My Anthem

Saturday, October 15, 2005

The State of Affairs in Malaysia

Some of mGf in Comments yesterday provided Desiderata with much Food For Thought.
Before I respond, I highlight the key points they said about the status of OUR COUNTRY'S STATE OF AFFAIRS after Desiderata expressed some worries about the politics of race used by some POLITICIANS,and the detailed story -- non too encouraging, depressing indeed, of "blatant abuse" of authority by some members of THE POLICE FORCE on a common citizen as highlighted by a VICTIM writing as ABETTERMALAYSIA. Clearly the incident, IF REALLY TRUE, showed the citizen's right to be treated fairly and humanely was not observed by an important branch of the Executive.


Sabrina Tan, a dental student based in New Zealand, said:
Malaysia will NOT improve. This is because if we are willing to improve, Malaysians must be ready for a political upheaval, and at the moment we are too comfortable with that and we won't be willing to do it.
Malaysians are driven by fear. Politicians are willing to play the race card every now and then, which further exacerbates the political instability.

Indeed, Sabrina added that Malaysia is heavily corrupted. "No, don't tell me that we are better off than countries like India, etc. We shouldn't compare with the worse countries, but instead strive to be as clean as the other countries like Singapore, New Zealand."

Her strong conviction is that Malaysia is NOT going to improve, unless there is some "divine intervention".

Another reader, I fondly call him bruddder Imran who has a habit of going MIA, said:

"Well what can I say? The world has gone upside down, a sign of our impending doom. Please be very afraid, that soon we'll be meeting our Creator to answer all our deeds, be it good or bad."

The world is ruled by people blinded by greed. Everywhere money speaks. Faith and humanity has taken a back seat. He added that this applies even at the workplace, where his superiors also have no respect for other people.

and kyels said... that "money politics and corruption" are rampant, with people pulling strings behind the (ruling component) parties such as MCA, for example. This is something and a part of Malaysia that will never, ever be fair. Besides, Malaysians are not united enough, and it's easily seen that all of us are selfish and it's hard to be united.

She added that Malaysia is corrupted, not united, and they are always voting for the wrong people.
"What I can say is... Malaysians should wake up! If not... There will never ever be any improvement in our country at all."

My initial response was that "Yes, I'm very afraid for MY COUNTRY, YOUR COUNTRY -- OUR COUNTRY." I asked: What can we really do, that's the challenging question,which I'll mull over (last nite); hence this issue brought up for discussion, and I hope to see the opinions of other readers.

I must state that these readers' comments don't portend well for the country's future prospects, unless the politics changes, or people change the politics of the country.

DESIDERATA has written much about the major problems,like Corruption, national resources wastage, lack of government accountability, the arrogance of power resident in authorities. The NATIONAL DAY essay series explored some of these national dilemmas that the country, hence also the citizenry, faces.

Is the situation so hopeless? Is Sabrina's most vocal and firm verdict on the "helplessness" the reality that we have to accept, and in her opinion, stands no chance of being reformed?

Imran's laments about the culture of greed is pertinent to the "state of affairs" -- as he rightly observed, it's not just in te political arena, it pervades the workplace. I understand he arrived at tis negative inference based on experience after working at more than one workplace.
This "greed" element was amply demonstrated in the outrage from the citizenry on the Approved Permits issue, still not brought to a satisfactory closure; the issue of prosecution of "powerful" politicians and business people known popularly to be corrupt with no impending action to be taken them.

DESIDERATA thought about all these points last night and can only say this:
as much as the prospects looks bleak, Malaysia remians for most of the populace, the only option. Yes, some of the professionals, and business people, may have the "lucky" option of migration (from Third world Malaysia) to countries deemed as First world such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, USA, or even Singapore.

But to Desi, migration should be the option of last resort after one has exhausted all the efforts and means to self-correct the Malaysian state of affairs within our own hands and capability.Desi also is not as dismissive as Sabrina as to say the situation is beyond redemption.

Imran's obsevable about the "greediness" trait applies not uniquely to the Malaysian society. It is a trend in all countries where the population keeps on rising, and competition increases in tandem, and the standards of living demanded by the peoples worldwide keep going higher and higher up the "expectations" scale. This dilemma becomes one of the consequences of the "globalisation" of nations, tied closely wth modernised drivers of growth like technology, the Internet, and highly-robotised workplaces.

As YoungKyels says, maybe for the Malaysian situation, the people are not "united" enough to make a difference. Can the situation be corrected if we can achieve more unity, cohesiveness and concerted national building efoorts?

IF the concensus is YES to the last question, the next logical question follows: HOW?

Desiderata at this point feels the subject needs national reflection and debate, and it behooves Malaysians who care for the country to start pondering the State of Affairs of our country -- NEGARAKU .

But I always believe the future is most times determined by the YOUNG PEOPLE. Countries become great if the people choose their leaders WISELY. You only need ONEgreAt leader who can steer the Nation's Ship of People called Malaysians to the right horizon, and to its deserving destiny.

The question is: where is that ONE GREAT LEADER among the younger generation?
My esteemed readers, the answer is not longer blowin' in the wind.
The answer lies in the hands of Youths like thee, my three YoungFriends named Sabrina, Imran and Kyels.

Desiderata belongs to the archives of that willy fella named Shakespeare and Max Eerrr -wat? -Man. But I can lend some compass to steer the direction, if you'd buy me some CON breakfast more ofTEN! But would that amount to corrupt practise? I rest my thoughts with some fare-thee-well verses:


The Horizon Yonder

The time may come to go separate ways
Some young friends I've gained at Blogosphere
It's wistful to think we can cling to the halcyon days
And reality says our destinies don't meet permanently here


Soon you take on more onerous duties
Youthful innocence brushed by stark reality
Exuberance diluted by adult responsibility
We can still treasure some warm memories



Be circumspect but not fearful
Be initiative but not selfish
For the world is not yours alone
So travel you must but be careful

Always know learning is more than brainwork
There is such knowledge boundless
So acquire with a discerning heart
One day, some day, even teacher and mentee must part


This message comes with sincerity
From someone who has gone slightly ahead before
One day soon, my young Friend, you'd graduate
To become another Teacher, mayhaps you'll still remember me
However, it's the Great Masters like Shakespeare to emulate
I'm just honoured to have shared a little of Desiderata.MindMapping
with thee


YLChong ©2005

36 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

You are delusional, bias and too close-minded. Politicians will always be politicians. You think politicians in Australia or US are any better? Then again, your blog moved too far away from your main topic.

Who makes a country? Not one leader but the citizens. The leaders are not to blame for everything but EACH AND EVERYONE of us. Some rules will suck, racism will exist and bribery will take place.

But til the end, each of us make the change, we change the country. Not the leader make the change and change the country. Go think about it.

Sabrina Tan said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Sabrina Tan said...

err ABC : to call one delusional, bias and close minded in the public arena is not with integrity. to 'function' properly in the blogworld, one must be able to treat one with respect, albeit the opinions may differ.

Desi:

I respect your opinions. But let's play the devil's advocate and see what will happen in, 10, no, 5 years time.
The NEP will NOT finish, in fact will be extended further and further.
The yearly budget will only benefit the deserving race.

The problem with Malaysia not being able to improve is this:

1)The leaders are in for their own self interest. They produce a bill for their sake. They say that they are doing this to benefit the deserving group, well, I certainly don't see that group of people who are living in the Northern states to be benefitting from them. Go figure.

2) Malaysians are not patriotic at all. Most of us feel that we don't have a reason to be. Like I have mentioned in my previous articles before, even though the Chinese are notorious for their unscrupulous business dealings, but they are horribly patriotic to their country. Let's look at somewhere nearer, the Singaporeans. They are more loyal to their country than us.

If there is always the race card being waved up and about in the sky, the state of affairs will not be resolved anytime soon.
Sure, we can say that we as citizens should make a change..yada yada yada..
But think about it, I am sure Desi has been in Malaysia far longer than us bunch of youngsters; so far, do you see anything that is improving in Malaysia's politics? Has it gone from bad to worse?
Why are countries like NZ and Aus are doing much better? Sure, their politicians are not saints as well..but the key to their success is:

1) They have transparency
2) They do things with protocols
3) Everyone in the Parliament will be treated fairly. Recall the incident where Helen Clark ( PM of NZ) and Opposition Leader ( Don Brash) who debated an issue in the Parliament at the same time ( which is forbidden in NZ Parliamentary rules), and both of them ended up being thrown out of the Parliament that day. Can you see that in Malaysian Parliament?

Unless ALL of us are willing to change, I can't see any hope for Malaysia at this juncture.

imran said...

Just dropping by to say that the workplace I hate so much is making me work on this Saturday morning.

Will post further comments when I get back, if I do get back that is....

Anonymous said...

One great leader who will lead us all...

It's not easy to find a leader like that. A leader with integrity, a leader who's clean, a leader who is responsible... Will that ever happen? Just look at our Prime Minister... Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi has not brought us to greater heights unlike Tun Dr. Mahathir who built all those hi-tech skyscrapers though he is not "clean"...

Increment, bonuses, NEP or New National Agenda, all those will not bring us to greater heights. Why? Because there's a touch of unfairness in those proposed plans. I digress.

Imagine, all the brainiacs are migrating to other countries what more can we say? We will not be able to sustain our country if smart Malaysians keep on migrating to other countries. Why do they migrate?

Sigh.

chong y l said...

abc:

I welcome thee with Desi's Tehtarik, but I don't welcome thy labels -- delusional,biased, close-minded. When people use lables in a discourse, that's beginning of decline of rational minds. I'll continue to engage my EsteemedReaders with te ISUUES. Desi has his place has always looked at ISSUES, yes, we may get worked up, and call others with lables, as ABC has done.

May I invite abc to visit again, perhaps IDENTIFY yourself, for believability when a speaker comes with PROUD ownership of his views.

With your views, give me thy RATIONALE, I always remind my ER, and even mousey ones, also-can.

I hate RACE politics, I hate CRONYISM, I hate INACCOUNTABILITY.

I do agree we all have equal stateks in OUR COUNTRY, but we must also PROTEST when we see INJUSTICE levelled against fellow Malaysians -- regardless of RACE< GENDER and CREED< even AGE -- and I hope abce will come engage with DESI -- even Sabrina, who's no Aussie or NZ-er, just studying overseas at Da's and Mum's expenses, and also KL_based IMran, and Kyels, and we don't question anyone's ancestry.

But I detest LABELS, and I urge my ER to refrain from such usage for then it demeans OUR CONVERSATIONS. Even a debate among enemies can be a CONversation, intellectual maybe, raised a few decibels pehaps, even with hand gestures and saliva flying mayhaps, BUT NO LABELS, some expletives like WTH. Okay, I've broken my own Golden Rule one or two days ago, but as I say, there are TIMES and tides which call for XXceptions. When mGf and my liives are at stake, when our security is tossed to the wind (like in ABETTERMALAYSIA's case, IF IT BE THE TRUTH, see and nore this qualifier please...), Desi will always make XXceptions.

Life on this earth is not cast in iron.

Sabrina, I take your points as you rciprocate with equal respect. As I say, Voltaire's credo applies here, just update ABC:

"I may not agree with what you say but I will defend, to the death, you right to say it.":)

chong y l said...

kyels:

In youngones I have placed my hopes for the future because in YOUNGHEARTS reside Idealism, the SpiritofReform, that pre-requisite for change. Why do I say this: the fact that YoungReaders like thee, Sab, Imran are coming back here, time and again, voicing their concerns -- common aspirations for OUR MALAYSIA -- I harbour my hopes yet.

The oldergeneration -- they have laid some foundation, your parents have given thee the Best Education possible within their meAns, an opportunity which MOST of them missed mayhaps, I add from my X[erience-- so I wish to urge my Young I.Cows to put on their ThinkingCaps, costantly. The moment you give up HOPE, the thing with feathers, as my teAcher taught me, this pupil will also surrender. Do I give up so eAsily? No, nah, nay.

As I assured mGf from Sibu (no more Catsville...for a GOoD ReAson, I enjoyed myself teAsing her for a SeAson) Desiderata2000.blogspot.com is a Lifetime journey, because I care for this country called Malaysia.

Mark Twain taught me well, and I urge mGf, wherever you are based unless and until you commit thy loyalty to another land, be proud to reprise Twain's ethos on what constitues PATRIOTISM to country.:)

chong y l said...

Worth the while to ponder, more than twice:

FOR THE NIGHT (Thursday gone by...), I FOUND SOME SPIRIT-LIFTING WORDS:

"My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death." - Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens): A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court


"Patriotism is to support your country all the time and your government when it deserves it." - Mark Twain

chong y l said...

brudder Imran:

work is GOoD, for it lays an honest meAl or two on thy table.
I too work at home mostly, it's writin, rightin, writ(H)in, wich is also GOoD

I'm patient, will wait till twolight for you to come back and BF with tehTarik, also some left over Buttercakes2 ...it's thy conversation that is the main staple, OK!:)

ENJOY thy work if you can, then it becomes a pleAsure, bro!

sweetspirits said...

Hmmm would you like to take a walk with me back in time Desi
I'll tell you a true story that brings disgust to this so called 1st world.
A young gal aged 11 is brought to Oz ,with a fake Malaysian passport .By the time she is 13 she is working as a pro in kings cross , then by 15 she is an addict at 16 the authorities find her and she is placed in a detention center weighing 37 kg she goes through withdrawal and dies because she chokes on her own vomit.

Every country has stories that are told or untold , and one person can make a difference to another persons life but that person also must try to make a difference to their own life .

To abc ,,, try not to judge a person by his / her blog post :)

cheerz tcz

chong y l said...

hey sweets:

thanks for shAring such stories, from Oz land, or from whatever country, for Humans everywhere share the same god-given traits, it's only the environs that will nourish, impact or impair the individuals.

I hope we have more Joyful, than depressing, tales to tell. Yes, your advice to ABC is apt, I salue a third party's viewpoints on this, even if they differ.

I want ABC to come back often enough and say his piece, we give everyone here a fair hearing. We agree to be agreeable in our disagreements -- and we progress from there.

Wish Sweets, and others strolling here, help thyself to some TehTarik from Haridas -- may run our son by December -- and Have a greAt weekend ahead,
wherever you may hail from. I even luv guys(encvelop the gals2) from Timbulktoo, as I hera Howsy dropped by there, for a GOoD reAson on his way back to London!
Howsy, is this rumour true/thru blue?

sweetspirits said...

As the saying goes Desi
We agree to disagree ;)
on good terms :)
no blog war of words at Desi's place :)
cheerz enjoy ya weekend
tcz

Anonymous said...

1st off, there's no need for integrity or to proper "function" in this so-called blogworld.

2ndly, if you want to take my opinion as "labelling" then so be it. It is just my opinion that you are bias. Everyone is and that includes myself. But it all depends on the level. Have you heard the other side of the story? So far you have highlighted the negativity. Is it really that bad?

Delusional and close-minded. Again my opinion that most of you and your YoungFriends has not been exposed enough to the real world. Politics happen everywhere (work, school, even play). It's just what state of it, it's in and what's the level.

But if you take offend in being labelled, I apologise on my part. However it amuses me to read this by Kyels "Just look at our Prime Minister... Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi has not brought us to greater heights unlike Tun Dr. Mahathir who built all those hi-tech skyscrapers though he is not "clean"..."

Now isn't that labelling? What prove of not being "clean" does Kyels have of Tun Dr. Mahathir? And to judge Badawi by comparing with Mahathir? Kinda out of topic and harsh. It's two different eras. You need to remember that Tun Dr. Mahathir had 25 years. Dato Seri Badawi has just begun. I will have to say Badawi is doing a good job. He is keeping the country running and the economy stable albeit hiccups. Nobody is perfect my dear. If you meant by "improving" = tall sky scrapers, technological advancements and what nots... Then you are, I am sorry if I am being touted as labelling again, Shallow.

I got to reiterate that I am in no means trying to start a blog war/flame and etc. But I have seen/heard to many people complaining about this is bad, that is bad about Malaysia and her state of affairs, her people, her traffic jams, and yet that's all they ever do. They forget that they are Malaysians too. A little goes a long way sometimes. Start the change yourself, and who knows, the country will change with you. Stop bribing the cops, stop bribing the politicians, stop throwing rubbish everywhere (instead pick it up and throw it properly when you see it on the streets). We are all guilty.

By the way, we should not strive to be like another country. We should learn the good things about them but instill our own values. If not we will just be Singapore No.2 or NZ no.2 or Japan no.2

Anonymous said...

Hi Desi and your gF's:

I can't help but need to state a few points. In Auckland, NZ, an MP recently resigned because of a questionable NZ80 expense report he claimed. In Msia, we have VIP's still sitting comfortably in office after messing up millions of the rakyat's money. With leaders like these, what hope do we have in charting out a future for our next generation. Will this happen in Msia? Never, ever!

Desi: I envy your optimism. I also salute the tenacity and single mindedness of some of the "social changers" in Msia, in particular LKS and the likes. I have to admit I don't have such passion in me and optimism that things will change in the near future....at least not in our lifetime.

Sabrina Tan said...

i give up...
i shall rest my case..

chong y l said...

abc:
welcome again; when the word labels is used, it just means that -- those words, delusional, closeminded and biased, and I have to agree with Sabrina she has grounds to feel offended with at least the firts two, while your second post now elaborated by extension that all of us are 'biased' in certain ways to which I genewrally agree, or we won't have differing opinions.

Moving on, adults' and youthful worldviews will be differennt, precisly because Xperience (with age..) sometimes making a world of difference. I'm not saying the adult views are better or worse than the young/youths' -- but I have premised my Hope for change, reform which is often groujnded on Idealism. In fact, writesr despite their ageing process, don't become delusional or opssimistic -- it's just that tey become battle-weary. I do, i'be com-lained of becoming "tired of being tired" -- hence I try to share with my YoungerReaders the benefit of my writer's quest -- fior some Hope, Happiness, and yes, Optimism and my esteemed later visitor Ginger says.

ABC -- we can exchange views, maybe arrive at seeing the more well reasoned basis (I like the word, backed by thy rationale in holding a certain viewpoint) -- no one here has accsued anyone of "flaming" -- I allow someroom for sarcasm in the tradition of Oscar Wilde, even some innuendoes by comparision of one with another -- but at the end of the day, Malaysians today are well informed compared with just 10 years back. The Internet and other sources of better information have exposed much "surrender of duties" by our mainstream fourth esatate, and it behooves us infomred Bloggers, posters and conversations to update each oether.

I term this process the Clash of Minds -- maybe five years hence, my re-reading of these discussions, or even YoungKyels (a year 1 uni student by the way whom I have introduced a short profile in conjunction with the National Day essay series -- so let's enjoy this Blogosphere journey together.

ABC: just one refrence if I may, relating to you asking Sab--is it that bad? (So have I in a less direct way, thinking aloud.) But it would help if you'd state your grounds why you think Sab has been too negative, and let the contest of ideas be chewed over by the Readers.

I have urged for other viewpoints precisely so that we need to see a whole spectrum -- but these young Malaysains studying abroad do have valuable input -- in relation to govt effforts to lure talents back after they had migrated eg. I had said several times, such actions are like Closing the satble door after the horse has bolted...

BACKGROUND: I do not wish to re-cover old ground to either confirm, rebut,or just moderate any of my regular Readers' or newcomers' opinions here, except point out this "subject" is an offshoot of the previous post,and an extension of previous entries of the related subjects, including LOSING MY COUNTRY...? and THE MALAYSIAN DILEMMA series...

As in any debate, there is no absolute right or wrong here -- we are all Malaysian at heArt, we find various forums to move our nation forward, be an individual based at home or abroad, be him/her a student, academic, self-employed, worker/profesional or, just bum-ming round at Kuta Beach or Bondi N Beach or Langkawi Beach, I welcome thee here as my guest.

When flaming starts, I'll call in the Bomba! Meanwhile, I;ll serve ABC and Sab, kyels the same glass of piping hot tehtarik; sweets, you get a RutBir!

I'll await my CharKoewTeow serving from up north, Giner says it's been in the warmer for "2long", but that's OK, it carries my name.

chong y l said...

Ginger:

I think writers are a rare breed -- often it's a sort of passion, ys, optimism, yes, higher level ythan average, but subject to bouts of depression, that's why we need bucketfuls of tehtarik (I am serious here, although it's a metaphoric gesture of welcome to Desi's Place...I do welcome Panang charKT which is oily but yummylicious! Ha, digression is a Blogger's sparring partner...:)bordering on madness...

I guess someone has to take on the role of GateKeeping ... we don't want the robbers to get in, or the robber barons to escape scot-freee.
I agree with ABC we can't just sit back and do the whining, we need to act, individually, collectively. I agree with his appeal{ The change starts at every Malaysian's INDIVIDUAL LEVEL!

One long and loud "whiner" when put to a simple test by Desi personally of JUST adding his name (a group of us had done the legwork which required resource and time worth 1,000 times his bloody one additional nama!(...sorry if I raised by decibels...)to a small "petition" of citizens' woe behaved so much like a chicken (Sab prefers Ostrich cf) that I think when the time should come for the slaugher, and he's in the lineup, I'd say: You a(R)sked for it!

Thanks for thy visit, it has been some time -- May catch up at Xmas? -- now I may take two months to reach Penang from Seremban ...I'm still waiting for the lembu to come home!

chong y l said...

Sab:

you may "give in" in surrendering some grounds to meet the contstants halfway, but the barve never , NEVER, give up!

TrueGRit is many of mGf second name, usn't it? And that's a rhetorical q!

Sometimes this BloghoRst can be quite dictatorial -- I'm defintely inflenced by former PM is some ways, hey, hw was OUR CEO for 22 bloody "long" years (lower my decibels, my name is at stake!:(
the bloody came naturally, maybe evn"swimmingly", like jump in Da Lake, LKS from rAPida the Srvivor, watch the next episode, OK!

Challengia: The inaugural SURVIVOR series were filmed at one of OUR I-LANDS.
Which one?

PRIZE: you're lucky if you were not sent to stand in Da Corner wearnin' DA D'NCE CAP!

You test it at the Malaysian Tourism Board offices and Desi's gu'ss you'd be lucky if 20% came back with the -ive to left-ist answer! $! Dsi likes to digress into speaking in tongue;(( sticking ou!

imran said...

Desi,

To add some banter to this serious conversation,

kalau Desi naik kereta lembu ke penang, macam mana itu apa nama Haridas mau dapat dia punya apa nama susu lembu untuk kita punya apa nama teh tarik susu lembu?

ABC:

First of all, why are you afraid of hiding behind a pseudonym? If you want to be taken seriously, please come forward and reveal yourself.

"...1st off, there's no need for integrity or to proper "function" in this so-called blogworld..."

In this blogworld, we appreciate integrity. At least here we would like to have an environment for intellectual discourse. We already have people out there lacking integrity, so we would not to replicate it here in our humble and noble space, thank you very much.

"...Delusional and close-minded. Again my opinion that most of you and your YoungFriends has not been exposed enough to the real world. Politics happen everywhere (work, school, even play). It's just what state of it, it's in and what's the level...."

Delusional? Close minded? Not exposed to the real world? That's being judgemental. We have seen with our own eyes what's going on in the real world with our own eyes. No, it's you that's delusional thinking the world is a nice place to be in. Politics exist, but to be in every part of our life, to be at the fore-front of our lives is what saddens me. It's also sad that we can separate politics from our daily lives.

"...I got to reiterate that I am in no means trying to start a blog war/flame and etc. But I have seen/heard to many people complaining about this is bad, that is bad about Malaysia and her state of affairs, her people, her traffic jams, and yet that's all they ever do. They forget that they are Malaysians too. A little goes a long way sometimes. Start the change yourself, and who knows, the country will change with you. Stop bribing the cops, stop bribing the politicians, stop throwing rubbish everywhere (instead pick it up and throw it properly when you see it on the streets). We are all guilty..."

Yeah so what if we complain? At least we are making our voices heard in the hopes of a better tomorrow. And what makes you think that we are the one's who throw rubbish, bribe cops or politicians? We know how to differentiate between what's right and wrong. That's why we complain too much, because we know we are not being fairly treated. We know there's a lot of room for improvement. We know if we are not careful, Malaysia could be worse, when it could definitely be better. We know by forming a community here, we can pool our ideas and resources to contribute and educate the masses. We know that we are the future leaders, so we are working hard to ensure a better tomorrow, but making note of the mistakes and trying not to repeat them in the future. We know what we can do.

"...By the way, we should not strive to be like another country. We should learn the good things about them but instill our own values. If not we will just be Singapore No.2 or NZ no.2 or Japan no.2..."

No one ever said about being a cut and paste version of another country. What we would like to do is to learn from these countries, see how they have achieved so much in such a short time and tailor it to suit our needs. If we do not benchmark ourselves against a country, how would we know what needs to be done? We are not trying to re-engineer the wheel, but instead we are learning to improve on it and apply it here. That's all.

We are trying to do something. What have done so far?

sweetspirits said...

Well well well

Desi
if ever ya in Oz i'll take u n ya wifey as Sabby says to Bondi 4 lunch or to the beaches ( name of bistro) with yummay food :)

Anyways there is noother place i like more than the beach ,when i have time 2 myself :)
cheerioz n hey laugh it off

imran said...

Desi,

The answer is Pulau Tiga off the coast of Sabah.

Do I win?

sweetspirits said...

I watched that one ;)

sweetspirits said...

Hey Desi
When are you gonna add a chat to ya blog ;) ? Jeff has a chat i went there for a peek the other morning around 3am my time interesting.

We could agree to disagree in chat haha

cheerz

chong y l said...

brudder Imran:

I tunggu dengan patience sebab tuanpunya lembu YB menteri JKR mahu kita guna cara lama dan lelbu-lembu tu komplen -- tak mau over-time-lah! Apa boleh kita PublicJoe buat? Lagi, arahan menteri tu mesti dipatuhi tau, jika tak, nanti dia tahan susu keluar dari lembu kita lebih teruk (siapa yang teriak tu?!); Haridas pasti tak tahan, bisnes hari-hari turun hingga tunggu lembu itu pun sampai 3AM tak apa-lah, cari wang sikit-sikt, nanti beli itu bukit-loh! (Bukit tu manyak-manyak grass oh, lagi poko durian oh, manyak-manyak wang jatuh oh, musim spring kan?)


Hey brudder -- mengapa you balik dari MIA dan TULIS LEBIH SYIOK DARI DESI-loh, dalam bahas Engrund, Howsy cakap: WITH A VENGEANCE! Nanti, hoRst ini pun takut, mau join lembu-lembu SV tu Boy-cott, girl-cott juag (kan kita lelaki lembu atau Horsy kan? ada betina jugak, betul?... Maaf jika Desi DIGRESS ia? (Ini soalan rhetorical tau, tau-sai jawab iAs I was saying, Imran always comes to the defence of hGf (mGf juga!) like a knight in shining armour, riding wat? a lembu? Hey, hoRse-lah, dengan lance dari Laucelot atau Raja Arthur ..oooh, brudder.

"Salute brud Im, a piping hot ttarik to go with thy buka puasa. Want some butter cakes?" Yummylicious from one gardner-cum-kitchen, YoungMalaysians very versatile one!:):):):):):):)7 salutes.

I see Sab is re-invigorated by Im's valour -- Desi won't add any to Imran's views, many coincide with my unspoken mind, but some also need qualifying-loh, the word is CAVEAT! akan mengagar sedikit bahasa Engrand besok, OK!:)

Masih tunggu Howsy dari UK -- heh, Howsy, have you taken over IM's role, MIA?:(

chong y l said...

Hey bru IM:

First time trying Challlengia, and we've got a winner!

Tapu dak dapat Bro Jalaluddin Hassan -- so tak da WHo wants to be a millionaire Prize, Corry, maaf, but I'm giving thee a copy of Catherine DC's "A CHALLENGE TO LOVE!"

Prize ceremony on Pulau Dua in Koala Lumpur to be firmed with Kyels, Im, pls coordinate with her!
Kita pun mahu Nasi Bernai dengan IM's tehtarikTIGA menyambut Buka Puasa, OK!

chong y l said...

Sweets:

Like JeffOoi, chats corner, eh?

The sifu has many LittleBirds
Desi has go many mGf sweet songs
and singalong
'nuff for the party at Da Moment,
UNTIL
the greAt move to, YES, soarin' like BigBirds to

spiritedestination!


GOoDNite to all mGf, young&new. none is old at spiritedestiNATION:)

John Lee said...

I am quite close to giving up hope on Malaysia. Having explored much of the blogosphere and alternative media channels for the past few months, the only glimmer of hope I've seen is in some isolated forums where the young and liberal (often living overseas) and dissasociated with any party congregate.

The government is hopeless. The country is being run by incompetent nincompoops. My water is worse than teh tarik quality. The potholes in the main road near my school and a major shopping centre are atrocious. At the confluence of half a dozen shopping centres in Damansara with an empty field right in the middle between them, nobody has thought of building an LRT station. Middle class folk have to hire private guards to avoid being robbed (not that these guards are you know, working or anything). Our schools are churning out brainless idiots.

But ask yourself, is the opposition any better? They claim to champion such causes, but their most public writings and speeches, particularly in parliament, tend to focus on things only the rich or at least well off can relate to. The man in the kampung or the guy who has to ride a bus to work everyday probably doesn't care about APs, the ISA or OSA. He cares about being able to continue his way of life and/or have enough money and time to drop by one of those malls in Damansara to hang out.

The only party with enough ties to the grassroots to recognise this, PAS, is hell-bent on establishing an Islamic theocracy, a concept more Muslim Indonesia has largely abandoned. So ask yourself - can anyone effect meaningful and successful change in our country? Oh, sure, a new opposition party might be able to capitalise on the common man's discontent with his daily life. But unless this party has the bling-bling and money to finance its operations, it won't have the support and workforce it needs to get the word out. And unfortunately, those holding the pursestrings either have vested interests in the government, an Islamic state, or some off-beat cause like overturning the ISA.

The conclusion I have come to is that only the voters can make a difference, and not by voting the opposition in or the government out, but by casting a spoilt vote. A spoilt vote means discontent. It means "I'm fed up". It means "I think you're both bloody crazy". And like it or not, there's nothing anyone can do about, oh, say, a rate of 40% spoilt votes. The global media institutions will be all over it. And both sides of the political divide will have to ask themselves: Where did we go wrong?

The way I see it, that's the only hope we have now for effecting change. It's crazy, and it probably won't affect the composition of parliament much. But hey, it'll make the world headlines, and wouldn't that be much greater than just placing a lousy opposition in office? It'll be something new for the Malaysia Book of Records - Malaysia, the first country in the world with a rate of 50% spoiled votes.

(Hey, you're never going to get those apathetic unregistered voters to vote for the opposition, so wouldn't it be worth a shot asking them to spoil their votes?)

sweetspirits said...

well its not that i want to chat , im just so lazy n when there is lots of comments i have to scroll downnnnnnnn.
haha im heaps lazy hehe

chong y l said...

Hi, dear john:

this is not a Dear John letter, as you appear like a SoaringSpirit out of THE HORIZON YONDER, just this YoungVoice lifts Desi's spirit to fight another year.

Whe inmy frontpage I said it's in te YoungOnes I place my HOPES, thy surprise visit out of the blue vindicates my anchoring on you YoungOnes, so so ignorant or insignificant, I have "humourously" said before.

Hey, a BIG welcome with more than One tehtarik to thee- johnleemk!
I was preparing to join zzzzzzland sonn after my planned posting of Sunday's desiderata.english in about 30 minutes from now (reading 11.52PM, saturday as I type this time...)
johnleemk You plunged into the chase early, I like that, but do not despair so easily:
You said...
"I am quite close to giving up hope on Malaysia. Having explored much of the blogosphere and alternative media channels for the past few months, the only glimmer of hope I've seen is in some isolated forums where the young and liberal (often living overseas) and dissasociated with any party congregate."

I discern you are Young, but you are very articulate, of strong convictions well expressed -- one after Desi's heArt like some Mentees I've garnered before thee. I think I can engage meAningfully with another YoungMind here, who knows well what he wants. Fires of idealism. I admire that.
It's with people like thee, ganging up with YoungKyels, Sab and Imran and several others who todaye have not joined this lively convversations here...I place my bet for ABETTERMALAYSIA, who actually revived this topic's discourse.


I'm NOT going to engage thee at the moment -- just as I did not enage Sabrina, Kyels & Imran in yesterday's Comments in detail as I deem thy visit today is worthy of another FRONTPAGE treatment.

It's late in the nite Saturday, and for tomorrow, never poliotics on my Day of R&R, I promise my EsteemedReader johnleemk, next Monday's post will be centred on your most refreshing comments here today.

Signing off into Sundae. and it's capitalistic CONTINENTAL BF soon.
Challengia winner Im, join me?
Sweets, instaed of That chat, I offer thee INVITE2 to a CON BF! Likewise to all other Des's guests if thou findeth the path thru the FuRong Maze! plus PJ Haze? or has it crossed the seas to north of Sydney, Sweets, pls report back.

Another pipinghot TehTarik, Desi's traditional welcome, to John. You put me in a mood for a GoodNite's Rest. Thanks again.:)

Anonymous said...

To Imran:
"No, it's you that's delusional thinking the world is a nice place to be in. Politics exist, but to be in every part of our life, to be at the fore-front of our lives is what saddens me."

I never said it's a "nice place" to be in. I am saying it's not all that bad. And I had said that politics happens everywhere. You think it's sad but all I have to say is, too bad, you will need to accept it. In companies, no matter big or small, politics happens. It even happens in families. Brothers/sisters fighting over wills (or trying to please the parents to get into the will), discontentment because one gets more over the other.

It even happens now for the matter. I am judgemental because I am not in the same point of view with the majority here but statements coming from some of you are viewed ok eventhough I have raised the point that it was done without actual prove.

Nevermind, actually this will go round and round. But my life will go on, yours will too and so will everybody. Have a nice weekend.

chong y l said...

abc:

thanks for follow-up visit and comments.

As i said, meaningful discourse allows -- in fact Desi encourages -- differences of viewpoints. The important thing is NOT feel anything is personally directed; hence a call for NO LABELS, yes, an occcassional mild dig can-do or can-du-lah, as JeffOoi proudly says, thinking aloud, thinking allowed, also my credo, secondary to VOLTAIRE's philosophical appeal on disagreement.

ABC, before I end, just hope you would identify yourself so that we can put some sort of persona to a REAL nama, if this is not too much to ask, as I sometimes would reprise come comments such as yours, and johnlemk who joined this discussion a li'l late, and I promised him I'll continue the conversations coming Monday (or Tuesday, Insya-Allah)...

Cheers to a GOoD Weekend too to thee and fRiends,

Sunday about 12.35PM
PS: Cool down in FuRong, and I commute often to PJ/KL too;
and may I ask: ABC,
where art thy home be based (town only for reference?)

Anonymous said...

abc, are you blind?. IN MALAYSIA, leader makes the country. ..bet you are one of the 'protected species'.

have fun.

Anonymous said...

Desi
This guy Johnleemk writes well for his age. He claims to be 15 but he writes like he was at least 20. I "bumped" into him when he debated in the now defunct Aliran Forum 1 year ago when he was 14? The then Johnleemk used a lot of the F words but I was impressed with his contributions given his age. But his rhetorics have toned down considerably kudos to him.
For his age he could set up his own blog and has some meaningful articles but I can't say the same to most of the participants in it. He could do well if he could attract a more mature audience.

chong y l said...

hi janice:
Nice of you to drop by, belatedly, but it's better late than never.
tradition first -- offer thee a tehtarik, believe this is thy first visit here?

Yes, i've great faith that young&articluate people like johnleemk can contribute a lot to Our Country.

I'm responding to your Comment, Janice, quioite late on retracing some of my old posts -- today is tues, Nov 22 6.30pm as I write-- i've been in touch with john by email2, hope to meet up personally -- if you're keen to join us, we plant o get2gether as a regular guest here Sabrina would be down in PJ (back for hols from NZ studies...) -- email me at chongyl2000@yahoo.com.

regards, YL (desi)