Green green paddy field

Green green paddy field

Sunday, September 27, 2009

My less eloquent but not less passionate piece

Rakyat diutamakan, pencapaian didahulukan

That's the tagline heard everywhere these days. 1Malaysia the slogan is catchy, rainbow-filled and best of all, rolls of the tongue easily- it is one syllable lesser than Malaysia Boleh.

So my dearest has written a piece to state his mind (mission statement ala Jerry Maguire comes to mind, dear reminds me of Tom Cruise of coz, not Cuba Gooding Jr.) and saying enough is enough. Our country has basically gone to the dogs and 1Malaysia is actually the abbrevation for 1Malaysia-feed-the-cronies-who-raised-petrol-prices-and-not-income-and-rakyat-ends-up-dying-together. Quite a mouthful, that is why the shortened version is more popular.

I can't help but wonder whether my dearest's trip to our neighbour's kiasuland recently influenced him to write that piece. And also my occasional whining and wishing aloud of migrating. I suspect both did. Together of coz, with the ridiculous happenings involving windows and cows recently.

I used to an idealist as well, I wanted to be proud of 1M, wanted to do good, wanted to fight for rights, wanted to see corruptions and cronyisms end. Heck, i even marched to the Prime Minister's department in the rain to hand over the memorandum seeking a royal commission during the height of the correct, correct, correct debacle. But.. i'm afraid, that is all i can credit myself with in regards to standing up for things that are right, and saying we want change. That and writing a short blog post asking ppl to go and vote at the previous election. Hmm..how little I did.

But but 3808 was monumental. Some ppl even call it a political tsunami. But i think the previous government would probably think of it as the shit hits the fan at full blast. And it definitely cannot get any shittier than now (I stand to be corrected, of coz, as time and again the politicians just managed to up a notch and sprang a few more surprises (ie. feed more shits to the rakyat)). I'm not a political person, I don't read the papers nor do I even watch the news everyday and if I happen to catch the news, I'm more interested to see Nadal's tight ass running around court than the 1M politicians gracefully and smilingly spooning us poops, thank you very much. Therefore, why should I even bother bout the political going-ons??

Answer is very simple: coz I live in this country (pre-migration, dear?) and the state of the political climate and how the government runs are affecting me now more than ever. Because of the level of corruptions, because of the cronyisms, leading to inflation, leading to increased crime rate, leading to the stagnant salaries, leading to the declining education system, leading to the religious intolerance, leading to smaller things like potholes (although potholes are generally quite big nowadays), high toll rates, ron92 to ron95, the police especially hard-working ridding the roads of bad bad people in the middle of the nites during this holy month, i can go on and on...

The thing is, I can be more diligent and rise up the ranks, ask for more salary, have better buying power and can afford better things like v-power instead of the rons. But I know at that time, things like snatch thiefs and motorbikers breaking my car's windows then grabbing my purse and abducting my children in playgrounds would still be among my top concerns. Leave it to the police, you say? Well, there are just sooo many bad ppl to apprehand on quiet roads at 1 a.m that I don't think they have the time really.

The politicians have working hard to brainwash us into thinking that nevermind the advanced countries, our county is so much better off than so many others, that we are the fortunate lot. Great, go on and compare with Indonesia, Bangladesh and the likes, as we'll also be among their ranks very soon. All I know is that even if the kiasulanders are kiasu, at least their buses come on time. Advanced countries do have better living standards and better living standard comes from very simply good governance, which is needless to say that we do not have.

I don't offer any solutions to change, no suggestions either. What I can do is let my grievances be made and let's pray that the rakyat's voice will be loud enough to whip the politicians into action. Let's all pray for a change soon. And soon is not nearly enough. I want it now. So that I can also laungkan 1Malaysia proudly. Don't you want it too??

Anyway, which comes first? The rakyat or the pencapaian?

Friday, September 18, 2009

It’s time to say enough is enough

ChungYee's piece

I would consider myself to be a person who talks about politics only in coffee shops, forward some emails and complains endlessly about the injustices that we suffer and how we should strive to make Malaysia a better country to live in. Like many millions of Malaysians, I only talk the talk and not walk the walk. I have seen my friends being hauled by the authorities for participation in illegal assembly and lighting candles but they remained undeterred and as passionate as ever. They continued with their march and struggle with more determination than before while I sit behind my desk and continue to complain about the little imperfections in our lives.

I never did what they did because being charged in court and spending a night (or a few nights) in the lockup is not exactly what I have in mind as the price to pay for speaking up.

Incidents that have taken place lately started to alarm me. Is it because there are so many of us that choose to remain silent in order not to ‘stir the hornet’s nest’ we have become the reason why some are so bold as to openly threaten bloodshed before my very own backyard? Fortunately they do not represent every right thinking member of the Muslim community but unfortunately like all cancerous cells, it is dangerous that such scourge should go uncheck. The Sedition Act and the Penal Code isn’t the right vaccine.

These hooligans that lives amongst us do not tolerate nor practice any form of moderation whilst our Prime Minister talk incessantly about his 1Malaysia and took it one step further and said there must be acceptance. His slogan is mind boggling because the government and the party that he leads do not believe in it. In order for these political parties to survive, UMMO must be seen as the protector of Malay rights and MCA must be seen as the protector of Chinese rights and MIC must be seen as the protector of Indian rights. If the rakyat does not feel that they are oppressed because of their race, UMMO, MCA and MIC would not be relevant. Hence certain leaders are quick to provoke racial sentiment as it is their survival at stake.

I am not too bothered about politics until people like Hishamuddin comes out singing to the tune of the hooligans. I am not too bothered about politics until Teoh Beng Hock died mercilessly whilst in custody of MACC. I am not too bothered about politics until Khir Toyo talked about the cow as a stupid animal. I have as much right to speak as any Malaysian would, we demand to live in peace and we demand to live in an environment where our children do not grow up hating one another. We all deserve a better Malaysia! The final cry is this and it ought to be the loudest and the title says it all.

- Mr.Ng

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Nice girly things..

I'm turning into a bag lady, and I mean those expensive kinds. I don't own one although bags have been in the conversation whenever i chat with my dear bridezilla. Or at least shopping related things.



So, my dear bridezilla and I went to the Melium outlet over the weekend where she uh hum.. bought sthing.. sthing perhaps slightly over the budget..but hey, we analysed and thought it justified buying coz it's selling at almost 70% off! A bargain, really. :-P Just don't tell bridezilla's hubby or he might just turn into godzilla. haha..



So, returning to bags. Seems like everyone around me has got a nice bag. Nice would mean with an angmo/Italian (preferably) name. Price is secondary, you can't put a price tag on things u find beautiful, can you. :-)



Thus, dear bridezilla, RM5,980 on a gorgeous Gcci bag is soooo worth it k, you have my support 100%! Devil...devil.... muahahhaa..