Hollywood star Tom Cruise is not just a successful actor, he’s also something of a nice guy. He supports charities, gives millions for children with diabetes, those who are dying, for an AIDS Foundation and many more.

He’s been honoured for his philanthropy and they even have a Tom Cruise Day in Japan. At one point in his life, he wanted to become a monk.

But on the set of his Mission Impossible franchise recently, the would-be monk became a monster. He went on an explosive, foul-mouthed rant. He called his staff names, threatened to fire them and swore like a dock worker.

His staff had ignored Covid-19 safety protocols and the star of Ghost Protocol was not amused.

“That’s it! No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their f****** homes because our industry is shut down. It’s not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education.

“They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us – because they believe in us and what we’re doing,” he shouted in one of his more printable rants.

His staff were hurt. Some even quit. However, Hollywood stood by him. There was a wave of support despite his rant – and for a good reason. The Covid-19 pandemic poses a real danger and any fallout from ignoring safety protocols could prove fatal to the industry.

Cruise made no apologies for his outburst and he is back shooting now, at a special Covid-proof studio in a former, top-secret military base. And all is well.

In Malaysia, there’s been a similar drama, but with a different ending. The man involved is a top gun, too, the CEO of Tabung Haji Properties.

He went on a shouting rant, which was secretly filmed by someone there. He did use words that stung, even involving the mothers of his stunned victims, much like Cruise did.

The difference was: no one stopped to ask why. Instead, the CEO became the brunt of many attacks, and finally had to apologise and promise to change his ways.

Was he loud and obnoxious? Yes. But was he wrong? Who are we to judge? How many of us can say we have not cursed at the driver in front of us when caught in bad traffic? The CEO was wrong to have spat the string of expletives but he was also safeguarding his company and its rights.

To be sure, swearing in Bahasa sounds far worse than any English profanities. But CEOs losing their cool is really not uncommon.

CEOs, like Hollywood superstars, are humans. They have a right to lose their temper. The only question that needs to be asked is why.

In this case, he seemed to be peeved over some contractor who had not done his job right. “They are thieves, they have stolen from us … if they cannot do their job, withdraw,” are among the coherent words he uttered in the midst of all those expletives.

People stealing from TH? And the man is angry for that? What’s wrong with that? After all, Tabung Haji does need a makeover, a clean-up job after having long been a victim of thieves.

A couple of its senior general managers have been jailed for fraud and criminal breach of trust. People even higher up have been accused of siphoning money from the fund and the government has, for the last four months, been mulling over setting up a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Fund.

Only in November, it was announced that the government would bear RM10.3 billion losses in a rescue plan for the ailing fund – that is more than four times the amount the country is paying for vaccines for 26.5 million Malaysians.

If anyone is honest enough to call a thief a thief, he should be respected for that. Of course, a less foul-mouthed criticism would have been better but it is still better than just shrugging your shoulder when someone cheats a public institution.

Besides asking him to apologise, the minister in charge should maybe also ask him to explain why he lost his cool. It may have been for the right reasons. And we will all know why.

We really need people who do their jobs right in Malaysia. Too many seem to be self-centred and have their priorities misplaced.

There was one leader who actually wanted to hide wrongdoings. He wanted the misdeeds of religious men played down and hidden from the people simply because they are “religious men”.

Whether it’s a pastor, bishop, Hindu priest, monk, medium, bomoh or ustaz, a crime is a crime.

In fact, those who masquerade as holy man while perpetrating such crimes should face harsher punishment.

We have those who say a cake is halal, but only until you put the words Merry Christmas on it. Then, not only does the cake lose its halal status, so does the shop selling it.

People fall into sinkholes, trip over potholes and some die but no one cares. Yet, when a minister takes a fall, the Public Works Department rushes to apologise and patch things up.

There’s more. The Kedah-Penang water war, the Lim Guan Eng-Wee Ka Siong ferry fight, the eternal Anwar-Mahathir conflict. All are enough to make you want to swear out loud.

Apparently, that’s not really a bad thing. According to scientists, swearing is a sign of intelligence. It is a natural defence mechanism that not only releases adrenaline and quickens the pulse, but also helps relieve pain.

The scientists swear by that. And I believe them.

The Sun of London’s cover on the rant by Tom Cruise, the good guy with the foul mouth. Those who swear aren’t necessarily bad people who need to apologise.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.