It’s Time to Stand UP and Be Counted
By Batsman
OK, maybe up until the very recent past it was all about race. That was the old paradigm UMNO wanted to promote. UMNO was all about divide and rule. Malaysians were forced into thinking in terms of race even though it went against their own conscience. UMNO used money, seduction, favoritism, corruption and abuse of power to split up and divide Malaysians.
Everything was portrayed in terms of race. Even the Emergency was portrayed as a classic Malay-Chinese fight. That is why even though UMNO leaders become good friends with mainland Chinese who still claim to be hard-core communists, they continue to spite and act with great cruelty against Malaysian ex-communists who have sworn allegiance to the Agong and ask only to become loyal citizens again.
But no more! After 52 years of UMNO rule, Malaysian society is split between good and bad, those with conscience and those without. This split has occurred in all racial communities. UMNO’s tactics of divide and rule is turning off more and more Malaysians, not least because the whole civil service, police and judiciary has been compromised by abuse of power and corruption to the point it has become intolerable. Malaysia is becoming a society dominated by criminals, crooks and thieves and honest citizens must start to fight this corrupt system before it is too late. Malaysia is becoming a society where bribing your way is becoming a way of life.
Even the guilt-ridden judiciary is making efforts at self-cure because it sees a rotten judiciary as the best way to turn Malaysia into a failed state. But UMNO is still powerful. It still has plenty of money to corrupt and it still controls plenty of corrupt bureaucrats.
Will the efforts of a few men and women with good conscience be good enough? Will Malaysians leave them to fight the corrupt system alone? I think it is time to stand up and be counted.
Malaysia is at a critical juncture. The 12th GE showed that Malaysians seek change. Malaysians showed that development and wealth at the expense of honesty, decency and freedom is no longer what they want. But this demand is being sabotaged at every turn. The constitution and the police are being used cynically to negate the votes of the people.
Malaysians must now face the hard choice of continuing the struggle for a better Malaysia or allowing the rotten bureaucrats to regain domination. It is time to stand up and be counted.
Granted some Malaysians have become wealthy over the years, but this is the worst time to use to money to solve problems. UMNO continues to use obscene amounts of money to corrupt and debase in order to maintain itself in power. In the same way, decent Malaysians cannot use money alone to avoid getting into trouble or to push unpleasantness into the background. Malaysians cannot use money alone to weave a make-believe world where there is no crime, no murder, no robberies, no rape, no bureaucratic obstructions, no red tape and no political problems.
Over dependence on money has been the precise source of our problems. It is time for decent actions and decisions based on good conscience. Money is useful, but this time round money alone is not the solution. It is time for citizens to stand up and be counted. It is time to assert the rights of citizens AS THE BOSS!
Your actions and decision over the next months or even years will determine whether Malaysia slides down into the cesspool of racial hatred, decay, corruption and abuse of power where criminals in high places as well as in the back lanes run riot, OR Malaysia makes a recovery. This time round, you must back up your vote with action to show you are the BOSS. If you are a weak boss, everything will be lost. The arrogant and abusive servants and bureaucrats will take over and run your household. You will not even have control over your own money by then.
(PS. We need more people like Hakim Joe, who in spite of great fear forced himself to exercise his democratic rights, but we need not be as great a hero. Read his comments in Who are the Chinese? Even being in the back ground to make up the numbers, to provide moral support and to contribute funds is already taking action in the right way. Get involved. That is the critical part.)
