You know what irks me to no end? Those blinking
buggers who make sweeping statements like ‘If you don’t like so-and-so, then
leave Malaysia and migrate’, ‘If you don’t want to pay toll, then use
alternative roads’, ‘If you don’t want to pay GST, go for products which do not
attract GST’, and attitudes like ‘I’m the boss and I’m always right’, ‘I’m the
boss and you shalt not question me’. The one I especially hate is to leave the
country if you no longer like the way it’s run. It seems we can no longer
provide feedback or criticism without someone being up in arms and all
defensive. We cannot dissent, we cannot voice objection, we cannot question,
and pretty soon, we won’t be allowed to think. We call ourselves a democracy
but we cannot have rallies, we cannot take to the streets to express ourselves
– because hey everyone wants peace and harmony, right? Taking to the streets is
not our way, we’re more civilised like that, we don’t want riots and violence
etc. Well, there are public demonstrations in the West and I don’t think they
are backwards or third world or anything. Here, we choose to look the other
way, telling ourselves we’re only small fry, that our voices don’t carry any
weight. We cannot speak our mind, we have to be mute, deaf and blind, we have
to trust the judgement of those who are robbing the country blind. All for the
sake of peace and harmony, eh.
People forget that constructive feedback and
criticism are usually made because those who criticise actually care and love
the country. Hello, this is not a strange concept. We always want the best for
those we love and care (e.g. children): we criticise their efforts because we
want our loved ones to do well (because we know they can do better and because
we believe in their ability to do better); we get angry and passionate if other
people condemn and criticise our loved ones because we love them and we’re
protective of them; we push our children to do better, to strive harder, to
push themselves further because we believe in their potential – in short, we
are relentless in pushing them to achieve more. By extension, we criticise the
powers that be because we believe the country can be run better, the nation’s
coffers be managed more prudently, the policies be made more wisely, the
investment decisions be made more transparently and with greater
accountability. Because, yes, we love and care for this country and we worry
that it will be run into the ground, the country gone to the dogs and that
there’s nothing left for our children to be proud of. This is how we show our
love to our country and while it may be different from how other people show
their love but it’s still love nevertheless.
So, if you love and care for your country, you don’t
turn a blind eye, you show concern about what’s happening and you take the time
to find out the truth. Be informed, don’t be ignorant. Don’t just sit there
comfortable in your small world. Don’t be complacent and easily content with
what the others insist is progress, unity, success, freedom and development. It’s
not worth it surely to compromise our freedom and rights (and not just ours but
our children’s). Because when the money has dried out, when the foreign
investors have all but pulled out, when the robbers have escaped to save their
pathetic skin, then it’s too late. If we still can’t open our eyes to what’s
happening and learn from it and make changes in the future, then we only have
ourselves to blame. And it’s our fault that we get the government that we have
because we did make our bed and now we have to toss around and attempt to sleep
in it.
God forbid we become another Greece or the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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