Malaysia News Today
Monday, February 27th, 2006Kind of in a contemplative mood. Actually, it’s the national news that is kind of… well, the word is just plainly put, <strong>bad.</strong>
Started when I read the news yesterday (Monday) which reported the flood in Shah Alam. Previously (for example, during my schooling days, which seem like such a long time ago now) I would just cursorly glance through such news.
This time though, it seems that it caught my attention. Just can’t help but to feel for the victims. First picture that always comes to my mind when someone says "flood" is: "Grand piano = gone". But it’s not just luxuries that are affected, in fact, peoples’ entire livelihood is affected; one’s home, gone, uninhabitable, snap, just like that. The stench and inconvenience… doesn’t sound very nice, to say the least.
And later that night, got an SMS notification that said petrol price up… more bad news. Our national leader once said "Don’t spread rumours. We will give ample time when we notify…"(sic) Well, I sure don’t see how making an announcement at, practically, almost midnight constitutes "ample time". Another example of politician-speak. Anyway, regardless: Petrol price is up, whether early or later doesn’t matter, and with it, we can expect a host of other things to go up as well, our char koay teow, hokkien mee, etc….
I guess we could have saw this coming, when the interest rates went up? Supposedly to combat inflation (from my mere basic knowledge of what the interest rates "up" is supposed to do) but with the <strong>big</strong> increase in the price of petrol, I expect no less than <strong>biiig, biiig</strong> inflation, that simply means our money is going to be worth less (worthless?), in practical terms I just imagine myself taking out more Agongs from my wallet next time I pay for my everyday expense: Food (yes, unlike you lucky ones who get home cooked food daily, I have to eat out daily) meaning that, I see the impact (to come sooner or later) immediately. Speaking of Agongs, they’re <strong>getting cheaper by the month</strong>, that simply means, we’re going to need more and more <strong>Cheap Agongs</strong> to get the same commodities than in the recent past.
Fast forward to today’s news:
Which is just more bad news. When I read the headline <strong>"Crying foul over dirty water supply"</strong>, it brought back memories of the time when there was a <strong>drought</strong> in KL… I was one of those people moving containers of water from the tankers… When water supply is interrupted, it really sucks, just to say the least. Can’t really describe it in more detail to those who never experienced it before, it just really sucks.
To compound to the problem, our leaders are never accountable to provide a solution to these problems, so these problems will just keep on recurring. In a truly ‘developed state’, there should have been drainage systems in place to prevent this kind of sh1t from happening in the first place. Overdevelopment, without proper planning should be one of the causes of these kinds of (greatly preventable) disasters. It’s no use <strong>blaming God</strong> ("Act of God") when humans, in the first place did not do whatever which is within their power to prevent damage from being caused. In this case, I feel strongly that the people who hold the responsibility of bringing up, planning and implementing the required changes, (having took up the 5-year responsibility by "passionately requesting us for our votes") I feel strongly that they have failed us.
But truth is, this day, nobody, from where I’m sitting over here, gives a damn or will give a damn just as long as they and their family are not affected. Brings to mind one of the lines in Collateral (still my all-time favourite movie, as some of you might remember) <strong>"Ever heard of Rwanda? …? This Earth: six billion people…"</strong> Can’t remember the exact quote, but the gist is even if the Earth loses one or two people or some sh1t happens to a hundred or a even hundred thousand people a small distance away from us, just as long as it doesn’t affect us or our family, mark my words; nobody will bother. That’s why we have so much environmental damage, endangered species etc. The ignorance of the population is further compounded by leaders not striving for the right thing (in effect, actually preferring to keep the population in continued ignorance) instead, going for ‘popular’ decisions, some (if not most) of which may be just <strong>grossly wrong</strong>.
Anyway, back to the preventable but allowed-to-happen disasters and price hikes, I would say that the prevailing trend seems to be worrying for those of us who are not born with exceptional beauty, or a silver spoon in our mouth. If only, we, <strong>I</strong>, could do something to change things, rather than just talk…………….
Sigh.
Currently Reading: The Star - more national bad news.
Current Mood: Heavy Sigh.
