the good, the bad and the ugly of bersih 3.0

The recently concluded BERSIH demonstration on 28 April 2012 has been an eye opener to us Malaysians that consider ourselves as fence sitters.

Malaysia’s multiracial society has not been fully represented until now whereby different races got together for one single aim; clean and fair elections. Whether the aim is valid or not is irrelevant. The most important factor here is racial unity. There will never be a prouder moment such as this to call ourselves Malaysians. This has certainly brought the good side of Malaysians to the fore. It is a reminiscence of a time when I was a young kid and being color blind, metaphorically speaking. At that time I was never aware of my friend’s race rather the mutual interests that bond us together. We are segregated in groups but the segregation is based on nerds, cool ones and some crazy ones that just can’t fit in. Yet we still had a great time mingling and teasing one another in a friendly setting.

BERSIH also shows the bad side of Malaysians as well. Malaysians attacking Malaysians in the name of law and ideology? There are multiple conspiracy theories emerging from both side of the camps but at the end of the day, none of them can deny and in true fact, Malaysians did attack their fellow countrymen no matter if they are in uniform or yellow shirts. This brought forward the times when I was much older and the segregation is getting more racial-oriented and political-divide. The seriousness of this is more intense to the point of involving verbal and physical assaults. How can a country progress if its citizens are suspicious of one another to the point of able to harm as well? 

This is truly a mix of gladness and sadness for our loving country Malaysia. The ugly truth is Malaysia is on the brink of uncertainty and we can only hope the next generation of leaders can finally be capable to lead the country out of this abyss and also to gain respect by using their wits rather than their fists. Leaders that can bind us together rather than divide us. God bless Malaysia.

politician

The term politician can be traced back to the Greek and Roman Empire days. The word itself comes from a Greek word “polis”. The definition itself is someone who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making. However, what is actually the essence of a politician one may ask.

Lots of us normal citizens can see these politicians rising up to the podiums during election year and try to convince the voters to vote them into office. Some are seasoned veterans while some are young idealistic people hoping to make a change. No matter how different they are in terms of ideals and political stand, they always pursue the same reason to vote for them; they will help the rakyat to live a better life. Most of these politicians always refer to themselves as the servant of the rakyat. They are the servant while the rakyat are the master. How true this is? Let’s find out.

Ask a politician why we should vote for him. He will tell you by voting for him, he will be able to change the political demographic of a country and even to the extent of passing legislations and laws that govern the country. For the benefit of a doubt that sounds good if all are done in the best interest of the rakyat. However, if we analyze it further, no matter how noble their intentions are, deep down it is just a form of illusion of grandeur whereby they feel they are so powerful that they can control and change another person’s life in a whim, in this case the rakyat. Rights to vote might be a democratic practice but at the end of the day we are still voting an emperor to govern us. In this case, the only difference we get to choose our emperor very five years.

An aspiring politician therefore can be construed as an individual that actually wanted to control and dictate the life of many more human beings deemed not-able-to-function-without-being-lead. To prove this point, look at political parties and their rhetoric “we must be voted into power to ensure the best are given back to the people” and “to enable us to help the people, we must be given absolute majority to pass legislation”. The question we should ask as a rakyat, “what makes you better than us that we should vote you into office to control us?” and “why can’t we lead ourselves and need you to sacrifice your precious time to do it for us?”

To drive the nail to the coffin, just take a look at the politicians in Malaysia and find one that can take constructive criticism and do not act with holier than thou mentality. And also maybe a poor politician living in a hut and grows vegetables for a living. Sad to say, all new aspiring idealistic politicians started out noble but end up power crazy to the point of thinking himself among the immortals in the end. All they do is to rally the rakyat behind them to show their might and trounce their detractors to submission. Power really corrupts and that is a proven fact.

In conclusion, it would be better if every rakyat register themselves as a voter and vote their own self. God bless our politician’s soul.

roadblock

Once we hear the word “illegal rally” the nightmarish vision of roadblocks that cause tremendous traffic comes into mind for the average road users. This seems to be the standard operating procedure of the authorities in their reasoning that only by doing so they will be able to protect the rakyat at large from violence and danger. How far this is true, one may wonder.

Let’s take a look at a roadblock as an example. The roadblock is set right in front of a traffic light of a busy intersection famous for being congested during rush hour. A road of about 5 lanes being transformed into a single lane “miraculously” by police checkpoints. The check involved, the police just stand there and look at the motorists trying to outdo one another to move into the single lane to pass. Well, we heard about how we mild mannered Malaysians can instantly turn into road monsters in the blink of an eye once behind the wheel and wouldn’t this event spur their anger more? For us average Joe not only has to be saved from “violent demonstrators”, we have to be contented with extra-fueled-rage of road bullies as well!

It can’t be denied that the rallies sometimes do cause inconvenience to the public at large judging from the rallies we see on television happening in other countries. Most of us actually don’t know what the rallies’ objectives are all about to be frank but since the authorities are going to this length to squash the rallies, it just spark a curiosity in our mind that does this mean the authorities have something to hide from the public? Since the rally organizers did propose to hold the rally in a confined location, wouldn’t that be better since the authorities can keep them in check while not having to set up roadblocks that virtually put a siege to the city. But on a strategy side, it seems like a good idea to paint the organizers as public enemy number one for causing the massive traffic to the average Joe.

No matter what’s the reasoning for this nightmarish event, hopefully the criminals don’t get funny ideas of thinking that in future illegal rallies, they will be able to carry out their “operation” since police manpower are virtually used to the optimum at roadblocks, looking at motorists trying to out-maneuver one another to get into the moving single lane. This will be the biggest roadblock to nation development. God bless Malaysian motorists.