I think (therefore) I am, Malaysian
This piece is political, I however, am not a person who has anything to gain from writing this. These are my views (and I sincerely believe the views of many thinking-citizens) of what is happening to this great country.
The aftermath of the March 8 general elections have successfully brought to the surface many unstated truths. It was crystal clear that the people have had enough of the mismanagement that was running the country into the ground – now it was finally “safe” to act on their unhappiness. The looming sense of the heavy blanket of political policing was gone.
How could this happen? The sheer audacity of the ruling coalition to undermine the will of a thinking people has done them in. They had become weak in complacency. The onslaught of demands for a true democratic government of the people and for the people can not and will not be ignored any further.
The situation seems almost worse now than it was when we were under the unquestioned reign of the previous Prime Minister (who was more akin to that of a dictator). He at least had a “plan” and was able to stick to it – albeit through various means that most people had not the nerve to question.
The series of events following the disastrous elections for the ruling coalition saw a government in panic. Nobody in the government knew how to handle a rakyat that expected him or her to be responsible for his or her actions and deeds. It was no more a situation where anything that the government wanted - it got! More people found their voices. And it seemed that they knew how to use it!
Individuals who recognised the weakness in the leadership of the government saw it as a time to push further for greater political “change”. While the opposition whom were now a lot stronger and better represented in the legislature were looking for political change; many from the ruling collation themselves saw it an opportunity to go for change – albeit in this case “loose change”.
In the past months the rakyat has witnessed the unfolding comedy of the Malaysian political scene that has started to look like the badly written mindless slapstick banter that our local TV channels produce. Had the issues not been so dire it would actually have been quite funny.
I find it amazing that the concept of Ministerial responsibility is totally ignored in government. Perhaps the rakyat has not been educated enough to expect high standards of the government. After all it has only been a recent occurrence that the table has been turned and that the government has to actually listen to the needs of the rakyat; previously the main criteria in the unquestioned decision making machinery of the legislature was - what percentage?
Is it not clear enough with everyday occurrences that we are in dire need for change? Every facet of our lives seems to be mismanaged, from sports (don’t get me started on Malaysian football and FAM) to basic rights (ISA for protection?).
The educational system is a joke. What can we really expect when the very people that decide on these policies don’t themselves have a grasp on progress. The people that advocate the prominence of the Malay language do it with a misguided fear that recognition of the importance of English in an ever-shrinking globalised world economy would result in a diminished perception of the Malay race. They simply don’t understand the fact that it is impossible for Malaysians to remain competitive on a global arena if they cannot string two sentences of English together when they need to communicate the very message that would advocate Malaysia’s competitiveness. Would you not think that this would surely result in the diminished significance of the Malay race (note that I am not saying Malaysian).
The flip-floping of the use of Malay versus English in schools is a clear example of how things are not thought out before implementation. Who do you think suffers? Who is held responsible? Nobody! I wouldn’t dare suggest the Education Minister at that time – I’m sure there were more important things to think about than the Education Policy of the country!
A few months back following the 40% fuel price hike, there was a move to make it more difficult for Singaporeans to come into the country. Somebody was afraid that they, god forbid, would take advantage of our fuel subsidies. The move lasted a total of one day. Thankfully somebody got thinking and figured that while we safeguarded our fuel subsidies we would lose out on Singaporean spending at retailers, food outlets, golf clubs and everything else that they would spend on when they come over to “steal” our fuel subsidies.
The move successfully highlighted our short sightedness to the world. I cannot speak for other presses, but the presses in Singapore had a field day, and rightly so! Was anyone held responsible for this gross misjudgment that has tarnished the image of the entire country? No. We however, would rather go on witch-hunts to punish a teenager for using the Negaraku in a rap song.
It does seem that the government has been pulling at straws of late. Everything done seems to be in haste and not thought through. Every move made seems to be in response to and external stimulant – one wonders if the government now realising that it has to be answerable for it’s actions has in turn put aside all planed actions?
The tone of voice has changed too from its once omni powerful bellow to what now seems to be a whimper of an old man asking for understanding while holding up traffic.
While the rakyat does enjoy the fresh new voice, the daily antics of a few key political players and faulty administrative machineries (which I’m sure will be corrected soon) do seem to tire the thinking man.
The latest of a long series of faux passes is that of a certain Ahmad Ismail. It seems he has somehow forgotten how he was helped out from the wooden huts he and his kin used to live in by the very people he is now calling squatters. If not for the collective hands of the people who have built businesses in this country where would you be, oh little man?
With the race card once again played. All sort of responses have been garnered by the silly unthought-of remark. The most puzzling of all was from the last vestiges of an administrative function that was once (in fact it still seems to be) greatly influenced by the government. The police arrests the reporter that reports the misdeeds of a politician – only to realise a day later that the world and more importantly the thinking Malaysian public does not seem to cower in fear anymore.
A statement was made that the arrest through the use of the arbitrary Internal Security Act was indeed for the good of the arrestee. If this action did not demonstrate just how the ISA is arbitrary it would have been so funny. I wonder at this point what true value of trust and respect the general population has in the police. Maybe if they did the right thing and arrested the politician that called the Chinese citizens of this great country squatters this can slowly be put right but, god forbid, the Internal Affairs Ministry has not told them to do so - yet.
An interesting point to ponder is that the Minister was in fact “consulted” on the arrest but had chosen not to get involved. A great man once said, “all it takes is inaction for evil to prevail”. Ministerial responsibility, anyone?
Today’s political climate of the country has created a unique phenomenon. It has changed the way newspapers are structured – they have brought the daily funnies to the front page headlines – a spot once reserved for the most news worthy piece of the day - spot that would determine the conversation content of millions of Malaysians for the day to come. As a result we now see a sillier Malaysian population – one that would laugh at the words and actions of the very people we collectively elected into office to govern this country.
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