14th January 2026
Decorum, Deportment, Dignity, Discipline & Dreadful Dishonour - THE VOICE OF PATRIOT
I was talking to an old friend, a retired Korean diplomat, during the final days of my Foreign Service career in Seoul and we swapped stories about how our lives had begun in the early 1970s. His first posting had been in Jakarta and his country’s rules were specific on the need to maintain decorum, dignity and discretion in his professional and private life.
His government then had certain restrictions for their junior diplomats. He could not have air conditioning in his house, he was not entitled to a house telephone and, further that if he was starting a family his government would only pay for travel, medical coverage and education for only a maximum of two children.
As a Malaysian diplomat I did not have such restrictions. On my first posting in Lagos, Nigeria I lived in a well-appointed bungalow in the most prestigious residential area. The house which was elegantly furnished had central air conditioning and was fully equipped with high end crested crystal and silver ware and had the porcelain gold, blue and white dinnerware sets made by Rosenthal.
All these items had been acquired a decade before my arrival by the then high commissioner to Nigeria, Tengku (later Tuanku) Jaafar Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman.
Perhaps I was just fortunate to have inherited these classy things which gave a great start to my diplomatic career. The house, however did not have a telephone because at that stage the telephone lines had an additional two km to cover to reach my residence. I was not particularly concerned as in those days the telephones worked erratically and were often out of service.
This remembrance of the past provides a good reflection of where we were as a young developing nation in the 1970s, well before the adoption of our Look East policy at the end of 1981.
At that time the Koreans did not have an embassy in Nigeria but the ASEAN region had four diplomatic missions there.
Needless to say, our government also required us to maintain decorum and discipline in our lives and ‘affairs of the heart’ which impinged on our professional work were strictly forbidden. There was a circular to that effect that had been signed by the then deputy permanent secretary Tan Sri Tengku Ngah Mohamed bin Tengku Sri Akar in 1964.
I recall that at that time it was made abundantly clear to us, the entry level officers that suspicion, not necessarily proof, of corruption was sufficient to seriously prejudice and even penalise us.
With this background when I see a convicted former prime minister appear in court in his superb steam-pressed suits and elegant ties I can appreciate the need for him to show his respect for the decorum and dignity of our courts.
It was, however, a troubling sight to see the former chief of the army attempting to hide his face while being taken into custody on suspicion of corruption. He had served as the country’s top soldier, was well known, had been highly decorated and had been saluted and photographed innumerable times. There was no necessity for a top general who had once symbolised the gallantry, grandeur and grit of the men and women in uniform to hide his face. He should maintain his dignity under stress or strain. He was not some obscure security guard operating in the five-foot way of a goldsmith shop.
A general must uphold the decorum, dignity and deportment of a trained top brass military man even under difficulty or duress. That is the minimum we should expect of our highly placed officials even if they are just suspects for theft, treason or turpitude.
The more important issue is to strenuously avoid the scent and stain of corruption
M Santhananaban
January 12, 2026
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