With the exception of a few, most of us do not dream of a better future for those that comes after us. We no longer have hopes that our children would be able to live a better life then the one we lived. We no longer dream that our children will surpass what we ourselves have achieved in our lives. There is no longer the belief that in the difficult times we are now facing will be able to see the emergence of a leader able to deal with these difficulties and take our people and our nation to a better place than the one we are now in.
Who today can serve as a an example for our young to emulate? Who today are the champions of the needy, the sick and the aged? Who can, without being challenged, be the beacon of hope and dreams that our people can look up to, even as our nation plunges into the darkness that corrupt politicians and dedak fed government officials have plunged our nation into.
Today not only is there no hope..but even our dreams, have faded. Today our young no longer have their hero. Our youth have no great Malaysian who can serve as their mentor ...no great man or women they can admire of want to grow up to be. Their faith in our leaders are no more.
Hamg Tuah's identity has been questioned to death. Confucius is a Chinese and not deserving of being an object of respect by the Malays. Indian temples are torn down for housing estates or desecrated by the ill informed few. We are constantly told that there are infidels around us. For the Chinese being treated as a second class citizen is a badge of courage worn on their sleeves with pride and a sense of "we can overcome"...and the Indians are increasingly of the opinion that they are being pushed aside, if not forgotten by everyone else. Our nation is in turmoil, our people soon to be at war with one another and all that our government can promise us is more of the same. More of religious intolerance, more of racial divide and more of the politics of "I WANT" that will surely consign our nation to oblivion.
But I do not think of these things for I have lived overseas much longer than I have lived in Malaysia. My thoughts and deeds are tempered by the societies that I had lived in. Societies that look beyond your race, colour or religion. Beyond even your education and from which echelon of life you have come from. For these societies, you are first a human being deserving of respect and the opportunity to first prove yourself to be deserving of that respect.....and for me and many other Malaysians that have left Malaysia to live abroad, we now understand that life is better when respect and being gracious to our fellow brothers and sisters is a given.
What has gone wrong with Malaysia?
Our leaders have failed us. We have encouraged that failure by lowering our expectations of life. When our fellow Malaysian are labelled ungrateful ingrates for questioning the granting of rights and privileges for other Malaysians, we do not support their grievances. Instead we are quiet. When other Malaysians are subject to being discriminated against by virtue of their colour and race, we are quiet. Every injustice perpetrated upon others, every advantage taken by the privilege and politically powerful....every instances of money politics and corruption ...we are quiet.
The failure of our leaders to serve us have been deliberate. 1MDB is deliberate. Appointing "not fit for purpose" individuals to head MARA, FELDA, PDRM, The Judiciary, MACC and other authorities, Ministries and organisations is deliberate. Keeping Ministers who are demonstrably incompetent, allowing the use of government jets for the wife of the prime ministers...all this is deliberate.....and by being quiet, we become conspirators to this deliberate act of our leaders who have failed us.
In Australia where I live....when the Speaker of the House controversially uses a Helicopter to get to a political event held by her party...she has to resign. When an MP claims for expenses he is not entitled to..he resigns. When a prime minister does not deliver on his promise to the electorate...he is booted out office at the next general election.And all this is possible because the public demands accountability from their politicians. Even if graft does exists among politicians in Australia, I do not give it much thought because sooner or later....and usually it is sooner, they will be caught out and duly punished to the full extent of the law.
If our children are to be saved from a future of doom and gloom we must no longer be quiet. Yes the Malays have been guilty of being quite much too long for it is said that too often,that the turning of the other cheek is the way of the Malays when faced with the corruption and arrogance of a Malay dominated government. For the Indians, at times there is too much talk, much less action.....and it can be said that they are their own worst enemies. But it is for the Chinese that I must leave my worse critique for. They are worse then the Malays in turning the other cheek at all the injustices that have been heaped upon them by Umno and their own political entities. Surely the time has come to not just put your heads down and concentrate on your business when there are so many things going wrong in the country? Surely you must not meet quiet when push comes to shove and Umno Malays brandish their Keris at you in warning of what is to come if you are not grateful for what you already have? Yes there are already many Chinese in the front line of activism against all that is wrong in our country...many but not enough!
Enough said for now....be quite no more!
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