Waking Up At The End Of The World

Here we are at the very last day of 2013. As I have predicted more than a year ago, things have not gone better and things have been rolling downwards on the hill. The number one matter that will be etched in the minds of the people will be the higher costs of living with no higher income to offset the inflation. The current national economy state is in a very precarious situation that the Najib administration has introduced the GST tax, and has done another round of their so called subsidy rationalization on advice by his circle of con-sultans. 

With things have not improved, certain civil societies and groups of people have little choice but to come out tonight to the streets to show their signs of protest against the measures introduced by Najib. The former PM, Dr. Mahathir did say a week ago that Najib’s team should be cutting their costs first instead of passing the buck to the Malaysians of all groups. Considering that Malaysia is unlike countries in the Middle East or in Thailand, people come out as a last resort, not because they like to, but pleas to the Federal government (since control is centralized ) have most of the time been turned away for various excuses.

I knew that Barisan’s win in the elections doesn’t come cheap. I asked myself a question more than a year ago that they will win largely due to Malay and women votes, but at what exact cost? The price hikes is one of them. There remains a high number of theft cases and pass-by killings of innocent people. Income for the living is a main factor for anyone who wants to survive. There’s still plenty of people still homeless and below the level of poor income. Yet, although there have been plenty of announcements from the federal government, many feel it is still merely cosmetic and lack substance.

The main gist of this New Year’s Eve posting is about being appalled by the characteristics exhibited by certain quarters in the matter of bread and butter affecting issues as well as cases of senseless crimes. While people scream of innocent blood being spilled either physically or financially, these people scream at those people as ungrateful, traitors of the country, asking them to leave the country if unhappy and other sorts of negative adjectives. Part of the reason identified is due to the culture. Most of such remarks, by the count of numbers and the identity of those who said are in fact the Malays themselves.

The narrative established by the English and even repeated again in some published books like Revolusi Mental and even Dr. Mahathir’s The Malay Dilemma has in fact spells out the many traits of the lazy native. Despite various efforts in the attempt to disprove the myths, unfortunately press statements and illogical and irrational actions done by many quarters In this case have pointed the relevance of the myth, even centuries have passed. Many Malaysians are still poverty in soul. There is a lack of realistic attitude and are not capable of effort. I often look at the end that when a situation dies down, people tend to shake their legs but do not have the acquisitive instinct, lack of originality of thought, imagination and the spirit of adventurism.

In the months since GE 13, I have noticed that some of the promises indicated in the winning party’s manifesto have been broken, such as “toll reductions” and “car price reduction”, thus reflecting of the attitude of making and doing promises as warm as a fowl’s manure (Malay idiom – hangat-hangat tahi ayam)

Some of the actions and responses to criticism by other non-government parties are perceived backwards done by certain government agencies and ministries have demonstrated their lack of confidence and the emotional vulnerability that is exhibited by many lazy natives. I am quite surprised that many people even defended their leaders without even thinking and even kiss their feet and hands in showing their 

I think civil society should not rely solely on politicians and mass news media but instead to think on solutions without including them in the problem-solving issues. Because when people do, you can see people manipulated by the press making plenty of police reports based on what they’ve read.  There is a need to remind these politicians, especially in the opposition PAC that they should not mistaken people support as devotion to Anwar Ibrahim or Lim Kit Siang but as conditional support; that is “we choose you because we don’t like BN” 

A week ago, PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan warned of more losses for the ruling coalition especially, in urban and semi-urban areas if prices continue to spike. I don’t really think it is likely because the mindset of people are mostly conditioned to “accept everything regardless”. The English and Malay Dilemma narrative also points out this fatalist attitude as a stumbling block in national progress at the international stage. 

As to summarize the entire thing, it is unfortunate to see that there are still many Malaysians who are unwilling to take a radical step in improving the nation. Many are still in other words, victims of scaremongering about non-existent events that can never happen because of present laws and regulations and what is written in the Federal Constitution. When looking at the other side of the coin, statements made by many parties implied that they are still conditioned to be meek and docile, with lack of inquisitive and adventurism.

No wonder because of these traits, we often didn’t perform well in the worldwide stage of tournaments of big spectacle like football. Don’t blame the coach but as what Khairy said one time, the Malaysian team performs well in the first 20 minutes but fall apart by the start of the second half.

Let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment. Let’s take car issue as an example. With the exorbitant price of cars (since there’s artificial tax included), at the tough situation of higher costs, do you feel honest of yourself to splash two times of your own hard earned money of the actual cost of a car to buy a car? If your answer is yes, then you get the drift. Otherwise, there must be something wrong with your reasoning and logic. To go to the most basic of honesty: if your government leaders asks you to jump off the roof, will you jump considering that you are seen as kissing your leaders’ feet or hand?

Many don’t want a repeat of the Greece / Ireland fiasco. Many are wondering what really happens to Vision 2020. Many are still living a hard time with approximately 4 million Malaysians plus politicians are still squeezing the lives of others including children. There are still post-Merdeka generation people who don’t even realize they are condemning Gen-Y and their unborn descendants to hard times. Gen-Y and subsequent generations no longer have the conservatism point of view as their previous generations do.

I often believe that there society change has to be done by doing things not by mere cosmetic but a radical with substance. Yes, I know that there are questions on how reliable our opposition politicians are, but you have to answer yourself who’s really running the country and who’s making more mistakes than those people in question?  

As what Raja Petra said in one of his postings a few weeks ago, it might take about 100 years or so, after we are long gone before people realize the mistakes of the past generation. I tried to warn people that if you just turn away warnings and think that nothing happens from your own shell, you could be in the wrong. Considering how our society is conditioned to accept without questioning, it would take one major disaster before you all people wake up. I’d be happy to gloat at you people to see who’s in the wrong eventually!

I wish I am right when you wake up at the end of the world.