Sunday, September 30, 2007

Stop The Rot

The state of affairs in this country is getting worse. The crime rate is rising. The corruption level is high. Trust in the judicial system is eroding so much so that even the lawyers have started marching in protest. The powers that be must take the responsibility for this state of affairs.

The first thing to do is to change the policies that are causing the nation to be divided along racial lines. Basically this is the root cause of most of the problems. What was introduced as a help to the underprivileged has been greatly abused until today. After 50 years do you still need the NEP? Shanghai has become a super city within 10 years. Our leaders are still clinging to their crutch stating that there are still many Malays below the poverty line and as such the racial quota system must stay.

The problem is there are two generations of people who are in powerful places because of this policy but know nothing of how this nation came into being. They see no reason to change anything as they have benefited from it. The education system, the awarding of scholarships, places in universities, awarding of contracts, business licenses, availabilty of houses, price differences in purchasing of these houses, etc. All these are considered as inheritance because the major 'tribe' considers itself 'sons of the soil'. This mentality was placed there by the previous Prime Minister and is continued by the present one.

They talk about racial integration but they divide the students by race in school.
There is no sincerity in the policy makers.

You need to have more non-Malays in the Government service at the top. You also need to remove the little 'Napoleons' in the various government sectors who do not follow the policies decided in Parliament. Otherwise we will end up like Afghanistan or Iraq or Palestine or Sri Lanka where the neglected and downtrodden have no choice but to take up arms. There will be no peace in this land if there is no give and take policy. The religious problem will add oil to the fire. The clear example is in the state of Kelantan. The state government does not allow the non-muslims to open the food outlets before 3.00pm. They think that since they are fasting, the whole world should fast also! What would happen if the syariah laws were implemented! As it is one of the local universities is checking if the female students are wearing skirts! If they do, they will be fined by the campus security!

If we want unity, peace and progress, we need to change policies and also the deadwood that obstructs the policies. It is easy to make grand speeches at Merdeka about our glorious past but it takes a brave and courageous leader to take into consideration all the races that make up this nation and make changes for the good of this country of ours. This country doesn't belong to one particular race but to all who are Malaysians, regardless of race, colour or creed.