Final take on the hottest topic

What seemed like a boring topic just a month ago is now the hottest talk of town… Malaysian politics. When I entered the field for my warm up before football yesterday, even the younger players were talking about politics. I also know a few lifestyle based bloggers who decided to start a brand new blog to comment about politics. It is… hot!

I have plenty of things to say about the current political scene but I think I also have a lot to say about my working experience in London. As such, I am going to pen down all I wanted to say in this entry and will lay off politics for a while. One warning… I have a feeling this is going to be a long entry

Feeding the rumour monger

There are a few uncles who joined our Sunday football session. Ya’ know, these uncles are wise men in their own manner. They can tell you things that our knowledge based mentality cannot fathom, but their reasoning can really makes you wonder.

One rumour being raised yesterday; and I think some of you may have already heard is the mysterious death of the satay tycoon. Was his heart that vulnerable? Or he just fooled the whole Malaysia?

The uncles are saying that the news shown on TV actually focussed the camera on the deceased face and they lifted the cloth covering the body for that to happen. Now, my limited the knowledge on Islam tells me that the body of a deceased is usually wrapped in cloth and they don’t usually exposed it for people to see; certainly not for the cameraman to show to the whole country. There is also certainly no need to show the country.

The rumour on the ground is that the satay-man has put a new meaning to the saying “cheated death”. Confiscate the mansion; blame all the corruption on the dead man, family gets away free. Sounds like a great plan, don’t you think?

But then again, this is just a rumour. Certainly very interesting isn’t it?

Men with old ploys…

“People are brainwashed already. They thought vote PAS means no pork to eat. But in fact, there’s pork even in Kelantan!”

That’s what one of the uncles said today. Indeed, plenty have been brainwashed. The brainwasher mechanism is none other than the mainstream media, who at the disposal of the BN govt has painted a very morbid image on PAS. As soon as you mention PAS, the phrase “Islamic extremism” flashes in your mind without you knowing it.

We Malaysians hate it when those “gwai-los” think that we live on trees. We want them to come over and see that we are actually more advance that they are possibly imagine. We tell them they should not believe what is shown in their TV. Similarly, how many of us have been to Kelantan? Have we been there ourselves to see a Taliban style rule or we got all that from the famous mainstream media?

With the current ruckus in the opposition led states, the mainstream has moved in to make the worst out of everything. Check out this article by Jeff Ooi on how the mainstream put words in the mouth of others.

We Malaysians have shown that we have matured and as such, we must let our maturity control our ability to discern between genuine and false media. We must think and analyse because if you are reading this blog, I am darn sure you are capable of it. Do not let the old ploys set us off on an aimless verbal diarrhoea. Let those who are blind continue to dwell in false news while we, indulge only in what is worthy of being called… news.

… boys with new toys

The opposition themselves never expected this. In fact, we shouldn’t call them opposition anymore because they are now part of the govt, albeit only at the state level. As such, they are in unfamiliar territories and as we can see, they are acting like boys… yes… boys… with new toys.

I think the general opinion was to let the opposition have a louder voice in parliament and perhaps deny the govt a 2/3rd majority. But I am sure we never thought the opposition can capture 5 states. Well, neither did they.

The current debacle happening in the opposition-led states is an obvious sign of inexperience. All they wanted was to be elected into parliament and continue to shout at the govt MPs in their capacity as opposition. Never in their mind would they imagine that they would no longer be known as opposition.

What the opposition should realise is that they are no longer opposition, at least not in the 5 states in which they have been elected. As such, they have to act like govt. And as much as I hate to say it, behaving like govt also means they have to speak the right things. Tactfulness is important. The days when they scream and shout in parliament are over.

But what is most important is that they must realise that time is of the essence. The people, though forgetful, are also impatient… very impatient. While instant results may not be possible, some form of positive vibes must be created soonest possible.

So Mr-opposition-now-govt, time to make good use of your new toys or else, your days are numbered.

No such thing as smooth transition

I am sure many have taken over a new role in your workplace before, either as a new employee or being promoted to take over somebody. Was it easy to take over the new role? No matter how complete the hand-over process was, there are bound to be problems thereafter. What more, if the hand-over is a reluctant one…

We want changes and changes are in the reckoning. And when there are changes, there are bound to be parties who are not happy and possibly oppose changes. So changes are not going to be smooth. There will certainly be a ‘war’ and we will probably be stuck in the middle of a battlefield, metaphorically speaking.

So when you feel disappointed or perhaps fearful of the changes and ruckus around us, remind yourself that this is what you voted for… changes… and there is no such thing as a smooth transition.

In conclusion, what we are seeing now may just be the beginning of a long journey towards what every Malaysians want to achieve. Remember that people have been screaming and thousands have taken to the streets just to rock the boat and now that the boat is rocking, we must play our part in holding on… holding on to our beliefs… holding on to the vision we have… holding on to the truth we seek.