Saturday, August 4, 2007

ATTITUDE!!!


Looks like the General Elections is on the way. The "Dictator" of Sarawak, predicts that it would be after Hari Raya. That is like just a few months away. So what does this government do? It starts clouding people's vision with all these so called Malaysian Plans like Inskandar Project and NCER (don't know if I got that right). Hoping that money and progress will get them the votes. Chances are it may.

We Malaysian's like all people around the world do want to see our nation progress. But what does progress entail? Does it mean having the tallest building in the world or the fanciest airport in the region or high tech sytems to catch speeding motorist. Projects. Projects. Projects. Projects. So called opportunities to benefit the nation. We all know that only a select few, who already have, will benefit from these projects. Relatives and friends of Ministers and officials are laughing to the banks.

That is not the topic of my post. What does it mean for this country to be fully developed? It is not all that I have mentioned above. That is only a small part of it. What is the point of having all these fancy high tech spectacular infrastructure when we have people with the wrong attitude in life manning and using them. Lets go down to the micro level. Take for example our road system. We have highways that have cut short travelling time around the country. Highways that should make driving a pleasure and not a nightmare. A nightmare is exactly what they are now. Motorcyclists using the main highways and not the motorcycle lanes. Lorries and buses speeding on the fast lane. Little Kanchils and Kelisas that were designed for town driving flying at break neck speeds without proper safety features. Where is the enforcement??? Where is the right attitude of courtesy and consideration for your fellow road users?

Let me go into something that happened to me more recently and does happen on a regular basis. I am an avid golfer. I have the luxury of being a member at one of the oldest and most prestigous golf clubs in the country. A club that can boast 2 championship courses and has hosted many Malaysian Opens. There is an amazingly long waiting list for membership. As there is a quota system, the waiting list for Chinese is about 15 years, while for Indians it is about 8years. I do not know about bumiputeras but I reckon about a year or so. Anyway, my point is that to the golfing community, we members are the envy and I have had numerous request from friends for invitation to play a round on the magnificent course. Golf has always been known as a true gentleman's game. You should not hear shouting or any unrully behaviour on the course. Pitch marks and divots are to be repaired and replaced so as to not inconvenience the next group of golfers coming up behind you. Play should be at a pace so as not to keep the group behind waiting too long.

Religiously on Sunday afternoons, I play around of golf with my dad and a couple of family friends. I particularly look forward to these few hours in the sun with my dad which ends on a high note of a nice ice cold beer that goes down even more smootly as one of the other 3 had to buy the drinks for losing the round of golf. Yes, like every single amatuer golfer around the world, betting is common. Some do it for drinks and food while some stakes are much higher. I can only say that I onced witnessed a red faced gentleman, writing out a cheque for RM 35,000 to a giggling "friend" of his after a round of golf. I can only imagine what else goes on with other golfers. This need to win high stakes not only takes away the enjoyment of the game, but it affects others on the course. On Sunday, we had the misfortune of playing behind a group of 4 "gentlemen". These golfers, who had obviously a lot riding on their game, started off rather slowly taking their time to address the ball and hit them. One could only guess what the stakes were. After 9 holes of feeling frustrated and annoyed at having to wait for these guys to get out of range so I may hit my next shot, I summoned the course marshal and complained about their disregard for time. The marshal rode up to them and politely advised them to speed up play as there has been a complain. One would expect that being a gentlemen's game, that the group infront would either let us pass or at least speed up play. That was not to be. These so called "gentlemen" decided to slow down their pace even more. They obviously decided to rather be angry about what had happened than to acknowledge they were slow and speed up play. Once again attitude has created animosity between fellow Malaysians.

Greed and envy seem to be the main ingredient in most Malaysians. Just look at the number of contract killings and murders that are being reported. People get angry too quickly. One cannot give feedback without risking being attacked. How can we expect unity among the people when these so called leaders of the country are not united themselves. There is more racial and gender prejudice in the cabinet than anywhere else. Lets face it, who are we kidding, if we were really a peaceful multi-racial country, there would not be a need to keep mentioning it. Through out the reign of Dr M, there was constant reference to racial harmony and multi-culturalism. The same with the current administration. Why keep saying it? If we were all considered as one nation rather than various races in a country, why the need to keep reminding everyone that there are various races in this country unless the agenda is to maintain division among the races.

Until we all accept it that the man sitting next to us on the bus or the lady standing infront of us at a check out line is our fellow Malaysian and not another Malay, Chinese, Indian, Eurasian, or whatever ethnic background, we can forget about being a developed nation. We would only be a country with all the facilities and infrastructure being enjoyed by a bunch of racist monkeys!!!

It all starts with our attitude and how we are going to take the new day on. Are we starting the day with the intention of making a difference or are we just going to go out there and try to just make as much profit even if it destroys other people's lives. As long as we each only focus on our own needs and not the needs of others, there will no unity nor peace in this country.

3 comments:

anfield devotee said...

Woi, keep the gof & politics apart. The former is clouding yer judgement. The golfers were just arseholes, plain & fookin simple. Plenty of them in all walks of life. As for gender & racist policies in the cabinet, you will have to agree that it has been greatly redressed with the Grand Dyke. Apart from a few very forward thinking European nations (such as Holland), dykes rarely get to participate in public office. Malaysia Boleh! (Try humming it to the tune of YMCA, it works!)

anfield devotee said...

Oi, gave yer blog free advertising on mine, r u gonna return the favour? And don't u think u need to update yer blog a bit more foten?

chris&eric said...

aiyahhh enuff of complaining n commenting on the state of malaysian affairs la. wont change the fact that some of us are selfish and dont give a fuck abt the rest, and the racist power structure is ENTRENCHED. migrate like all the smart ones.