A nation divided by the very leaders we depend upon ot lead.

"Ai Wei, do you know what my friend told me at breakfast this morning? In places in the East Coast, people of different races, Malays, Chinese and Indians sit down together in coffee-shops to eat halal and non-halal food. You eat your halal food while I eat my non-halal food just beside each other. Why is it so different here on the West Coast? Why are people separating just because of the different type of food they eat. Why is there this division?"

He has asked a very valid question. I know the Holy book, the Koran, says that Muslims must not eat pork but does God say that Muslim must not sit beside someone eating non-halal food? Does God say that Muslims must not look at non-Hala food? or is it a divisive ploy by the politicians in their divide and rule for then perhaps those politicians can seem to be holier or greater than the others. Perhaps that is why there are still politicians who claim their race is the master race in the country.

Whatever the reason, I must admit that they have done a good job of dividing the people, at least when it comes to patronising food outlets. However this does not happen in a state which has been ruled by the opposition for many years, Kelantan.

According to one source, there is even a shop selling pork just opposite a mosque. And Kelantan has a Mentri Besar who is very well versed in the muslim religion. Now, if that news is true, that is what I call a true understanding of what God wants, unity for all the children of God. Yet, Man has abused the name of God so often to achieve their own ends, even threatening to kill or kill which is a most ungodly act.Harming what God has created is in fact going against God. If god wants anyone gone from this earth, His wish will be done easily, not necessary at all through another human.

Politicians use religion because in Malaysia where a particular race is synonymous with the Islamic religion as there are laws to prevent their conversion or allow them to convert.It is time politicians do not abuse the name of God to achieve power and emulate the Kelantan government in displaying the good that is in Islam. Then, if the racial issues are also discarded, unity can be part and parcel of this nation. Then only can Malaysia be a united nation with nothing whatsoever to separate any citizen. Until then, we are never a nation, we are forever divided; the citizens are classed with one group more privileged than another, one group always striving for the nation yet never treated just as well in many spheres of life as a Malaysian.

Choose the wrong politicians and they will be around to haunt you for five years.

Politicians, apparently without a doubt, are the worst people in the world, Sorry, I ought to say in Malaysia only for I am not so knowledgeable as that to claim that of all politicians throughout the world..

Each day I go around, first up the hill, then to the morning market and after that here, there and everywhere, meeting friends who comprise of all races and there was no problem in communication or exchange of ideas, no problem with mixing among ourselves. No racial problems!

Yet, when we go into the news media in Malaysia we read of all sorts of disgusting racial problems with politicians creating some of them, with politicians aggravating the situation by not acting fast enough on the guilty parties and politicians accusing the less guilty while seemingly letting go of the real culprits.

There were some communal leaders who are always baiting the citizens to join in their racial outbursts with threats of their community losing their political power.
They claim that the Malays in Malaysia would lose power should the opposition, which also have many Malay politicians, ever come to power. What a ludicrous idea!

There were two Malay leaders were obviously talking nonsense as regardless of which party forming the next government, the Malay political leaders will still be the majority and will still be holding most of the power. The present party which have been ruling for the last 53 years does have Chinese and Indians among them. So, should the opposition ever come to power, most of the politicians would be from PKR and PAS where most of the leaders would be Malays. Of course, their thinking may be different, perhaps fairer, less corrupted and more nationalistic and not so racialist. That being the case, every Malaysian ought to look towards such a change.

Thus, the only difference would be different leaders with different ways of governing. And with that the citizens could send off those racial leaders and give Malaysia the opportunity to develope more like America where origin no longer is a problem, where all citizens are not Negros, Chinese, Indians, Europeans, Malays, British but Americans. Similarly, with the new leaders we in Malaysia can hope to be Malaysians first and Malays, Chinese or Indians second. (Even our present Deputy Prime Minister considers himself Malay first and Malaysian second, see!!!)

And it is good to have a two party system whereby any mistake made would be suffered for only five years, after which a correction can be made. If we have no choice, merely one party to choose from, well even when the political head is a dictator, we have no choice but to pick him again and again and again. When two parties are strong, choose not just the party but the leaders. Choose the leaders who can lead us to greatness and prosperity, to a better tomorrow. Thus, if only 60% of the leaders of one party is good, choose 60% of them and the rest of the good one could come from the other party. In this way we cultivate good leaders and weed out bad ones. It could be unlike today when elected Members of Parliament prove themselves community racist who simply shout and utter nonsense that most of the citizens detest.

A country can only progress if the right leaders are given the opportunity to lead. Just as in a business, good partners are not necessary those of the same family. A wise businessman chooses a partner for his capability in developing the business, not for his closeness with the family. It is the responsibility of every citizen to think wisely and vote in people who can make Malaysia a land of plenty and glory so that our future generations will benefit from our choice.

Malaysia ought to be a land of plenty. Compared with our prospering neighbours as we lag behind, Malaysia had its tin-mines, its rubber estates and now tropical wood, petrol, gas, palm oil and tourism. Compare all that with Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and the Phillipines. Despite most of them having to face even natural disasters like earth-quakes, their economy is improving while we seem to be stuck in some kind of mental quicksand, still unable to pull ourselves out of all those lousy policies made.

There's only one way to pull us out and that is to vote wisely, to vote for the right leaders and make our country progress once again.

The laziness of some people.

My spiritual guru, Bapak as we fondly call him, has said that nothing in this world is evil but Man. He first told us about the spirits roaming the world and that such spirits do no harm to humans but humans make use of them and their abilities to harm other humans.Thus, it is not the spirits that are evil but humans who have evil thoughts and with that our Bapak told us that none of his disciples must ever do evil deeds or he will be answerable to Bapak.

What Bapak told us, I remember today as I read about the jellyfish in the waters of Langkawi. There are now too many jellyfish and it all began because of sea-water pollution as people dump waste into the sea, a convenient way of disposing waste at the cost of increasing the number of jelly-fish as the number of turtles decrease.

Turtles eat jelly-fish and in doing so control their number in the sea. Unfortunately, lazy uncaring people conveniently throw plastic bags into the sea and those bags are eaten by the turtles as they have mistaken those bags for jellyfish. The consumption of plastic bags cause the death of turtles and with less turtles to feed on the jellyfish, the jellyfish increase their numbers and being easily gotten into contact with human bodies, they react by stinging the bodies.

Humans are lazy and so often we see people throwing rubbish around rubbish bins but hardly into them although the bins are just one or two metres away. Why can't these people walk that extra one or two steps more to deliver their rubbish to the bins? And it is not that they did not want to be clean for they would not throw rubbish in front of their houses. And there are those who even throw their rubbish in front of other people's houses when such neighbours are not looking. And all that because of laziness!

People seem to be getting lazier and lazier. Take a walk along a beach and we can see the ice-cream wrappers, the paper-bags from food and all kind of plastic containers strewn all over, a clear sign of laziness of humans. Instead of improving this is one sphere of one lives which need looking into. Not that humans have not pretended to go into this problem. I remember the first time an anti litter sign was put up in Taman Intan, Sungai Petani. (That's where I live.) It stated that anyone caught littering would be fined a sum of RM5,000. It was in 1980 and I told my wife to think of the ridiculous sum of money that was stated. I asked her how many of the people would be able to pay such a fine. My pay then was approximately RM1,000 a month and if they were to ask me for such a sum of money I would most probably prefer to squat in jail and have free rice for a few months. Oh, no! As a government servant I cannot go to jail and so may have to see a 'Ah Long' or money-lender to get out of the predicament. What a ludicrous fine for littering!

Then, I gradually understood that it was just throwing fear at the residents as I found no one being caught despite numerous cases of littering. In fact the area around that anti-litter sign was full of rubbish thrown by people in and around the area. Perhaps people saw it more as a challenge than a threat and responded by fighting it. And it was not just happening to just this particular anti-littering signboard. Others elsewhere were also suffering from the same fate. That is what happens when authorities talk but never walk the talk. There was no enforcement and the law becomes a laughing matter.

So, if I am given the chance to be an adviser, I would say that the authorities concerned must have the enforcement officers ready before implementing any law. Give something for people to show their respect. That is the only way to gain respect. Unfortunately, not sufficient thought is usually put into an idea before its implementation.

Image tarnished by a policy.

Do you know who suffered the most as a result of being part of a community given special privileges?

You know, those of us who made it, doing well physically, academically or financially, on our own steam without any privileges given truly or implied, stand tall and proud of our achievements. Not only that! Friends and people who see our success recognise it as our own effort and we are given sincere due praise. Take me for example. As a Malaysian Chinese, I come from a poor family which ought to be helped or aided by the government's National Economic Policy. None was given Even an application for a low cost house was not granted to my parent and the reason given was that my father's pay was too low and uncertain to be able to afford a low-cost house. So, when I was young it was always a rented house or room. And my father worked to the bone with the assistance of my mother and their children. And that was how my brother was deprived of an education at form two level despite him being fairly intelligent and capable academically. So, when despite all the obstacles placed in our path, I managed to be chosen to enter the Penang Free School on my own steam, without any tuition, I was and still am proud of my capability. Eventually, without the financial backing for further education, I entered teacher training where I did very well in the subjects and areas I was involved. I am one of those teachers who can claim a 100% passing rate in form five art and craft each and every year. That is another of my pride. (Today it looks like I have to brag a bit.) So, everything I possess is the result of my own effort and ability as I had no economical assistance from either my parents or the government, not that I did not need it but help never came just because I am not a bumiputra (This is translated into 'Prince of the soil', in this case the Malaysian soil. This word is used in Malaysia to refer to the Malays.) although I was born and bred here and this is definitely my country. I was never given any special treatment or privileges and therefore all my success is to my credit.

Back to the poor fellows who suffer the most as a result of being in a community given special privileges. You know, I realised this long ago, pitied the guys who had to suffer for it but then when people fight for it almost everyday in the media, I suppose people cannot but believe that whatever success achieved by a bumiputra must be because of those special privileges even when it is not true.

In Sungai Petani, for example, there is this Malay doctor in a private hospital. He is very good and has shown himself to be capable and skillful in his profession. Unfortunately, the stigma of the special privileges is always present and whenever people who have never had any professional contact with this doctor heard the doctor's name recommended, the perception is that it is a doctor who reached where he is because of the special privileges that he is entitled to, meaning that he could not be very good. With that his good name is indirectly tarnished by the fact that special privileges entitled some not so good students to qualify for places in the universities and every opportunity is made to have the students concerned pass so that there will be a certain quota achieved.

Whether it is true or not that not so good students made it in the public universities, who is to know except that it is a fact that a good number of our graduates could not get jobs in their particular field of study and most of them could not even write a simple letter in English although there was at one time no lack of jobs. Some of the graduates had to be taken into professions not in their field of study to stop graduate unemployment.

Sad it is to know that some bumiputra who are very capable have to be burdened with an image which is obviously not of their doing. And it is for this reason that many citizens are ready to accept the fact that scholars be chosen based on merits and help given to the truly needy. In fact help does not go to the rural Malays or the poor because this help is often extended to the already well-to-do who use their position to still demand special privileges so that they can become richer. They know that when economic aid is to be given to the needy which ought to be the case as the money comes from the citizens, they will not fall into that category and so will not enjoy the chance for greater wealth. Such shameless demands will always be around as long as the conscience allow it.

It happens when conscience become blunt and people shamelessly take what ought not to be theirs. I know of so many well-to-do Malays and Chinese owning low-cost houses or lots, low cost because the houses and lots are subsidised with other buyers' or citizens' money.

These shameless people enjoy while there are some who get their image or name tarnished all because of a not well planned policy.

A feasible plan, proper facilities and well-carried out implementation the right way to success.

It is a good aim for the Education Ministry of Malaysia to give ten percent points for involvement in sports for entry to public universities in order to get students to be more active physically and be healthier.

However, before such a measure is implemented, to be fair to all the students in our schools, the authorities concerned must ensure that there is sufficient space and equipment in their schools to cater for everyone who wishes to take part in the sports they have an interest in. And it has to be available in all Malaysian schools, regardless of the type. Otherwise, it can be pointed out that the authorities have not been fair to the students who either does not have the space or the equipment to fulfill such a requirement and so have already lost ten percent of the points required for entry into university. How in the world can any sane person expect students to take part in something where space or equipment is not available to them

Well, let me tell you my experience as a student in one of the biggest school in Malaya at that time, the Penang Free School. We had a big hall where six badminton games can be on at the same time. I am just talking about my house sports practice, with each house having its practice one particular day a week. I was interested in the game as I was fast, agile and with lots of stamina. So, I was eager to learn some skills and look forward to being a good if not end up as one promising state player. My hopes were high but there were hundred of members in each house and being an unknown at form one level in 1959, I waited for my turn in vain. In the end I started playing badminton only when I entered teacher training. With so many courts in my school, I still did not stand a chance of using my badminton racket because of the number of students waiting for their turn. How many schools have six badminton courts today? Where is the chance that every interested student would have the opportunity to play the sport? Would it be fair to deduct ten percent points from their application when that ten percent was never available to them?

Of course, with my stamila, I eventually entered the sports very few people can excel in, the cross-country and rugby. Entry into the school cross-country team is open to anyone who have the stamina to run at a certain speed for a good number of miles or kilometres, a stamina which very few have. It is not merely stamina. The runner have to use mind-over-matter power to overcome the extreme strain that comes at certain points of the run. I once had to tell myself to run on just to the next tree and then the next in order to push on to the end. In rugby, courage and strength are needed in the face of the rough and tough guys you face. However, there is one game I fear and that is hockey. I have seen a guy bashed with a swipe from a hockey stick. Although i have played hockey during my training as a physical education teacher, I do not ask for a chance to play it. In this game, I just lost my guts. Afraid or not, there must still be enough trainers or supervisors, ample space available, sufficient facilities given and the opportunity to participate. Are all school in the position to supply everything necessary? If not, where is the fairness to the students?

So, before implementing anything the authorities must make sure they are fair to every individual student, ensuring that every sport with sufficient appropriate space and equipment for every student.

Let it not be said that we expected people to eat without making available the food or the essential utensils, we expect people to dance without the music or the dance floor or we expected people to achieve without making available the opportunity to do so. Authorities must be prepared with a feasible plan, ready all the facilities before any implementation can be carried out. Unless all these are carried out, we have half-baked authorities who have not done their work well.

Try to understand before criticising.

Instead of criticizing, we ought to try and understand the feelings of others. Without the sometimes sad, disappointing and frustrated experiences that some people had, can a critic be able to understand the feelings and pain those people could have gone through. Can he claim to understand the feelings of those people?

Yet, on Thursday, 24 June 2010, I read a letter in a newspaper in which a Malaysian Chinese who had lived in Russia where he studied for many years for many years criticized other Malaysians for not loving Malaysia by laughing and making a remark at a man who was wearing a T-shirt imprinted with the words ‘Saya Cinta Malaysia’ which means ‘I love Malaysia’.

Of course, the man wearing that T-shirt ought not to be laughed at for that was just an open declaration for the love of his country. Everyone of us should love our country and I believe almost all of us do. For those who claim they don’t, we have to ask them the reason before any criticism is made. Do they have a good reason for their statements? Perhaps, they do. If we are open minded enough to try and understand such people, we may even come to sympathise with them.

Perhaps, those people who claim they do not love their country could have been confused and had mixed up the government of the day with their country. What I am saying is that those people were born in a certain place and since their parents, siblings, relative and friends are there, that’s where home is. Good or bad, that’s where they belong. They feel comfortable being there. Then when they grow up, they realise certain things, things other than the people and the surroundings they know. They found their country being ruled in a certain way. Born in a certain country, brought up playing with their friends, studying with their friends, living with their friends, helping each other, they would expect to be treated the same as those friends by the government. Then the day came when they pass their examinations at secondary school level and discover that only certain friends, most with not as good results as them, were given the privilege of being given entrance to certain privileged colleges to study for just a year with almost certainty of qualifying for tertiary education while they had to go for two years of upper secondary schooling which is so much more difficult. Why is there a difference? As a good number of their friends who were given the special privilege were even richer or better off than them, of course, it can be expected that they would feel that that was unfair. Can we blame them for feeling thus?

Then, when they managed to get excellent results, they did not get their country’s scholarship to study overseas although others more privileged friends who had not as good results, who even come from financially better families who did not exactly need those scholarships were given such financial aid to further their education. Would not such students feel frustrated at losing an opportunity which they merited? Should they be expected to love a government which had not considered them equal to other citizens although they were born and bred in the same country with no other country they call their own?

Even for tertiary education in their own country, it is not the best students who qualify for a place. The citizens are divided into certain categories with a certain community given more places.

Again, when it comes to jobs, with the exception of jobs in the private sector perhaps, jobs are given out again based on communities. When it comes to promotions, that happened too. (I have a brother-in law who quit the RMAF, the Royal Malaysian Air Force, from a job he loved because each year he watched younger staff with the same qualifications ascend the promotion ladder faster than him, overtaking him easily. ) Despite doing all that, the government of the day expects every citizen to be grateful to the government for some of the ‘crumbs’ given, usually just before or during elections.

Now if, like the Malaysian Chinese who criticised the others for not loving the country, someone who has his parents financial support to study anywhere he wishes, then the person does not feel or know the same pain, disappointment and frustration that the poor Malaysian Chinese or Indians would feel under such circumstances. (I know for I have personally comforted such a tearful person and felt his pain as he told me of his great disappointment at not being able to go for tertiary education despite his excellent results. Those who have not known such disappointment and pain might not be able to understand what I have written, perhaps.) Could such a person whose whole life-time would never be as good as it ought to be, be expected to be grateful for having all his dreams dashed by a government’s policy? If you were him, think how you would feel. (Sometimes we cannot fathom certain things unless and until we get into the shoes of those people. After all such things do not happen to us and certainly not the Malaysian Chinese who could not understand those people who ridiculed the guy who wore a T-shirt with the words ‘I love Malaysia’.

Poverty has no barriers. It exists in every race or community. A country which wishes to assist the really poor to give them a better chance at life should draw up policies to help all poor citizens regardless of race. When the policies are drawn up dividing all citizens into communities, many of the poor do not actually get the assistance. Even for the targeted community, time has proved that those who benefited from such a policy are not the truly helpless poor but the well-to-do and those well connected with the people who walk the corridors of power.

Thus, those who criticise ought to find out what has transpired, understand the situation properly, know the experiences and feelings of those unfortunate people before reaching a conclusion to base on whatever criticism the person wishes to make. Certainly, it takes some effort and an open mind to appreciate properly other people’s feeling and thoughts.

Are the leaders you voted in national leaders?

Good leaders arise from grass-root leaders who have found the ability and desire to lead people first from a small group, a residential area, then a whole community and finally a nation.

However, it is not always the case that grass-root or community leaders can become good national leaders. What is the difference and why not? Well, what makes a good community leader? It could be the deep concern of that leader for his community or race that cause him/her to put in effort to fight for the cause of improving the lot of the race or community. To be a good leader of a race or community, he/she concentrates only on the problems and ways to bring about changes and improvement to that particular group of people. He/She is not bothered about the other communities or races, whether those groups of people also require help or attention is beyond his/her scope of leadership. To put it bluntly, it just isn’t his/her problem. And, of course, whether his/her actions are detrimental to the other races or communities, perhaps even to the country, does not deter him/her from continuing with the cause at hand.

It is similar to unionists or union leaders fighting for the benefits of their union members. What matters to the unionists is the benefits they can get for their members and themselves. If in obtaining such benefits, others find themselves in a worst position, it would not affect their fight. For them, it would be: If you want to have the same benefits, then you get your union to fight for you.

Thus, unless all the unions form a bigger union which comprises of all other unions, the leaders will only fight for the union they represent. In the civil service for example, the government servants’ unions combine to form an umbrella body to represents all the government clerical staff, government teachers, government lab assistants and so forth.

Then when leaders are in the main union, they have to change their thinking to that of safeguarding the interest of all the civil servants and not just the teachers or the clerks. The benefits are not for one particular group but for all.

Similarly, leaders or politicians in the government must no longer think of the welfare of just any particular group but everybody in the nation. The development thoughts of these politicians must involve every citizen and not just a portion of the citizens. When it comes to issues of poverty, lack of jobs, infrastructure development, education, financial assistance, there are no borders; all poor citizens are helped, the jobless citizens are assisted, every part of the country, regardless of factors, is to be developed, education made available to every citizen with sufficient libraries, kindergartens and fully equipped schools in every nook and corner of the country. In Malaysia especially, with our natural resources, if the money of this country is well-spent, all that has been suggested is possible. With what has been suggested, every citizen who merits assistance, financially or infrastructural, will be provided for.

Well, today in America, there is an example of a truly national leader. The president is an American Negro. Why would an American Negro be elected by a population which comprises of a majority of Whites? Simply because they believe this man is an American who can take them to greater progress and development without prejudice regardless of social background, race or religion. As a national leader, good or bad, his thoughts are on development of progress of the country for all Americans, not just the American Negros, the American Whites , the American Red Indians or the American Chinese. That ought to be the case for all national level leaders, no matter what country the leaders lead.

It is of utmost importance that national leaders are capable of establishing a mind which is able to think of the country’s welfare and progress with the interest of all its citizens in mind at all times, for this is the only way to move the country forward and not stop or stagnant its growth with community or racial issues which hijacks the interest of the nation as a whole. For every national leader, an example has been made by the American people. Let us emulate the success of that country where exemplary leadership is available.