Malaysians better be aware of complacency!

The general Malaysian public need to be well informed about what’s really going on in our nation.

We are all being distracted with the shenanigans of a former premier and a current one who seems to be in a state of delusion that all is well in the grassroots of this country whilst our regional political climate involving most of our Asean neighbours are in upheaval due to the mismanagement of those in power and trying to get away with their criminal breach of trusts that their respective citizens have given them.

From Suharto to Thaksin Shinawatra, the story remains the same. It is always those who were elected into power who slyly have amassed billions in illicit wealth overseas whilst trying to portray a ‘Mr.Goody Two Shoes’ image at home.

The general public seems to be enamoured with the current tiff between Tun Dr.Mahathir and the current PM Abdullah Badawi over cancelled projects that if continued is not gonna add a ringgit or two to the man in the street!

During Tun Dr.Mahathir’s ‘monologue’ at the Century Paradise Club, he was saying that the progress of the ‘crooked bridge’ and other pet projects of his would enable the local ‘Nasi Lemak’ seller to make money from the construction crews patronising her stall and they in turn would benefit from having jobs building the ‘crooked bridge’ and in turn generate income for the government through the bridge tolls, etcetera.

His contention was that you need to spend money to make more money. It all seems very logical and those who swallow each and every word that he spews out would be ‘ooh’ing and aah’ing’ the brilliance of the ol’ Tun’s bright ideas.

The reality is that mega projects like that will almost always be linked to one or two individuals getting filthy rich in time whilst only those directly involved in such projects would get to taste the spillovers that fall their way.

Generally, our average costs of living have been increasing steadily over time. Whilst the propaganda machines in the form of the government controlled media churn out stories after stories and cleverly edited advertorials and documentaries painting the image of the powers that be into glorious nationalistic icons, reality at the grassroots level stinks to high heaven!

Why is it that in this 21st century, still exists a vast chasm of difference in the status and quality of life for the general Malaysian public ?

Especially those who are still struggling to make their ends meet and the wide social disparity between the various ethnicities still remain as a blot on the development of this nation?

The Malaysian public are constantly being brainwashed and distracted from focusing on and improving their own economies and preparing for their future by daily doses of round the clock entertainment programs that in actual fact causes them to forget what’s taking place up high above in the nation’s corridors of power!

Except for the shrieking of Lim Kit Siang and the archaic Karpal Singh, the Opposition is still in the doldrums of the Parliament!

PAS politicians are in average just spineless individuals who fail to really give us a strong viable alternative to take on the BN when comes Election time! Constant squabbling, rhetoric and failing to deliver when push comes to shove being their fruits of existence for the past 5 decades!
Their crime is in failing to stem the voracious appetite of the current government in devouring precious funds that would be better spent in improving the lifes of those hardcore poor struggling to survive in squatter colonies in the fringes of the cities or wallowing in dire straits in the forgotten reaches of villages lost in the hinterland of Malaysia Boleh!

Hare brained schemes and proposals by the government ministers and politicians trying to curry favor with the high and mighty in the Supreme Councils of the governing political parties almost always fail to take into consideration the plight of the poor and the destitute.

Apart from the recently lambasted out of Malaysia Sports Center being touted by the one in the Sports Ministry, we heard of another cock and bull idea from another to import foreign players so that Malaysia will get to be in the World Cup in 2008!

Are these bozos from another planet or what that their brains are getting number from all the wealth pouring in to their coffers that they are now floating on air, not in touch with the actual realities of life surrounding them?

Are their constituencies already so well taken care of that their attention needs to drift to such useless and wasteful pursuits?

What is another gold medal or for the matter another World Cup going to provide for the destitute, who’s lying sick and dying in a thatched hut, devoid of the basic necessities of life in the interior of this ‘developing’ nation?

No piped water, no proper sewage facilities, no electricity as proved again and again by those ‘reality tv programs’ shown by NTV7 and TV3 and the ever copycat RTM?

Is that ‘achievement’ in being entered into the Malaysia Book of Records, going to fill the hungry stomachs writhing in agony and despair as broadcast through the TV3’s ‘Bersama Mu’ program every now and then?

Here we are eagerly scrutinising the news for the latest in the battle between Tun Dr.Mahathir and his successor Abdullah Badawi when in reality these fellows are all set up for the next few generations , to not having to worry about where their next meal is going to come from?

Reality, ladies and gentlemen, stares at us in the face. Each and everyone of us have utility bills to pay at the end of every month, loans to service, instalments to keep up to. Families to take care of and ourselves to maintain in terms of food, clothing and other necessities.

The complacency taking place in our hearts and minds need to be given a kick in the butt and we need to wake up to the reality that we need to get our objectives right!

We need to fend for ourselves, make sure that our families are given the utmost top priority and shown the care and love that we are now wasting on the top soccer teams and on waging of who’s right or wrong , in the current saga between the Tun and the PM.

Concentrate on improving our lots first and just give a cursory look once a while to see what these two are up to. End of the month, if we miss a bill or two, there’s gonna be a pink slip at our doors , threatening to disconnect us from whatever utilities we have missed paying for.

‘Tis not the same for those in title ; their’s is a life that we can only dream of or gawk agape when it is shown on TV or witnessed by ourselves. Been to any of their palatial mansions, lately?

Social rot is fast eating away at the very roots of our society. People simply do not give a damn anymore about others.

Neighbours do not know who the family next door are and even if something happens next door and you hear shrieks , shouts or cries for help, the windows shut tight, people ignore the pleas for help until it strikes themselves right in their very foreheads!

Then, and only then do we realise , hey…if only I had? Too late …tch…tch…tch…

Complacency and distraction , dear brothers and sisters, my fellow Malaysians, is dangerous and very detrimental to our health, our wealth and our individual futures.

Wake up to the reality taking place in our own lifes and enrich ourselves with the knowledge, the skills and the improvements we can add to ourselves, our families and to our immediate neighbours.

Bring back the caring spirit we were once famously known for. Smile and say hello to your neighbour the next time you meet them in the lifts, in the carpark and in your local neighbourhood stores. In times of need, they are the ones you can depend on..if you become their friends , that is.

Do not waste away your health smoking useless cigarettes, taking drugs and other harmful materials, drinking alcohol and abusing yourselves through sinful activities.

Ever seen anyone become stronger smoking a pack or two daily in the long run? Bronchial asthma might be the reward or lung cancer. Take your pick.

‘Come up to Carlsberg!’ says the ad in the cinema screen. See anyone become stronger, healthier and get better looking after a couple of bottles down the hatch?

All I’ve seen is bloodshot eyes, foul breathed, drunken assholes sprawled on the floor of sidewalks outside the cafes of Chulia Street when I returned home from my favourite mosque @ the Kapitan Keling Mosque back in Penang after attending the majlis ‘ilmu given by our Ustaz Abdullah Al Bukhari when I was living in Penang before moving here to KL in 2001.

I am sure the scenario is pretty much the same for those who had gone up to Carlsberg anywhere in this nation or for the matter, the whole wide world! Drinking alcohol leads to hell not to heaven, dear friends. The only one looking ‘chic is the beer ad model not the drunkard!

Cherish what we have before it’s taken away from us. If your spouse is true to you and faithful, do not digress into affairs that will give you an hour or two in pleasure but destroy the very lifes of those you treasure.

Show your love now towards your precious children before they grow up and move away from you. It will then be too late and remember, it is your own lifes that are truly important and valuable to you in the long run and see to it that you do not become a pawn in the struggle between the two behemoths demanding our attention and show of support, right this moment!

From the summit and pinnacle of their success, you and me will not be visible to them for theirs is a battle of their own inflated egos , being fanned by those who have vested interests at hand whilst ours is a sheer reality of ‘if you don’t scratch for it ; you just won’t get it’!

Comprendo?…in English it means …understand?

Be awake dear people…strive for this world as if you’re gonna live forever…prepare for the hereafter as if we are gonna die tomorrow..

In our Muslim prayer, we read it this way :

‘Rabbana a’tina fidd duniya hasanah ; wa fil a’khirati hasanataww wa qina ‘azabb bannar’ meaning :

‘O Lord, grant us the goodness of this earthly life and the goodness of the Life hereafter and protect us from the Tortures of Hellfire’.

Pretty sound in it’s meaning isn’t it? That’s the best prayer we can ask for my friends.

For this life on Earth is but a temporal stage in our journey through our soul’s existence.

Whilst being alive however , it is enjoined on us to strive for and excel at what we can be and to taking care of our religious obligations to ourselves, our families , our fellow citizens and our nation.

Just be aware of what’s going on around us but remember not to be taken advantage of unduly by those who have their own swelled up ego’s to feed. Ensure that we don’t end up as their fodder…that’s all.

Have a productive day people. May God bless us all. Ameen.

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