Country Breaking Down
OutSyed The Box
Yes I think so. There is going to be a “sum of the parts” situation in this country sometime. The breakdown is happening slowly all around us, a little bit here, a little bit there. One day however, all these little breakdowns are going to add up – the sum of the parts – and then the whole country is going to blow up. Quite unfortunately, this breakdown is going to affect some people more than others (like the poor, or some races).
1. The recent news about the nurses is a clear example. The nurses from the private nursing colleges are unemployable. So the government says they may absorb them. This will certainly affect service quality at Government hospitals. (Which has its own set of problems already). This is a breakdown in the system.
The better option is to tighten up nurses training at all nurses training centres – private as well as public. But this wont happen. Why? Because in Malaysia things are not that simple and straightforward. It is always more complicated. There are always vested interests, people with connections who want to make money at the expense of you and me. That is why the system is breaking down.
2. In Japan, a Minister with even one “inexplicable” cow in her house will not just resign but she may commit suicide, ritual harakiri, because of the shame and embarrasment. Over here it is different – it is ‘complicated’. The Minister proudly says that “untuk tenangkan jiwa” she and her spouse travelled separately to the Holy Land not once, twice or three times but five trips in total.
Wow! Orang lain nak pergi sekali pun kena kira banyak kali.
Surely that would have involved at least five First Class tickets (I dont think the Minister travelled Economy). Plus assistants, PAs, hangers on etc, what was the Bill? Say another RM100,000 for “soul searching” trips to the Holy Land? This is another breakdown in the system.
3. This morning I joined some really senior veteran journalists for their weekly Sunday breakfast at an unearthly 7:30 am.
The conversation also turned to the deteriorating roads and the worsening trash situation in Kuala Lumpur. It is getting from bad to worse. There are potholes everywhere. It is as if the Government does not care anymore.
Someone (if I mention who, you will all be terkejut – he is not in the picture) said that the Federal Government does have a Budget for road maintenance inside Kuala Lumpur. Strangely for the past few years this Federal funding has just stopped. The money has been diverted elsewhere – still spent inside Kuala Lumpur but for river cleaning and such. So the roads are becoming like Four Wheel Drive tracks at some parts of Kuala Lumpur. These deteriorating road conditions are a visible manifestation of a breakdown in the system.
