Condolences To Freedom Of Speech

Malaysia Today has been blocked by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). Oh well..... Freedom of speech proved speechless here...

Nevertheless, there is this article posted in Malaysia-Today previously which I like a lot, entitled "What I really care about?"

Below is the exact original copy from Malaysia-Today.net. It's a bit long though but meaningful, at least to me. Just hope that I will not be blocked or ISAed too for sharing this.



What I Really Care About

Posted by St Low
Thursday, 28 August 2008 19:53

I don't care whether your Swiss bank account has billions and billions of dollars, legally or illegally; as long as my wallet is full, and I have enough to still survive till the end of the month.

However, if your Swiss bank account is full, and as a result, you deprive the right of my wallet to be full, then that is a problem. When I have to cut down on trips to Bukit Bintang at the end of the month, when I opt for a Kancil instead of a Benz, when I feel an urge to eat fried chicken but have to eat goreng pisang, then that is a problem. And since my wallet is not full, and still far from full, and keeps decreasing, and your Swiss bank account is still exponentially increasing, I want to question why. If I don't even get a right to question why, then I will be angry, and really angry and will try all means to stop your Swiss bank account from continually increasing.

The Singapore ministers have the highest paychecks in the world. However, since they are sharing the country's success with the people, and everyone's wallet is full till the end of the month, the people are therefore happy to always re-elect these ministers with landslide wins.

So, hopefully one day you will understand that I really don't care about your Swiss bank account, and I only care about my own wallet as long as it's full.

I don't care whether you stripped off the natural resources - our god-given natural oil reserves before your ancestors and my ancestors landed in this beloved land; as long as the stripped-off natural resources are put to good use to improve the country and infrastructure, and I can enjoy a leiurely walk along the developed city without being highly taxed.

I do envy the low tax (or no tax?) in Brunei and some middle-East countries, yet enjoy superb infrastructure. Their future descendants may find their god-given natural resources exhausted but at least they get to enjoy the fruits from their ancestors using the natural resources to trade for better infrastructure and development of the country.

However, if you stripped off the natural resources, and I still don't get to see a developed city, and still get highly taxed, then that is a problem. I will worry about my future generations when the country has run out of these resources. How are they going to survive with the lousy infrastructure our country is leaving behind? In the meantime, when I see your big multi-million-dollar fully-developed mansion near Klang as a result of stripping off natural resources which belong to the countrymen, I am really angry. And I will try all means to stop you from building multi-million-dollar mansions for your own leisure.

Hope that one day you will understand that I really don't care about your act of stripping off our natural resources, and I only care about how you spend it wisely for development.

I don't care whether you drive a Mercs or a Proton, and I don't care whether the maintenance bill is skyrocketing for your state-issued cars. I only care about my own car and my own maintenance cost.

However, when you issued APs to some fat-fat cronies, the import of good quality cars became too expensive. So, when I have to either get a bad quality car with high maintenance, or a good imported car with low maintenance but further fattening the fat cronies, I am angry. Don't cry if your AP is taken away from you because the AP shouldn't belong to you in the first place. Don't be so happy if you are a good friend of the son-in-law of the AP's issuer, and get tonnes of Toyota Prius APs, because sooner or later you will lose everything and even cost your friend's father-in-law his job as well.

Hope that one day you will understand that I really don't care about your car, as long as I have a good quality and affordable car.

I don't care whether you have dozens of bodyguards around you, and even enough to despatch some for the C4 act; as long as I don't get robbed even inside my highly secured terrace.

However, I remember that thievery was rare when I was young, not to mention robberies. Furthermore, the distinction between the robbers and the police is becoming grayer. When you import so many underqualified 'expats' from overseas, and when losing their jobs turn to robbery, I am really angry. I was even angrier when you have enough bodyguards to despatch some for the C4 act yet I am feeling so insecure under broad daylight. When I cry for help after a robbery, the help will come much later after all the robbers have cleared the scene.

I don't know what to say about the judiciary, police, and our guardians. Isn't it stated in the constitution (and any pea-sized brain homo-sapien should know) that the judiciary and the executive should be separated? And yet, someone with a Maha-brain mixed-up the judiciary with the government to make it inseparable.

Hope that one day you will understand that security and justice is a basic need in the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, not only for you, but for me as well.

I don't care whether you control the media or not, as long as I still get to read Malaysia Today and Malaysiakini on the web.

Just like when you misinterpreted Karpal's message on 25 August, and issued an apology later on 26 August evening, but damage had already been done. Some innocent kampung people that were susceptible to your media and your words must be greatly regretting now. Luckily, it was not damaging enough. And don't forget that they will remember this day and the consequences will come in the future, against you.

Hope that one day you will understand the media is to spread unity and love, not to spread your own hatred and insincerity.

I don't care whether you open Mara to other races as well; as long as my future generations still get to enjoy good education, and as long as the top universities at least still earn some slight respect from the international communities. Do you remember that University of Malaya was once ranked highly, in medicine and other courses? Do you remember when it was still in the list of ranked international universities? Can you do me a favor - try surfing the UM's website to check how many of their professors have internationally-referred journals; how many of them still have international standings. And where is its ranking now, can you tell me? Do you think I care whether my future generations can get a place in Mara? If UM is not recognized in the world, why would I mention Mara? Oppsss..., no problem as all your sons are studying overseas in Oxford or Cambridge, with taxpayer monies.

Hope that one day you will understand there is no point in competing among the races on scarce education resources as we have the whole world stage to compete on in terms of science, technology and arts; and I hope my descendants can compete on a world stage as a result of your education system.

I don't care whether you issue contracts to your cronies or not; as long as it is issued fairly. And if I lost the contract, I would be able to take it as it was due to my lack of competitiveness. But before I can bid for a contract and at least guarantee my bread-and-butter, someone is writing some tolong letter to you. And you bypass all the fair and just systems to deliver the contract to this Apa-Nama-Out-of-the-Country's pocket, at a highly marked up price and the deliverables are highly susceptible to failure. As a result, we have to pay high toll fees for never-ending years and getting electricity as costly as diamonds, and a parliament house that is always flooded.

Hope that one day you will understand the value of fairness; win is a win, lose is a lose. Not by connections, but by competitiveness.

I don't care about your racist remarks and keris-flying acts as long as I can still maintain the friendship of my Malay, Chinese and Indian friends. But when I am getting less and less friends of other races, I am really angry. Each of the races has different strengths and weaknesses. To propel the nation forward, we cannot afford to lose out the contributions of anyone. And yet you make me so lonely that I don't have friends from other ethnic groups. That really frustrates me. When I want to find a sincere and trustworthy manager for my field, my Malay friends ignore me; when I want to do some high-end design and scientific research, my Chinese friends are all overseas; when I want to get my Indian friends to defend myself from a lawsuit, they are nowhere to be found but busy defending tonnes of sedition lawsuits.

Hope that one day you will understand that we have the best combinations of human resources in the world, and yet you don't treasure it to the extent of threatening it with keris-flying. I only care whether my descendants can still make friends with Malays, Chinese and Indians.

And I really don't care who becomes my boss, whether 16 September will get realized or not, as long as my boss cares for what I care for. And if you really care, then you will be my boss forever, whoever you are.


Reproduce from (http://mt.harapanmalaysia.com/2008/content/view/11931/84/)