Cakap cakap...You, Petra, me, our country and our future.

How I wish I could sit down with you and lock horns about the things that you and I agree to disagree about over a cup of coffee…no need for Starbuck…just Nescafe on the veranda at the back of my house would do. And we will talk…….talk about Naib,Anwar, Mahathir, BN, UMNO, PR, DAP, Taib……so much to talk about and so little time! I will have my stories and you have yours….plenty to sembang about. But the tyranny of distance does not allow us these nuances that makes life more tolerable. All I can do is read what you write and hope that you will read mine and then across the thousand of miles that divides us, we throw each other our barbs and our comments!

Believe you me friends there are many stories still to be told. Enough to fill many Khairy Chronicles if Petra wants to set himself the task of doing so. But the 13th general election is almost upon us. We need to prioritise.

Not many have the courage of Petra to tell it like it is. And do not say that Petra is safe in Manchester and that is why he does what he does. He has paid his dues and more!

Me? I just started a few years back when I know I am safe and far away from the clutches of the Special Branch.

We do not write because UMNO pays us though I wish they would throw some of their millions our way. And if they do we will do what PAS told their supporters to do when UMNO throws money their way……take it and still vote for PAS…or in our case, take it but still hantam UMNO and anything else that is not right! That is why UMNO will not talk to us. They cannot trust us to do what they want us to do and neither can Pakatan Rakyat!

We write because we have a story to tell. Sometimes it is all too easy to put everything in words as the mind engages
In sync with the words flowing out of you – like the intertwining of sound and images in a film.

Most times it is a struggle. A struggle to marry thought with words. A struggle not made easier when you know that those that visit your site will judge you not on what you have written but on what comes next! But enough of me! Let us talk about us! 

How we do now live is not how we must live. We are now becoming a people increasingly polarized by what we want and what we need, by our values and all the beliefs that we hold sacred. Race, religion, decency and compassion for each other, education for our children, civil liberties and the ability to earn a living commensurate with our abilities and ambitions…. each of these are now being used as the means to further the ends of the UMNO led Barisan Nasional government. A government we detest. A government unfit to have our trust what more to govern us!

We allow UMNO to dictate the lives we now live. These politicians have told us that we cannot live as one people because how can we be one when no common ground can be found between us? We are Malays and the others are not. We are Muslims and the others are infidels. This is our country and they have come from another. 

Anything and everything that can be used to divide us is used against us by this BN government. Religious, ethnic and nationalistic are artificially created tension and used to keep us on edge. Why must we talk about religious threats to Islam from the Christians when none exists?  Why keep harping about Ketuanan Melayu when you profess 1Malaysia? 

Is this right? Where are we as a people heading? Or more to the point, where is this BN government taking us? Into the abyss of racial and religious conflicts? Or the hell fire of May 13th again? Would it not be ironic if we have a May 13th at the 13th General Election!

Are the people of our country waiting to leave the country or are they hopeful of a decent future for themselves and their children? If they are leaving who are leaving? Are they the educated and the professionals – those whom our country needs most?

Let me tell you what I know. I have met many Malaysians in Adelaide where I am now living. All non-Malays. All professionals in their own right. All with good jobs and some in business living in decent homes, driving decent cars and settling down in a foreign country. Living in Australia is no hardship for them but they would prefer to be in Malaysia. They endure Australia for they know that it would be better for their children’s future.

I also know of Malays who have left Malaysia to live elsewhere for the same reason. The first few years of living abroad is difficult and they miss family and the way of life they have been used to. But we would rather this life then the future we think Malaysia is now heading to. A future where race and religion dictates your place in society.
 
While there are many of us that have left Malaysia there are also many who chose to come to Malaysia to live. And who are these people eager to come into our country? We welcome those who want to spend their retirement in Malaysia – but they must have the means to do so. Their contribution will be their money.

And who else? The poor, the uneducated and the unskilled? Yes they come in the millions to work in our country. They fulfil our need for cheap labour but they send the money they earn back to their family back home. Billions repatriated when that money is much more needed here in Malaysia.

Then there are the pendatangs – they are given citizenship but to what end? Our BN government wants the Malay race to dominate. And these pendatangs qualify as Malays. It does not matter that their coming brings into our society all the ills and the disadvantage of having a people who have only known poverty and hardship. They come not to contribute to our development as a nation but to hinder our progress as they play catch up to the standards of living we have already achieved! What madness is it for our government to do this? Other countries encourage migration of people whose skills they lack we encourage migration based on ethnic consideration in order to boost the numerical number of those that will vote for UMNO.   
Nothing else matters but the building up of a vote bank for UMNO!

That is why our future is uncertain. Our future is bleak. At best there will be a change in government  - a government that hopefully will understand the need for good governance  -but that will not happen in the immediate future – a decade from now possibly. And even if it happens at the 13th general election, the likelihood of change happening will still take time.

For those with the means and the opportunity to leave Malaysia to build a life abroad –they will take that chance and leave. It is just not worth the wait to see if change will happen in Malaysia with or without a change in government. That is the nature of we humans. If need be we are prepared to face daunting odds and challenges to survive but there must be end in sight to what we can put up with the present hardships. For many they would rather migrate to a foreign country, put up with the change in lifestyle, put up with the cold in as long as we know that the future for their children will be better. Better then one in Malaysia!

When will the Malaysian government understand this? That most of us that leave Malaysia to live elsewhere are decent, hard working people who just want to live a decent life?  We want to live under a government that will allow us to do just that.

And once settled we know that our second generation will forget Malaysia. They will forget that there ever was a Malaysia in their lives and our country of choice will be our home. And hopefully our children will grow up to be better people in a better country under a better government.

There is a simple test we can use. Who are the people wanting to get into or get out of Malaysia? Those who want to get into Malaysia are the poor and the disadvantage from our neighbouring countries. Those who want to leave are the educated and those who have money seeking a better life elsewhere…what does that say about Malaysia?

Let me tell you what Malaysia is today. It is a nation where power is corruptly wielded, its people oppressed, a nation held back and it’s people aspirations for a decent future denied. Fifty-Five years of UMNO led government have done this to us. A government diseased and beyond redemption waiting out its last hours of life.

No more…no more.

Anything but UMNO. Asalkan Bukan UMNO. 

ABU!