Part IV – final episode
by Faiz Al-Shahab
In our inferior nation, we often hear of success being measured by material possession.
“Which house? What car? What watch? What phone?”…does one use.
Our society does not recognise other KPIs, which is a huge shame actually.
I met some friends of my age recently, and as we were having conversations and exchanging notes, we were all quite amazed at how ironically men of our age today still frequently have to borrow money from our parents.
It is all very different to what it use to be in the 20th century whereby siblings make a living to support their aging parents.
Today, our old folk’s assets are keeping us all surviving.
My parent’s generation were the ones that made the living that was formulated by a dream.
Long those days are gone.
In these conversations I have had, it was pointed out too that most of our acquaintance from my generation who are materially successful are men doing dodgy middle men deals with connection to politicians or proxy of politicians.
They use to be “five or ten percent man”, now more known as “fourty or fifty percent man”.
They weren’t the smartest people in school, neither were they interesting to be or talk with.
It is almost unheard of that one makes material success from their own business or own hard work, never mind their own creation.
Climbing up corporate ladders are still common methods of achieving material success amongst our acquaintance although it is becoming more scarce lately due to unavailability of high flying city jobs.
In a nutshell, my group of friends all agreed that Malaysia is running out of heroes, and is already a nesting pit for scumbags.
In previous writings of Malaysia: The Inferior Nation, I have covered double standards, jealousy, treason, betrayal, stupidity, and living beyond means which contributes to Malaysians being an inferior society.
In this final piece, I’d like to write about mother of all inferiors, a tumor that is not addressed, dirt that is swept under the carpet, an unspoken taboo, the corpse inside the closet – corruption.
I meant to write about this much later as an over glorified finale, but since the last part of this series and to what has happened in 2017, it is merely an understatement to say that it is timely, perhaps too late.
So in a country like Malaysia, where in the past, education, science and technology were sincerely promoted, many have benefited from our education revolution, but many too felt left out.
As culture of materialism overtakes us, we tend to all focus at one thing alone, and that is wealth.
In the race to build wealth, we have forgotten about how it was to be human, or for most of us today, have never felt how it is to be human. For many, they will go to any distance to achieve material wealth.
Corruption in this country is no longer about the low paid poor civil servant that is looking for extra bob to help the family, neither it is also about the greedy politicians that is taking all he or she can while at the top…it is about all of us.
Corruption takes place at every level of Malaysian society, the givers and receivers, the sinful and the so call pious, the poor and the rich, basically everyone that is exposed.
Now…because Malaysia is an inferior nation, and that most Malaysians feel inferior with their display of material success, the tendency to turn to corruption is much higher, in hope that material wealth can provide them the missing sense of confidence.
The scale of corruption cannot just be narrowed down to the givers and receivers alone, because people that witness, acknowledge, deliberately endorse to savour their position, are also considered as culprits in these matters, because they allow the execution to take place.
The majority that remain silent, afraid to speak out, turning a blind eye; is the major factor to the country’s flourishing corrupt system because it provides a healthy medium for operation.
But sincerely, how many of us are willing to compromise our position and comfort zone in the name of truth anymore?
This boils back to the lack of heroes in this inferior nation.
Truth be told, not many of us complains about the state of corruption in the country.
“There are bigger problems”, most will say, “unemployment, rising price of goods, the fear of inequality, rise in crime, immorality, injustice in the legal system”.
If we think harder, these issues are all related back to corruption.
The wrong type of companies receiving award to do contracts causes unemployments, too much hidden margin and kickbacks causes rise in goods price, corruption suppress equality and equitableness, corruption is crime, corruption in religion contributes to immorality, occurrence of injustice is down to the fact that magistrates and judges can be bought, the more you think about it, the more it is rooted to corruption.
However, let’s be objective about this. Let’s look at what we have on the plate with an open mind.
If we are the majority of Malaysians who are less educated, with less cultural exposure and experience, our main desire will be material wealth.
If corruption provides a way to make dreams to become reality for many, then maybe it is a fitting system for a country like this.
After all, a capitalist system is about the survival of the fittest. The ones who dares to go the distance will be rewarded with the fruits.
But this leaves us with a problem. Moving ahead, the future generation will have to be taught to think differently.
Future generation cannot assume that sturdy early education can provide them a good living anymore. Education is more of a feast for the mind rather than tool in life.
Adults of the future too must think that justice can only be fended by one’s self or justice can only prevail for those who have more money. Judicial system will become nothing more than formalities.
Business are only for those with power connection, if you are born in a different level of society, then you pretty much screwed.
We need to teach our kids that world will be cruel to them if they do not pay their way through.
To accommodate this new mindset of accepting corruption will change the way many things are done.
Some may ask if we have a population of uneducated imbeciles who do not appreciate skills or innovation, how do we grow the country?
Easy, Malaysia will just import the brains. Malaysians can sit back, relax, and lift their legs high and do only what we are good at, which is to make stupid decisions.
This may sound just like another rant, but Malaysia seriously need to oust this final and most repressive form of inferiority; corruption.
Failing to do so will result in this country to collapse and losing all of our values completely, ending with an exodus of brains and integrity out of the country.
Pity our children and their children should they still be in the country.
No easy way to address this, but fighting corruption requires a sincere and strong leadership to unite the mass to eradicate foul play, as well as all of us doing our part to prevent it.
Until then, the nation will forever remain inferior.
Other articles by the Author:
Malaysia: The Inferior Nation Series
Artikel Bahasa Melayu
English articles
