Merdeka!
What is in a word, a combination of seven letters, a symbol, a motto, a dream? After 50 years, after five decades, after half a century, how far have Malaysia really come? Yes, we have the Twin Towers, the Proton Saga, MEASAT, the New Economic Policy (NEP), the Iskandar Development Region and astronauts going to space, but what do this really all mean to us Malaysians? Are these the signs which show that we have really prospered, under the social contract of all races, sealed within our Constitution, the highest authority of our country? Look around you, is this what you have come to expect after 50 years of independence, after 50 years of integration, after 50 years of progress? Or are we all still living under the illusion that we have moved forward, that we have matured, as a country and as a community?
We live in a country where there are rules for everything, where everything is censored and controlled, where every word you speak, every move you make can be used against you in court. Our mainstream media is but a propaganda tool used to deceive the general public, to muddle the facts, to make the government look good. Our censorship board determines what we can watch in the cinemas, on the television, what we can read in books, newspapers, magazines and what we can write on our blogs and in our diaries. Tell me, where is the freedom of expression? Where is the truth that we were promised, that we seek, that were concealed to maintain our so called 'unity' and 'harmony'. And yet, are we willing to sacrifice the truth for this manner of 'peace', where we live among lies so that 'social stability' is maintained?
After 50 years, is it still not apparent to Malaysians that our government is corrupt, from the lowest ranking officer to the members of the cabinet? Cronyism, nepotism and money politics are still very much practised in truth not only in our bureaucracy, but in all three branches of the Malaysian Administration. Everywhere in Malaysia, police and JPJ officers accept bribes from people to escape bribes or to pass a driving test. On a bigger scale, massive government projects are awarded to companies which are linked to the government, which can somehow operate at a loss for our country's sake. Our auctions are merely a formality, a joke for bureaucrats who control the Finance Ministry, who receive huge bribes while the people suffer when the projects are substandard and fall apart. It seems even our own Putrajaya has failed to escape this 'phenomenon'.
After five decades of independence, it seems that the Malaysian Education System has failed to train any competent Malaysians who have enough foresight and leadership qualities to assume the posts of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Internal Affairs. If you guys are wondering, our beloved Prime Minister currently holds these portfolios. Talk about centralisation of power, or is it dictatorship? Besides that, it seems our Economic Planning Unit (EPU), for all its worth, can't count properly either. I'm thinking any Form 3 kid and above can easily tell them that you don't take the par value when evaluating equity on the stock market, you take the the market value. But no, they have the cheek to insist that they are correct and contradict ASLI who has obviously got it right. Then of course, there are state governments who spend millions on an artificial waterfall and an all too huge bowling alley 20 minutes outside of town, thinking that it would attract foreign tourists. Oh and did I mention a revolving tower splat in the middle of the city which bears no significance whatsoever but cost another 2 million out of our coffers? And you wonder why the ringgit is now 2.30 compared to the sing.
Bureaucrats complain that graduates are leaving Malaysia when they can't provide the infrastructure to fully utilise their talents. Scholars who return after obtaining degrees are given a desk job in some obscure department which probably has no bearing whatsoever to their major. Universities employ fresh graduates as lecturers, shun meritocracy when they offer places to students and appoint politicians instead of educationists to run their administration. Yet they are thinking of making Malaysia an education hub. In this country I can be sued under accusations of libel and slander for writing this, brought into custody under the Official Secrets Act, and be labeled a traitor and stripped of my citizenship. Scary, ain't it? A parliament representative suggests that bloggers should register like we register pre-paid phone numbers, and another wants PG ratings posted on sites. What's worse, the Prime Minister and his deputy cannot agree on whether Malaysia is an Islamic State, while a mufti thinks that it's a woman's fault for wearing revealing clothes when they are spied upon by micro-cameras.
In the run-up to our country's 50th Birthday, local dailies (The Star at least) ran a series of articles on our Bapa Kemerdekaan, Tunku Abdul Rahman. While I truly am grateful to Tunku for what he has done, I wonder what he would think of the present state our country is in now. And what happened to our other 3 former PMs? They seemed to have been completely erased from the minds of our editors, though they too have contributed a lot to our nation building efforts. Of course, the only current news on Tun Mahathir, the only surviving Former PM is him needing to go for by-pass surgery, not how far Malaysia has come under Pak Lah since he resigned or anything the country has achieved under his regime. Oh well, that's Malaysian propaganda for you!~Zhongy~
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