsequent behavior toward the subject regardless of the reality of it. Perception plays a crucial role not only in political arena of a country but also politics in offices and personal lives of the public. Perception in politics can be manipulated positively or negatively to serve one's interest.

Take the opposition tactics prevalent in the country for example, they keep on harping on the lack of transparency of governance by the government as though the whole government agencies are corrupted, as a result of that the international communities perceive Malaysian government as corrupted. The investors will shy away from investing in Malaysia as the cost of doing business is expensive and profit will be low. The locals are the ones to suffer as they will lose job opportunities. They initiated public demonstration and ignored the Law to give the impression that Malaysia is not under control and in a state of chaos. The government is then perceived as authoritarian when they come hard on the demonstrators. The international communities are quick to condemn my beloved country as lacking democracy and does not allow the expression of opinion. They forgot that the right to live in peace and conduct one's business and make a living is part of an individual rights in a democratic country. Democracy in Malaysia is thriving according to the new Australian Prime Minister as people are more willing to give comments on issues of governance in the local newspapers and electronic media like blogs etc. These are the right places to express one's displeasure instead on the streets which is immature.

Another trend which is prevalent is to make the Police look bad and give the perception that they are not impartial in doing their duties and corrupted to the core. Of course we cannot deny there are a few bad apples that tarnished the Police's image by getting involved in unethical practices like accepting bribes and so on, but this exists in any organization. All sorts of accusation are flying around as you can read in the papers to make the Police looks like a devil. The Police have a SOP( Standard Operating Procedures) which relates to various Laws in carrying out their duties. Some people practically like to be seen challenging the authority of the Police to look like heroes by ignoring summonses to appear at the Police station to give statements, when arrested they are perceived as victims by the public when in actual fact they ignored the process of Law. The Police will be seen as a big bully and a tool of the government if the case is political, forgetting the fact that the Royal Malaysian Police is one of the most efficient police force in the world with high ratio of solving crime.

In an office, internal politics among staff or departments exist. It can be quite destructing to a well being of a company when good performing staffs or department are made to look bad and perceived as no good by jealous colleagues just to cover the weaknesses in their own performance. The situation is made worse by bosses who only listened to one side of the story without establishing the truth of the situation. Some bosses already have a prejudiced view of certain staff or department, no matter what is the truth it does not matter. Some staff get transferred and marginalized due to fake complaints , or resigned and joined the competitors when the situation get really bad. The company will eventually left with a bunch of mediocre staff who only excels in gossips, complaints and lies.

In private lives, the same situation can arise between friends, relatives, lovers or neighbors when people make a judgement on other people based on gossips, accusations or half truths. The relationship will turn sour or awkward. Most of the time, the victims would not know why the other party treat them that way. It is so damaging when perception can be manipulated through false accusations, but as long as human are human with hatred, jealousy and selfishness are in their dark hearts, i do not see how it can disappear soon.