A chat with Ah San, a humble hardware store tauke from Serian many months ago, he said that Malaysia is not a free country. So, much for the 'Merdeka' chant while we are not a free country.
The reason be; Malaysia is resourceful yet we import food. We claimed to be independent yet we can't feed our own people. We eat beras Siam, Australian or Indian Beef, New Zealand milk, Chinese vegetables, Japanese tuna and so many imported fruits.
As for living and luxury, our Proton and Perodua is expensive as hell. A pakcik who wishes to drive have to take up a seven years loan before the car can actually be theirs. By the end of the seven years terms, the car is already worn out and old that they have to take up another loan for a better car. Houses are expensive people rather live in setinggan area and land are to expensive for most of the people to afford. Leaving them no other choice but to live in a low-cost flat. The people being discriminate on their own ground.
Even our professionals are being discriminate. Three to five years of studies, you can't even get a job with a decent pay (decent as in living comfortably. RM 1,800 for fresh graduate hardly qualifies as decent with the demanding cost of living in Malaysia. Bayar sewa rumah dah habis 10% of the gaji, if your sharing. Much-much more if you're not) Huge company rather spent 20k per month to pay foreign professionals than to employ local 3 local professionals of the same level of expertise at a lower rate per month. This, I am not speaking out of the context, as I seen it myself. My previous employer rather employed a Filipino Engineer (who does nothing but play Solitaire during most of the office hours) than to promote local engineers who is better and more competent than the good-for-nothing Filipino asshole.
So, how independent are we? After 50 years, how independent are we?
A country like Malaysia, so resourceful, should have prioritized in feeding the people first before considering the 'glory of the nation'. The larger country, for instance, US or Japan are successful in feeding their people first before successful in other glory. Ah San believes that the our soil can provide good food for us. Meat, chicken, fruits, grains and vegetables apart from sources like minyak sawit, rubber etc. Seems like we have forgotten the fruits of the earth, the soil while we focused on building this and that, develop here and there and all other bullshits claimed to be 'generating investment for the country'.
A hardware store tauke like Ah San maybe just another Jack from the street, unlike the top guns who play direct role in the administration. But just like any other small, 'unimportant', ordinary people, a tauke like Ah San, sure has a great view on things; something worth considering. Shows to show that the government should listen more to the people rather than the tinkle in their pockets.
A friend, Sunder says that if we look at the logic, a KFC worker in Malaysia, work for 1 hour and gets RM2. While a KFC worker in UK work for the same amount of time gets at least £5.50. The cheapest KFC meal cost around RM5.80 in Malaysia and the same cost £3.50 in the UK. Looking at the logic, a KFC worker has to work 3hours in Malaysia to afford a meal while in UK, he has to only work for 45minuts or less to afford a meal. With even a daily meal being dead expensive, we wonder why the cost of living is so expensive.
That's how bad we can't afford to feed our people. Independence? Go figure!
Look no further; our own parameter. If we still ask for pocket money from our parent even after we have been working for some times, dare we call ourself independent?
No comments:
Post a Comment