Abstract
This article attempts to describe Muhyiddin in leading the Pakatan Nasional Government (PN), especially in the era of Covid-19 pandemic management. It is traced through the role of Asian Values which are believed to shape the leadership character in his administration as the 8th Prime Minister of Malaysia. The stance on values and dimensions was referred based on the highlights of past literatures which stated that Asian countries have their own set of unique ideologies. It was then developed through the observation of one hundred (100) days of Muhyiddin’s administration. Content analysis was applied as a research design aimed at identifying and then describing his significant speech text passages. The analysis looks at Paternalistic Leadership in the tendencies of “Work Ethics”, “Society”, “Power Orientation”, and “Family” value dimensions. These four dimensions are often discussed by scholars in underlying the leadership style of Asian leaders. Data encoding was performed using the ATLAS software. The results show that Muhyiddin has indeed applied paternal values in governing. He managed to incorporate these values indirectly in the local wisdom of the community by manipulating those values by adapting to current needs. Muhyiddin does so with the soothing values of paternalism while shaping the development of the country more pragmatically and effectively. In conclusion, the restoration of the local wisdom values has become a factor driving the significant progress of Malaysia’s post-PH Government continuous development.
Highlights
The analysis looks at Paternalistic Leadership in the tendencies of “Work Ethics”, “Society”, “Power Orientation”, and “Family” value dimensions
The results show that Muhyiddin has applied paternal values in governing
Muhyiddin is the 8th Prime Minister of Malaysia who was appointed on 29th February 2020 and sworn in on 1st March 2020
Summary
Muhyiddin is the 8th Prime Minister of Malaysia who was appointed on 29th February 2020 and sworn in on 1st March 2020. This paper does not intend to describe the chronology of his leadership transition but rather focuses on the evaluation of value elements throughout the 100 days of rule This silent figure is seen trying to prove himself worthy of being the Prime Minister of Malaysia even though “he is not the choice of the majority of the people”. Akbal (2020) in Berita Harian stated that “the kick of the political world seems to be ingrained in Muhyiddin’s blood, both from friends and opponents, becoming a tonic to stay focused on governing the country and not just playing politics”. His leadership as well as the government during the first 100 days was seen as brave and successful. Paternalism is a paternalistic leadership style in which strong dominance is combined with fair attention and consideration (Westwood & Chan, 1992)
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