Ervan’s Weltanschauung

It can be quite depressing witnessing the current state Malaysia is in right now. Sometimes you wonder what the previous politicians were thinking when they molded the current programs that lead Malaysia to where it is now.

And sometimes you’ll need history to understand what is happening now.

The rights and privileges of the Bumiputeras were enshrined in the constitution. Those who were born after the 70s, never knew, or rather never bothered to find out why it was there in the first place. Some knew, and they choose to take advantage of it. Some did not, and left. The NEP was set up as a result of this bumiputera rights.

The NEP was best visualised by Tun Dr. Ismail when he said that the NEP is like a handicap for a beginner in golf. As one improved, the handicap is lowered, until he could compete on a level playing field. I totally agreed with him. And I understood what he meant by the NEP, and the rights and privileges of the Bumiputeras are not to be questioned by others, and the time will come that the Bumiputeras will no longer need the NEP and could stand on their own in their own country.

The question is, how succesful was the NEP at the end of the 20 years development plan circa 1990s?  A further 16 years down the road, and the Bumiputeras did not improve as we have hoped and the handicap was not lowered. I guess the first ten years of the NEP, the emphasis has been on the economy and most importantly, education. A number of Chinese business were taken over by the Bumis. And this is where the alarms should have been buzzing. The economic pie should have been made bigger instead of taking it tit for tat.

Education wise, a number of bright young Bumis were given the opportunity to further their studies overseas. This, for them,  is a lesson to be self-reliant, able to mingle with other races and other cultures, and most importantly, to bring back what they have learned for the nation building. In the end, what happened was, when they arrived at their host countries, they choose to mingle with their own kind. They do not learn to befriend other races, and even some choose not to come back to help assist in the nation building. Fortunately, most of them returned….And as the pioneer batches came back in the late 70s and early 80s, they became the new generation of a more independent Malaysia.

There’s no denying that the between the economy and education, education has helped the Bumis to advance further. In the economy, Tun Razak devised a number of plans to further help the Bumis to survive in the business world. His plan was sound, but, some took the easy way out.

In the 80s,  the "visionary" Dr Mahathir choose to expand the economic pie by industrialising Malaysia. People say he is a visionary, I say he is not as his visions were based on 19th Century Britain. Emphasis on steel and cars has helped created more jobs, but at what cost? Now, the high prices of cars has made other sectors of the economy suffer. Like I said earlier, the economic pie was not made much bigger, although it seems like it was!

And Dr. Mahathir suffered from a Malaysia ruled by cronyism. He would have escaped if he has done so during Tun Razak’s time. In the 70s, there were not many Bumis who could do certain jobs, and most of the time, it was given to people the Government trust. Unlike now, even the company who is the most capable loses the opportunity as priority was given to the close circle. And people are not happy with that. Thanks to the education they have received.

Malaysia is reaching it’s 50th year of independence soon. Things have changed, and I dare say that the Bumis have reached a long way since independence. But, the progress made came with the assistance given to them. And some are finding it hard to let go. Especially if they are UMNO members.

Indeed, I always find something interesting about them. And it will always involve KJ. One, whose father is a former Menteri Besar was unhappy that KJ rose up the ranks very fast. The reason being, KJ was not one of them. Them meaning, not the family of Tun Razak/Tun Hussein/Tun Mahathir. Now you start to wonder about the KJ rumours. Indeed, water runs deep. And the Malay feudalistic system is still well and alive today. If you are not from a well-off family, don’t expect you can rise.

I have nothing against the NEP. It has helped to shape me to where I am now. But the sad thing about the NEP, some think of it as their right. And most of the time, they are the really privileged ones. I have seen, Bumis whose family could afford them education, choose to grab whatever scholarships that they can get. And they are the ones who refused to pay back.

There are responsible Bumis though. They got the scholarship, and they pay back their dues whether in servicing their bonds, or paying it back. Most of them are those who came from the middle class or not well to do background.

Makes you wonder why Grameen Bank is succesful.

When the NEP was first conceived, it was agreed that its progress has to be tracked. It was also agreed that these privileges accorded to the Bumis will not be forever. But the final decision is up to the Bumis.

Some, who are already good in golf, has lowered their handicap. Some, who are still bad in golf, are trying hard to lower their handicap. And some, without shame, who can play a good game of golf, choose to keep their handicap higher in order for them to keep on winning….

The win is hollow……..

Why, we as humans, like to differentiate each other. In Malaysia, we state our race as Malay, Chinese, Indian, and my personal favourite, Lain-Lain.

But then, nature never sees us as Malays, Chinese, Indians (or Lain-Lain). We are one, human race.

Hmm, I noticed a number of bloggers are supporting this “Bloggers United: No Fear”
The reason being, two famous bloggers, Rocky Bru and Jeff Ooi are being sued by the New Straits Times for defamation. Indeed, blogging has come a long way.

I am not a regular of Rocky Bru. Only read his blogs courtesy of links from Jeff Ooi. The thing I really noticed though, these two have a personal agenda against NST. If one choose to read their blogs without prejudice, and impartially, then you will notice it too. There is no smoke without fire, to say the least. Indeed, I see this fight as something personal between these two bloggers and the powers that be in NST. Not unlike how i see reformasi as something personal between Anwar and Dr M. It’s a fight where many people unknowingly got dragged into.

I am not sure of Rocky’s personal agenda is, but for Jeff, I remember NST mentioning that a comment left on Jeff Ooi’s blog was made by Jeff and not the commentator. I remember that well cause a friend of mine told me that Jeff made comments that insults Islam. I corrected my friend, and I am glad that he actually took the time to read carefully in the blog and noticing that those comments were not made by Jeff.

Back to the issue, how the two bloggers managed to gain much support from fellow bloggers is something that impressed me. How they did it? Simple, united for freedom of speech. One thing bloggers can relate to, is their new found freedom in expressing their voice, away from the tough censorship one face within the media.

That, and of course, using the bogeyman, in this case Singapore. After all, it was claimed that the NST is headed by a Singapore trained Secret Branch spy. Hmm, now I wonder if Rocky Bru and Jeff are actually agents of Dr M, another person who love to make Singapore as his bogeyman.

A friend told me that Malaysians love scandals. He told me, which story you prefer to hear? A politician who is loyal to his wife, goes home to her every night, kiss her good night? Or do I prefer to hear a story of a politician who has a wife, but is having an affair with a famous Malay actress?

He has made his point…

And that is just a scratch of the surface…..

But the aftermath of this court case will not only affect the two bloggers and NST, but will affect more people. All because it was personal fight between these two bloggers and NST….

On a lighter note. Senator Clinton (Hillary Clinton) will be running to be a candidate for the US Presidency. This will be cool. I don’t like Clinton (Bill, not Hillary) who actually made America more dependant on oil. But having Hillary as President, and we know she’s the reason Bill became President, will be very interesting indeed. Of course, she will have an easier time to stamp her mark. After all, George Bush is such a walking disaster….

And seems like the media is up to its tricks again. It was claimed Senator Obama (not Osama ya), another candidate, studied in a Muslim extremist school in Indonesia. Forget about the Muslim extremist school. Gosh, if he becomes the President, who would have thought that the President of the US of A used to study in Indonesia? Wow…

Let’s hope Obama does not do a Kerry…and start speaking out against these allegations.. You can say what you want, there are two ways to keep out gossips. One is to keep a low profile and stay away from the gossip. Or you got to hit out on it…

For Obama, the choice is obvious. He has to voice it out loud…just like how the NST is trying to do so by sueing… so, why am I not that surprised anymore?

So we got a huge toll increase.

Big deal. If one choose to read through the T&C of the toll concessionaires, you must ask the question, how did they know beforehand the rate, when to increase it, and by how much to increase it? I am sure, the person in the previous administration knew about the arrangement as he was a well known micromanager. And now he is trying to cover his track.

Now people are crying foul over the high toll rate. More money to spend on the “necessary” stuff. Pity, most of the things right now happened because of previous excesses we had. Toll rate increase? Sure, only 10 or 20 sen, but someone does have to pay the difference.

Most people just worry about the toll increase, but did not probe deeper to understand the whole issue. As for me, I might as well not waste my saliva, and my time to educate these people who refuses to listen anyway. After all, there are ways to avoid or minimising the toll payments.

True, you got to inconveniet yourself. But, there’s always a price to pay for everything. Stop having the “I must not lose anything” mentalitiy. Sometimes you have to lose some to gain some. And if you undertand that, then you know what I am talking about.

Then we got this huge flood in Johor. Thousands were displaced. But you do notice one thing. Many of the VIPs are not really in the disaster management. The same VIPs who like to inconvenient others by using their police escort when driving into jam packed roads of KL.

Most asked the question, why are these VIPs not helping? For me, I don’t ask why. Cause if you point it out, then the VIPs will “turun padang” and help out. Then we will doubt their sincerity. Right now, I don’t see them involved, safe to say that they just don’t care. We, the ones who are aware and compassionate, should do whatever we can to help the flood victims. Having trouble getting help from the police and medical personnel? Come on, you don’t need the Government for that. I am sure some of us, have those infamous inside connections to do the necessary….

The most important thing is the flood victims are being assisted in their times of need. If you ask so and so why they are not helping? I am sure they got a reason. But that’s not a reason for us to be holier than thou kind of mentality. For when we do that, we got to question, are we helping the flood victims because we want to? Or is it because we want to be seen as helping them?

The recent floods should not just be a political tool for certain people. Again, there’s a bigger issue involved here which concern me more than who is helping and who is not helping. And this is not because of any flood mitigation issues. Or disaster management issues. We got a bigger problem than that. Too bad, most do not see it.

And when you do see it, give me a call, then perhaps you can help me to find a solution for it. Those who like to complain about who is not helping who. need not apply….you will just waste my time.

Here I am at the office, and listening to some songs I got from friends..

I’ve been putting this on repeat…

A very nice song, and very meaningful lyric…

Perjalanan ini terasa sangat menyedihkan
Sayang, engkau tak duduk di sampingku kawan
Banyak cerita yang mestinya kau saksikan
Di tanah kering berbatuan

Mungkin Tuhan mulai bosan melihat tingkah kita
Yang selalu salah dan bangga dengan dosa-dosa
Atau alam mulai enggan bersahabat dengan kita
Coba kita bertanya pada rumput yang bergoyang

It’s an Ebiet G. Ade’s song, and I am listening to the duet by Ebiet G. Ade and M. Nasir. It’s perfection!

And it kept me humming and thinking after listening to the song.

2007, and KLites who frequents several toll highways have to bear yet another increase in toll charges. Unlike last time, when the Government bear the increase, this time, the consumers have to pay more.

Fair enough.

Until I probed deeper. Indeed, these highway concesionnaires are cash cows for some. Previously, they milked the Government’s money, now, they are milking money from both Government and the people.

To put things in perspective, we have to remember, the contracts were signed by the highway concesionaires and the Government were signed in the 1990s. Then, they think they can close one eye, and laugh all the way to the bank. Now, we can see that it came back to haunt those who were responsible. This includes one old man who is trying to make a lot of noise. And another who likes to talk big.

Someone has to bear the unfair contract. And this someone not only involve those who use the toll highways, but even those who might be living in the remotest part of the Borneo jungle who might have never been to KL.

The LDP Highway is a special case. Unlike PLUS who has to bear the cost of actually building a highway from the North to the South, the LDP highway was built on existing highways. For some, they don’t have any choice, they have to use the toll to get into their neighborhood. All because the LDP Highway limits the no-toll access. The best example would be the Jalan Damansara near to Phileo Damansara. Two lanes with no toll access, compared to 3 lanes, tolled access. You can guess that the no-toll access is always packed. I guess they learned it from Jakarta.

We can complain, but, the contract has been signed. Breaching the contract could lead to more costs. Who will have to bear the costs? Obviously not the people who signed the contract, or the Ministers involved in it. But knowing the previous administration’s one man show, I wonder if that one man is deeply involved in it? Or, God forbid, was he tricked into it?

I had an Iraqi friend. He was born in Iraq, but had to move from Iraq in the 80s, when Saddam was in power. Being a Shia muslim, life was not that good for him.

I always considered him as a Muslim for he believed deeply in Allah, and the Quran. And we always have interesting Islamic discussion which lead to political matters. One thing I remember well, he never liked Saddam. He thinks Saddam was a tyrant and should be removed from Iraq.

I guess he got his wish on 30 Dec 2006, or during Eidul-Adha. Would be interesting to meet up with this friend of mine again, and see how his worldview has changed for the past 10 years. Would he be happy? I guess so, because his family members were persecuted by Saddam. I guess an eye for an eye.

An eye for an eye. The infamous biblical sentence.
Then it was added by Mahatma Gandhi, “and the whole world goes blind.”

A simple man, who really understands the implication of revenge. Sometimes we have to wonder when we dish out sentences, is it out of justice and fairness? Or is it because someone wants a complete revenge? Sometimes, there is a thin line separating justice and revenge.

So a dictator was hanged, and humiliated for the whole world to see. But a question to ponder on, what makes the executioners no different from the dictator they just hanged?