Ordinary People Should Write and Speak Up

     Of late, there has been a lot of confusion on issues that are of concerns to ordinary citizens. Ranging from the burning Bibles to water shortage in Selangor. Issues like those have been given the spin by both sides of the political divide. Some of the spin are ludacris bordering moronic. Yet some still believe in it. Weird.

      However, to the citizens, why let spin define the issues? Why let the supremely bias mainstream media dictate the opinions of the mass majority? Why allow bloggers with political interests lie through their teeth, sweeping the real problems that need solution for the welfare of the people?

     If you read most political bloggers, they are not writing objectively, they are writing party rhetoric, half-truths, spins and personal attacks. Some even use rude language. Although I'm partisan, I'm for the real thing, issue-based discussions, not the script written by party bosses. We are singing to their tune, singing their praise, paying them taxes and suffering due to their mistakes. So if there is the probabality that we will suffer, why are we letting them dicate the issues, we should dictate it shouldn't we? Or maybe we should be thier puppets and just follow the puppetmaster, well if I'm a politician, I will definitely love that.

     This is causing them to misslead the discusion we ought to have as we ended up playing to their tune, publiczing their rhetoric, badmouthing possibly innocent personality, giving the wrong information to fellow Malaysians, drifting them away from the real issues by talking about the wrong things, a national barking at the wrong tree disease and worse, we might commit fitnah( slander) in the process. So we shouldn't let the politicians and thier army of bloggers dictate issues, we should.

     So what is the solution, well, normal ordinary people, who are not on the payroll of either parties, who will not stand to gain favours from the politicians, should speak up and write. They should take advantage of technology where now everyone can write a blog, post a video on YouTube and so on. Hopefully, Malaysians can listen to the people who really face the problems and they only want solutions to it, not political diatribes or vitriol. Definitely not more rhetoric, we have plenty of those.

      I would like to hear from experts on, say, the water shortage issue, who he himself lives in Klang Valley experiencing water problems, what is his take on the issue? Is Syabas to be blamed for, as explained by the Selangor state government, not reducing water leakages, of not honoring the concession agreement, or is the Selangor state government to be blamed for refusing to give the go a head for the Langat 2 Water Treatment plant. Or is there more to it.

     What say the lawyers out there, the opinionated political pundits? Malaysians should listen to them, not just to the politicians, and definitely not to Syabas( as they are making a ton of money out of this agreement regardless). It is okay for the politicians to prolong this issue, they have the financial means and political clout to do so. But the people don't, and they end up suffering the most, just like the Malay saying "Gajah sama gajah bergaduh, pelanduk mati ditengah". Guess who is the pelanduk here. But surprisingly, it is the politicians that are making the most noise while they are enjoying their nice water supply. The suffering Rakyat are the ones that are silent on this issue.

     The rakyat should organize themselves and tell all parties what they want, nationalize Syabas as proposed by Selangor state government(takeover)? Force the construction of Langat 2 as proposed by the government, or something entirely different. The Rakyat should let all parties know of thei wishes for this issue. And please don't say " saya berharap pihak-pihak tertentu akan menyelesaikan masalah ini" you have tried that years ago, and this issue is nowhere near " akan menyelesaikan masalah ini". The Rakyat must be more proactive. Forget about the NGO's that are "claiming to be neutral" to solve the problems, they are just politicians disguising as members of NGO's, they don't have your best interest.

    This issue is just one example of many other issues I would like to hear from ordinary Malaysians. So that I can know the truth, not political BS that dominates our discourse. I'm happy on the issue of Miss Listen3,( refer last posting if you are in the dark), many students came out with their opinions on the state of academic, intellectual and student freedom in this country. Malaysians will benefit from that as they are hearing it straight from the Cow's mouth and not some unscrupulous politicians that will say anything for their benefit.

    We can do the same with other issues like the Teaching of Math and Science in English. Let us bring forward students who are struggling with their studies due to the language difference at overseas tertiary institutions as claimed by the proponent of it, and let us bring the rural people who will not do so well in the subjects due to the level of their English as claimed by those opposed to this policy and let us hear them out. They should write, speak up as they are there the ones that will sleep on the beds we make. So they should break their silence and say something so that Malaysian can gain insight from them and decide to support or reject the policy.

     This is better than just listening to politicians who claim to champion the National Language but their children are sent overseas and have excellent command of the English language but not their national language or their mother tongue language. Why the Rakyat want to listen to hypocrisy?

     So, in conclusion, let's the Rakyat, dominate the discourse of this nation. We shouldn't copy paste our positions on issues simply based on politicians or their bloggers. We listen to them. But most importantly, we listen to ourselves, our fellow Malaysians, that are true to themselves, Malaysians that want to see the country move forward, not just to score political points. We will dictate the issues, and they should respond accordingly, not the other way around. We the Rakyat are the masters, so we make it onto ourselves, the worth of a master. Don't be a master but behaving like a servant, they are the servant, not us. So when the politicians begin to do their thing, you not the que, tell them excuse me YB, I think you are trying to BS here..... A better Malaysia will definitely be created.

Listen, Listen, Listen.....Let Me Speak, Let Me Speak, Let Me Speak

       A video clip( link at the bottom) where a student was berated  by what I think was the moderator of an event went viral on the Internet. Many forms of mockery and parody not to mention outright criticism were thrown at the moderator for her rude behaviour towards the student who was just airing her views. So this is the problem of our society, where people with strong opinions are attacked and not allowed to speak simply because their opinion stand against that of ours.

     Firstly, the main point to be conveyed is not the jokes on the Internet, the criticism against the moderator, the parody and so on. What must taken note is that the event is done to indoctrinate students. We can see the "ikrar" at the event as prove among others. The government, despite their claim of transformation (Political Transformation), still conducts such an event to propagate their views unfairly on students. This is called government propaganda to impose their thinking on students.

 This is prove that despite the amendment to the laws restricting students from participating in politics, there are still a lot to be done for students in this country. This also proves that the government is half- hearted in their political reforms. Such an event shouldn't be held in the first place as students should be taught to think, allowed to seek different views and arrive at the conclusion on which is best by themselves. While guidance should be given, the decision is theirs and theirs to make only.

     So what am I proposing, well as a citizen of Malaysia, I am proposing that students be allowed to listen to different views so that they can make an informed decision. University authorities should invite BN representatives to talk, PR representatives to talk, an even independents. The format should be either a forum or debate with different political representations, on even a one speaker event.

 I am not happy that the government is using taxpayers money to fund propaganda. It is bad enough that government-linked companies( partially belonging to the Rakyat) like Media Prima, through its TV channels have attacked the rakyat's rationality by airing constant propaganda( I'm sure our money can be used on more constructive ventures), now public universities are also joining the bandwagon. It is propaganda galore for the rakyat while our pockets are getting thinner and cost of living is getting higher.

 The government has lost its priorities. They are more interested in having propaganda events in our universities instead of improving the education standard( which means encouraging critical thinking) and accessibility to it. Hence we should heed the advice of the Deputy Prime Minister that there is nothing wrong with BN continuing to govern, why change when BN is good? Never mind the corruption and abuse of power, BN is good, keep it. Don't change for the sake of change as what our former PM said.

     Secondly, we must  include in our education system, the need to evaluate differing views and reach a conclusion. Is communism all bad?, even the welfare for the poor part?, is Capitalism all bad?, like the need for individual to strive for personal success? Is all things western bad?, hypocrites like to claim that but just look at them and we know that is not the case. So make evaluating different views part of the pedagogy of teaching by teachers and syllabus must be designed to incorporate differing views.

 Our history textbook is filled with what UMNO and to some extent alliance did to attain independence for our country, but very little on the role played by the political left like the role of PKMM( Persatuan Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya) to fight for our independence. Our exams shouldn't have one right answer when there are many. Textbooks should be nothing more than a guide, not a source of definite answers. Teachers must encourage students to do research.

 Though I acknowledge the limitation of this proposal where students from poorer backgrounds might have trouble obtaining some materials as compared to the better off students, the government must rectify this by utilizing technology like the Internet and having good libraries in school and other ways to bridge the gap.

     Finally, I propose politics be more professional, no more attacks on opposition with wild allegations like Anwar being an American agent and so on unless concrete prove can be provided. The same goes for the opposition. The allegation against Rais Yatim shouldn't be done simply based on hearsay. Use constructive economic, social, religious and issue-based political arguments instead of sentiments like Malays vs Non-Malays, Solar Bible to convert the Muslim is a big no no.

 This is especially important when dealing with students. We want to expose them to constructive politics not sentimental politics. Hope that Malaysians from both side of the political divide will rise up and change their political ways by adopting all, if not some of the proposals. If they can find a better proposal than mine, even better, make sure its is really a better proposal than mine, not those moral relativism or political expediency ones. We must do so, for the sake of Malaysia and her people.

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MJs6_j0rfi8