A belated Eid Mubarak to all of you. And my thanks to all of you who made the effort to send me Hari Raya greetings.
I spent the first day of Eid with my family in Penang. At dinner last night, I watched 2 nephews, a niece and a cousin horse around on a sofa (and no, there was no partridge in a pear tree). What struck me was between the 4 of them, there was a blend of chinese, malay (and I am not even beginning to attempt to work out the ancestry of the Malay side of the family), punjabi and tamil blood-lines.
All Malaysians, all Muslims.
As with every Eid, the forced time-out is a period for some reflection. And there was a lot to think about this year.
I was in Singapore last week-end with about 200 highly intelligent, articulate, empowered individuals, all under the age of 40. We were there for the Asia21 Summit, an annual event organised by the Asia Society for young leaders from Asia and the US to share experience, develop ideas and gain strength from each other. The range was very diverse, with journalists, investment bankers, civil society activists, entrepreneurs, each one doing something significant with their lives and touching the lives of others. The most striking feature of the individuals there, I think, was their eager anticipation of the future and their belief that they could do something important to effect a change, big or small. They all looked like (and as I got to know them, I also got to know that) there was so much promise in all that lay ahead for them. As uncertain as it was.
I had trouble trying to understand how this made me feel, mainly because I was not sure what I was feeling. As the event unfolded, I began to realise that I was feeling a mix of distress and envy. You see, I realised that if things went the way they did in this country, it was no point hoping for anything. Because, whatever we did or said or hoped for, things were not going to change unless ...
Unless...what?
Some say, that things are fine the way they are? Are they? The well to do: they do not send their kids to public shools if they can help it. Let's not pretend. The parents who can afford it send their children to private schools. We pay tolls for the highways we use. And if we can afford it, we go to private hospitals simply because we do not feel confident about the standard of medical care available. And judging by the stories we read in the papers, can anyone blame us?
So, what do we pay taxes for? Roads, we pay. School, we pay. Health care, we pay. Privatisation seems to be the most important word of the times, Islamization aside.
So, what do we pay for? I am not too sure. But I know what it is we are we are not supposed to be paying for. Corruption, endemic, core rotting corruption.
Yeah, right.
We pay for corruption. Through our noses. Inflated costs, transfer pricing. We pay for the robbery that happens around us.
Are we sure where our dollar goes? Are we sure that we aren't paying for something that we should not be paying for? Are we sure that the State is paying for what it should be for something it really needs? I am not sure anymore. Look at the Auditor General's Report. Listen to our Ministers; the self-jusitfying, self-perpetuating rubbish that they seem to believe that we believe.
Who needs the cartoons, the funny comics. The Malaysian cabinet is as much a joke as Malaysians need.
Accountability is a swear word in this country.
And does anyone in charge care? I mean, really care? I challenge: name me one person in the cabinet who is a statesman. Someone who is actually looking at the long term rather than the short term. Someone who is larger than the politics that keeps him/her afloat? Name just one, for I am at a loss.
Eid? Hari Raya? It's not there to thank the fact that we survived Ramadhan. It's there to remind us of who we are, who we should be, and who we shouldn't.
I sing Negaraku. I am a Malaysian. This country is mine as much as it is anyone else's. Were it otherwise, I would be singing Negaramu.
Eid Mubarak all, but only if you think that something needs to be done about where we are headed. And if you are, then start doing something about it.
MIS
I spent the first day of Eid with my family in Penang. At dinner last night, I watched 2 nephews, a niece and a cousin horse around on a sofa (and no, there was no partridge in a pear tree). What struck me was between the 4 of them, there was a blend of chinese, malay (and I am not even beginning to attempt to work out the ancestry of the Malay side of the family), punjabi and tamil blood-lines.
All Malaysians, all Muslims.
As with every Eid, the forced time-out is a period for some reflection. And there was a lot to think about this year.
I was in Singapore last week-end with about 200 highly intelligent, articulate, empowered individuals, all under the age of 40. We were there for the Asia21 Summit, an annual event organised by the Asia Society for young leaders from Asia and the US to share experience, develop ideas and gain strength from each other. The range was very diverse, with journalists, investment bankers, civil society activists, entrepreneurs, each one doing something significant with their lives and touching the lives of others. The most striking feature of the individuals there, I think, was their eager anticipation of the future and their belief that they could do something important to effect a change, big or small. They all looked like (and as I got to know them, I also got to know that) there was so much promise in all that lay ahead for them. As uncertain as it was.
I had trouble trying to understand how this made me feel, mainly because I was not sure what I was feeling. As the event unfolded, I began to realise that I was feeling a mix of distress and envy. You see, I realised that if things went the way they did in this country, it was no point hoping for anything. Because, whatever we did or said or hoped for, things were not going to change unless ...
Unless...what?
Some say, that things are fine the way they are? Are they? The well to do: they do not send their kids to public shools if they can help it. Let's not pretend. The parents who can afford it send their children to private schools. We pay tolls for the highways we use. And if we can afford it, we go to private hospitals simply because we do not feel confident about the standard of medical care available. And judging by the stories we read in the papers, can anyone blame us?
So, what do we pay taxes for? Roads, we pay. School, we pay. Health care, we pay. Privatisation seems to be the most important word of the times, Islamization aside.
So, what do we pay for? I am not too sure. But I know what it is we are we are not supposed to be paying for. Corruption, endemic, core rotting corruption.
Yeah, right.
We pay for corruption. Through our noses. Inflated costs, transfer pricing. We pay for the robbery that happens around us.
Are we sure where our dollar goes? Are we sure that we aren't paying for something that we should not be paying for? Are we sure that the State is paying for what it should be for something it really needs? I am not sure anymore. Look at the Auditor General's Report. Listen to our Ministers; the self-jusitfying, self-perpetuating rubbish that they seem to believe that we believe.
Who needs the cartoons, the funny comics. The Malaysian cabinet is as much a joke as Malaysians need.
Accountability is a swear word in this country.
And does anyone in charge care? I mean, really care? I challenge: name me one person in the cabinet who is a statesman. Someone who is actually looking at the long term rather than the short term. Someone who is larger than the politics that keeps him/her afloat? Name just one, for I am at a loss.
Eid? Hari Raya? It's not there to thank the fact that we survived Ramadhan. It's there to remind us of who we are, who we should be, and who we shouldn't.
I sing Negaraku. I am a Malaysian. This country is mine as much as it is anyone else's. Were it otherwise, I would be singing Negaramu.
Eid Mubarak all, but only if you think that something needs to be done about where we are headed. And if you are, then start doing something about it.
MIS
