The war drums are being sounded again. The drummers are telling us the election is around the corner yet again. Looking back, I am not so sure much tangible things have been achieved since the last time the drums were sounded.
It has been awhile since the last one. I remember I was angry at many things that it would take a book to list down those sources of anger. I thought I took some initiatives then to channel my anger appropriately. And I voted for the first time in my life in a national election. Now, it is almost four years later and I am disappointed at which things have gone so far.
I am unsure what I had hoped out of that election. I know I did not expect anything out of this world. I did not expect things would change all the sudden into my liking. I knew real, structural, permanent change would take a lot of time and work. Maybe, it would even take a whole generation. It would be naïve of me to think that the immediate years after the 2008 election would reinvent Malaysia into something better.
I do not really know what better means really, but it is out there and I know Malaysia is not there yet. It is just one of those Goldilocks things. It is a trial-and-error exercise. When it is right, one just know that it is right. When at first you do not succeed, you try and try again.
As I inspect my hopes for the country, or rather the community that I live in and interact with, I am starting to suspect that this hope is unattainable. It keeps shifting forward and it does not stay still. It is ever out of my reach. I suppose it is progress and there is progress since 2008.
There are bolder dreams now, swankier presentations and more executions. Yet, one does not need to do much to be better if the Abdullah administration is the benchmark.
Really, it is hard to see if progress we have seen in the last few years is of any real meaning in the grand scheme of things. Racial and religious issues are still flaring up purposefully by some groups. Pick up some of the local newspapers and the headlines are ever ready to prove agitprops are at work. I have learned to dismiss the fear mongering but many have not, and this is angering. Many have yet to learn what is real and what is imagined.
Corruption is still there. As new controversies emerged, old ones go unresolved.
And those in power still lie. The lies are more getting sophisticated with public relations companies as coaches and makeup artists, but lies are lies. In one hand, those in power show that they have something positive to offer, but in the other hand behind their back, mud and slime.
Maybe, after all those historic change and transformation, what we have now for the most part of it are better actors.
That is progress, I suppose.
2 replies on “[2470] Progress brought by better actors”
Satu masa dulu,adik aku pernah menetap di UK selama lebih setahun . Tapi adik ipar aku duduk situ dah lama,dekat 6 tahun . Duduk situ,kerja bukannya kerja besar,kerja pun chef kecil-kecilan dekat restoran . Adik aku pulak kerja jadi baby sitter . Gaji,takde la besar, tak sampai pun seribu pound tak silap aku . . . tapi . . .
1 . Baju kat sana 3 pound . Kat Malaysia baju2 tu hanya dijual di Pavilion,KL . Baju orang kebanyakan di UK ,baju orang kaya di Malaysia .
2 . Kasut Lacoste kat sana 20 pound .
3 . Sewa bilik ada dapur 200 pound .
4 . Transportation,takde,naik bas,naik tube,satu hari punya tiket 5 pound unlimited ride . Tak payah tunggu lama, paling lama tunggu bas,5 minit 2 bijik datang . Naik tube tak pernah rasa tak selesa . Ada Oyster kad,senang nak ke mana-mana .
5 . Pegi Asda ke Tesco ke, beli barang dapur,satu troli 20 pound . Lepas untuk seminggu .
6 . Tak pernah rasa nak beli kereta sebab membazir, orang kaya berlagak aje pakai kereta ke mana-mana .
7 . Jalanraya sesuai untuk bawak basikal . Adik ipar aku, main transportation dia,basikal,undang-undang . . . wajib pakai helmet .
8 . Tambang tube nak ke airport . . . 3 pound .
9 . DVD ori sekeping 3 pound . Aku beli Ice Age 1 dan 2 boxset 6 pound .
10 . Apa-apa barang pun mcm pakaian, tak puas hati dengan produk, boleh pulangkan dalam tempoh 30 hari, takde banyak soal asal simpan resit dan tag tak dicabut .
11 . Dan aku malas nak cerita pasal Black Friday dan sale musim panas . . .
12 . Bayangkan anda mampu beli kereta Mercedes second hand cash . . . dengan hanya mengeluarkan 500 pound . Sini? Hutang 5 tahun untuk bayar kereta second hand . . kereta di UK tidak ada value sangat kerana . . . pengangkutan awam membuatkan kereta tidak relevan dan penting dalam hidup . Perkhidmatan teksi adalah sesuatu perkhidmatan premium sebab teksi tidak diperlukan sangat .
Bila dia balik Malaysia,
. . . . . . kerja mesti kena ambik overtime, kalau tak duit tak cukup . Barang makanan sekali pegi beli Rm200 . Nak pegi beli barang pun susah sebab public transport susah . Apa yang Ismail Sabri Yaakob pelik macam mana RPK boleh hidup mewah kat UK kalau orang Malaysia yang kerja dia waiter kedai makan dekat Malaysia Hall pun boleh hidup senang kat sana? Adik ipar aku balik sini, sambil hisap rokok dengan aku dia tanya aku, “Apasal hidup kat Malaysia ni susah sangat?”
Lagi la pelik bila menteri tanya apasal ramai orang lebih gemar migrate ke negara lain . . . Tukang sapu pun boleh hidup senang kat UK . Marah pulak diorang bila rakyat mempersoalkan “Kenapa menteri mampu hidup mewah kat Malaysia ,layak ke diorang?”
Well, on the night of 308, were you one of those who said in your heart,”oops, did I go a vote too far”?
or were you one of those who said,”wow, my vote made a difference”?
I know how you feel.
However, I am not dissapointed.
By virtue of new technology and how the world is progessing, our country progresses too, but not at the pace you may have hoped.
Change is the only constant (I love to say this too often)
And it may come at a trickle at a time, but God willing, it does come with positive results.