A case of the boy who cried wolf.
Most kids of any generation would have grown up learning of the boy who cried wolf. As with all fables, it bore a timeless teaching in its story line. Boy gets given simple task of shepherding the flock, boy decides its fun to fool around, boy starts to scream 'wolf wolf', villagers believe him, boy does the same thing several times…
And then when finally real wolf comes, boy screams wolf-wolf again, and villagers no longer believe him. So all the sheep will die.
…
Some people grow up to become noble politicians and get the honourable task and responsibility of GOVERNING A NATION. At least 30% of the people in this nation can't even dream of entering the realm of governence (and its true that race, gender and age figures greatly in our country, alas!). Dah lah tugas tu berat and amanahnya bermakna, but some people just don't seem to FAHAM. These stories of the boy who cried wolf have been told through the generations in SO MANY different forms, and wouldn't you think that they would have learnt something about 'values'?
Heck, these are the same people who are clever enough to decide that the younger generation, the growing generation in Malaysia, must learn the awesome subject called Pendidikan Moral in all our formal, government-educated years, along with some 16 nilai-nilai murni, which I seem to remember included those cool behaviors called, 'Berhemah Tinggi' and 'Bercakap benar'.
…
50 years. 50 years with 12 general elections, including the latest where the BN gov won a 'simple majority'. The problem with Malaysians is this, (and I really, really, if you haven't noticed this already, I really don't like throwing all the blame to just the Pak Lah system alone, because I think this is a case of everybody's fucking guilty). They don't seem to get why BN is allowed to make stupid mistakes.
We let them mah. We never say anything also. We didn't tell them we didn't like it, we just allowed it, and we enjoyed the fun stuff that BN gave us (and they did give us some pretty cool stuff).
…
I know a lot of people who are prone to saying things to fit the occasions. Or say things just for the sake of opposing. SO its quite funny how our conversations can turn out. Before the rising price of petrol, about 6 years ago, we were on a drive up to Penang, and we stopped by a petrol station to get some gas. A Singaporean friend who had tagged along said loudly, ' Wah you guys SUPER lucky man. Your petrol is cheaper than buying mineral water! Whoa!'
So our anti-government entity had said then, 'Government subsidize lah. Stupid government, shouldn't subsidize these things .That's why we have so many cars.'
I am not kidding you ok. There were TOO MANY people that I used to know who hated traffic jams so much they kept on saying that the government should just jack up the price of petrol and shift the subsidies elsewhere, so that only ppl who can afford cars will buy them, and we won't have so many crazy flyovers and additional roads being built.
Today those same people are bitching about how Malaysian being an oil-producing nation should continue having subsidies in fuel prices.
…
As much as I want to slap some of the PR politicians for literally taking our Malaysians for a ride with the stupid 'I promise price of petrol sure go down if you vote me' roll-call, I get reminded that you can't really blame them. You see, the case of the boy who cried wolf hasn't really proven itself to be true in the Malaysian context. If the BN government can promise the rakyat a thousand and ten guarantees over the course of 50 years (through 12 GEs) and still win the elections, obviously this is a tried and tested method that will work.
Wasn't it ten years ago that I did mention that when you tell the truth, it is more important that you tell a version of the truth that the people want to hear?
So that's what the PR politicians are doing now. Just tell the people what they want to hear. It's a tried and test method that has worked. Don't change. Malaysians LOVE it.
…
SO here it is, of all times, when the BN government IS telling the truth, no one wants to believe them. Really, really, did you really think that BN was lying about fuel prices going up? And honestly, is it that difficult to test the truthfulness of the matter by asking, 'Why would Pak Lah commit political suicide right now? Just to get money? Come on, he's taken enough adi….'
Even if you didn't trust the local papers, a click of the mouse should take you to foreign websites that will tell you, the fuel price escalation is a GLOBAL phenomenon.
You see, masalahnya, we are a nation of people who are really all intent on getting what we want to get, listen to what we wants to listen… and those things have got to sound really good, logical or not isn't the point. And knowing that this is the kind of audience the Malaysian general population is, its really easy to cook up populist statements to rouse the anger of the people.
…
There's this really strange thing about Malaysians I really don't get. They keep saying that Petronas belongs to them, and they demand that Petronas's funds be channeled back to them. I don't know why is it that we keep saying Petronas is ours but we don't seem to behave as if Petronas belonged to us. Or why is it that we waited for 12 years allowing this sore wound to fester, and then NOW we keep banging our fists over broken glass. Your wallet is yours. The money you earned is yours. Would you honestly take out all of your money and give it to your friends for the sake of charity? If you knew of ways to keep your cash funds and increased your personal fund, you wanna spend it or you wanna put in some trust fund (or whatever system that can guarantee additional returns?)
If we really thought of Petronas as our own, why do we keep wanting to spend everything that Petronas earns?
…
Of course everybody wants clean governence, transparency… but I thought its funny that we only find it extremely important NOW, when we have to pay RM2.70 a litre for our petrol and it starts to really hurt our pockets. So lies can be accepted, as long as they don't affect me right? When those lies were obviously lies, what were we all doing about it? (Tak pe, corrupt pun tak pe, it doesn't affect me yet).
And now we demand that they (powers that be) be clean, transparent, that they also change their lifestyles. Granted that these are sensible demands, but really, who are we kidding? Since when were we able to teach an old dog new tricks?
June 10th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
so, what are you saying? that we have to bear with this old dog?
i’m saying nasi sudah jadi bubur.
June 10th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
maybe we should pour out the bubur .. and restart with a new pot of nasi .. what do you think?
kalau 10 tahun dulu nak restart - we can.
sekarang dah lah nasi jadi bubur, its impossible cause we have the problem of a very weak country. Our education system, in the first place, as the economists seem to love to say, distorts reality. When you segregate young people according to race, they grow up unable to survive in a real-world context. Hence when people finally get thrown into the working world they’re shocked (some people have never used a pair of chopsticks in their life, and others actually go around discussing how disgusting it is that some people actually use their hands to eat their food).
Secondly, the ‘meritrocracy’ system and a scholarship system to allow the ‘poor’ education opportunities, or to create a ‘fairer’ demography in the various professional field has distorted the reality. So you have groups of people thinking that because they get straight As they’re able to fly through life (that’s why crazy PSD students INSIST on going overseas no matter what), and others who just because they had to slogged through Form 6 and didn’t get to enter bumi-exclusive colleges, they actually believe that they’re better than the UiTM malay kid who scored straight As… we go into the office space suspicious of everybody else, and we live in little bubbly worlds of make-believe. THe irony is none of us are THAT good anyway.
Plus we have survived and even thrived the past 50 years on a low-wage system, causing a severe brain drain… we have genius, sponsored Malaysians opting to migrate and start new lives overseas where the pay is better and the transportation system is better,so what’s left and what remains in this country is literally the ’saki-baki’ that’s not that great in the first place. So even if we wanted to ’start over’, we don’t have the ingredients to start over. And if we throw out the low-wage system, we’re going to lose our foreign investors who came here in the first place because we offered low-wage workers (which also meant they could overlook some of our misgivings, i.e. engineers, accountants, doctors, lawyers, professionals who aren’t that good anyway).
And finally the worst thing is this, because of a pathetic and misleading education system that has ‘worked’ for the past 50 years, we have at least 2 generations of youthful Malaysians who believe that just because they have a degree they have the right to be paid high salaries and they have the right to demand better working environments, and they have the right to demand for better employers- and you already see the problem, people would rather pay a premium to import foreign workers, and we have our own children, graduates yes and NOT working but lepaking around expensive malls. And then when they can’t do anything, they get absorbed into some retraining thing, get paid allowances (subsidies, anyone), and we’re left with just that. A HUGE SORE in the body called Malaysia that just isn’t going to go anywhere, anytime soon.
So, Weng, I ask you. Mana nak cari nasi baru ni?
June 10th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
and I’m saying, bila dah jadi bubur, makan bubur aje ler…
I hate to eat bubur, but memang this is the situation. and the only way to get out of this is to work damn hard and get higher pay
June 11th, 2008 at 10:13 am
or join in the exodus and move to another country that will appreciate your talents. there is a huge malaysian community in melbourne and i am sure the same exist in other major cities around other parts of the world. you can still visit malaysia for holidays…
June 11th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Hi kenny, if everyone thinks like that, then malaysia is truly doomed. cos what’s left is corruption, then … and if you are right on that, that means we’re all that remains, that means we are all corrupted.
so who are we to complain about the situation?
just saying.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:44 am
well, i am not one who would like to see malaysia crash and burn. but we are not in a position to change the political scene. malaysian politics are firmly in the hands of the malays and only they can chart the future. in the meantime, i would not like my future to be charted by them, considering there are not much positive news to go with. i might sound selfish but i have only one life and do not wish for it to be taken advantage by the ‘ketuanan melayu’ call. kudos to those who choose to stay coz it does take courage to stay.
is malaysia doomed? i don’t know but i certainly hope not. my wife and i pray for malaysia regularly and hope things will turn out better.
June 11th, 2008 at 11:11 am
pray.
what is prayer to you?
sit in a corner and ask god?
or take it out into action.
tepuk dada tanyalah sendiri.
prayer is no excuse for the choice to not do anything at all.
now i’m sorry if this sounds like a personal attack, but the problem with this country is there is too many malaysians who give ten thousand excuses like, ‘its a malay controlled state, we can’t do anything about it, we’re just chinese, they have the rights…’
and that is why, in the past 50 years, nothing has changed.
interesting that we have learnt nothing from obama’s success at becoming the Democrat’s presidential nominee.
but wait. of course, THIS HAS TO BE an issue about race, right?
June 11th, 2008 at 11:29 am
where there is not much one can do physically, the only option is to turn to divine powers.
unless you are in the political arena, you cannot do much. unless you are proposing to join the thousands and march the street only to be met with a water cannon. i am sure mom and dad would not like to see that happening.
it is frustrating and i can emphatise with you on that. who would not like to see a successful malaysia? we were born there. we grew up there. we went to school there. but the fact is that the governing system is too lop sided on race. now, will that change and BN recognises a bangsa Malaysia instead of kaum melayu, kaum cina, kaum india etc moving forward? again i don’t have that answer.
but i do know that your life is your responsibility and the choices you make determines that.
it’s not about right or wrong but about living to your full potential.
ok now i’m going to get personal. turn to divine powers. So what are you hoping for? God to shout down on this country and throw fire and brimstone and punish people? Come on, Prayers can only come alive when His followers stop sitting down behind their comfortable rooms and kid themselves that praying and praying will make things happen. Faith without works is dead. I’d like to suggest to you that prayer without works is dead. And if you’re still going to go on with that this is we are lop-sided on race issues, then at least admit that you’re racist and not blame the country. don’t you understand here, we are equally responsible for this mess we’re in. and of course your full potential is to wait for divine powers… fuiyoh. hebat. so where is God going to find his miracle makers? ‘Someone else will do it,’ right?
If you can’t be bothered just say so. Don’t pull out stupid excuses like divine powers and racism.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
The problem with Msian is they think the whole world owes them a great amount of subsidies and that everyone else except for themselves are to be blame for the sorry state of their sordid life.
When pointed to them the rot in the system a few years ago, they didn’t give a damn and asked back why you complaint so much when life is good?
It is a global phenomenon. While Msian cries foul over removal of subsidies and Indons take to the streets, some people are making solar cars, alternative renewables, hybrids etc.
Don’t like how the government is running the GLCs? Change the government lah.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
They way I see it.. You own the government. The government owns Petronas.
So make sure you channel your frustration in the right direction.
exactly. but no … let’s blame blame blame blame blame. everybody’s fault but mine. Boleh benar, malaysians.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
i am praying for political leaders that will arise and steer the country out of its quadmire claire. and just like most malaysians, i am hoping to see greater transparency and good governance.
i am not a political leader and neither are the most of us. hence we are not in a position to steer the nation directly.
we live in an evironment that the political leaders create. and yes, we are responsible for voting them in, year in year out without questioning why and perhaps that is the shortfall of malaysians.
however, what i am trying to drive home is much of the ‘lop sided race issues’ did not come about overnight. it is a culmination of events over 50 years. now, that is neither my doing nor is it yours. we can however, decide how and where we want to live our lives.
June 11th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
All these hypocrite things make me fill sick. Both PR and BN bergelumang dengan masalah. Sometimes, I think better to live at other country, such as Australia. Less racial, less corruption, less moral debate.
June 11th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I agree that praying only won’t help anyone now but just an ease of mind…temporary anyway. I would say we should accept the increase as part of recession and it’s a global thing. Moving to other country will not help at all. Most probably it will only get worse. Everywhere is the same. I would rather die in my own country if need be but I hope not.
It’s just a sad thing that during this bad time, the government is not helping in the right way. We must believe in people’s power. We Malaysian should unite together no matter what races to bring up a better government. We all should start from ourselves…believe that we are citizen of this country and we have responsibility in this country. We should change our perception about the country is not just for the Malays. As long as we are Malaysian, the country is ours.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:05 am
Racial issues are part and parcel of ANY government, even Australia.
The issue is that some people take Love for the Country and mix it with Love for the Government and you have a unique rojak of complatency with contempt. One can be patriotic and still question the government (not blame).
Leaving for another country and living in another will not solve the problems. You obviously perceive these problems in Malaysia because your heart is here, your family is here and your life is here. When you uproot and implant yourself fully in a different surroundings, a different set of problems will be perceived. There is no perfect world because humans taint everything. The best is how we live with it and aim to improve it, isn’t it?
“believe that we are citizen of this country and we have responsibility in this country” - respect. This is the way to go.