Die die hantam Law

Remember Murphy's Law? "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."  How about the Peter Principle? That's the facetious proposition that "an employee in any organisation tends to rise to his level of incompetence." And Parkinson's Law? "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion."

I have been mulling over another universal law governing the behaviour, or more accurately, the misbehaviour of all human beings -- except psychopaths. Now pushing 82 years, I have observed and reported on many aspects of the human condition.

When we read in the newspapers of some egregious wrong done by someone, what comes to mind instantly is "unconscionable behaviour." Now, it seems to me that when we think of doing something bad -- whether it be an egregious wrong or some petty form of petty larceny -- because we have a conscience, we tend to pause and weigh the consequences of pursuing that course of action. Only if we believe that we "can get away with it" will we go ahead -- and damn the consequences.

For many who have paid for their folly and not gotten away with it, they may remember the occasion as a corollary to Murphy's Law -- what could go wrong did indeed go wrong!

But if you know you can get away with it -- just think of Stalin, Robert Mugabe, Kim Jong Il et al -- you go ahead, because you control the levers of power and no one can touch you.

That Makansutra guy had a way with words, like "Die die must try!"  "Die die Hantam" could be apllied to the universal law of pausing before doing wrong, then going ahead. What do you think?

Who do you believe has control of the levers of power in Singapore? Certainly enough power to hantam, even though he knows what he is doing is wrong!