Such a sad state of affairs in Malaysia

By Abdul Haleem Abdul Rahiman

Kuala Lumpur,  April 05, 2012

I will join the Bersih 3.0 rally because I can’t stand the gross stupidity that is crippling the entire nation. Honestly, as much as I agree stupidity has no limit, I can’t take this absurdity which has been fed to us in high doses on a daily basis.

Day in, day out the events unfolding in Malaysia make you sick and drive you insane. With all the transformation programs and what-not, I believe we are on full speed in a very wrong direction. Almost every institution in this country is failing. Religious bigotry is at its peak.

Most MPs, if not all, are busy politicking rather than working. Corruption is nothing but the norm. A priority list is something unfamiliar in our daily life in Malaysia. Common sense is not so common anymore.

What irks me the most lately is the amount of stupidity and bigotry.

The latest, in declining a permit for a Singapore ballet group to perform here, is just absurd. The reason given is indecent costumes. Ballet costumes deemed indecent? Are you joking? I will not buy that reason simply because it’s insane to agree ballet costumes can poke your eye! Assuming it does, how do we justify swimsuits then? A gymnast who will be performing in the coming Olympics? Are we going to censor all female categories in gymnastics?
Perhaps we should censor all female sports from being broadcast then.

When countries like Saudi Arabia are sending female athletes to participate in the Olympics, we are banning ballet costumes.

We have banned books, movies, T-shirts, yoga and what-not. Can we ban idiots who can’t even speak or write English from standing for elections?

If Ibrahim Ali is toning down, worry not, we have a new champion. Another son of Ali. Hasan Ali. His stunt of accusing Christians proselytising Muslims is just too much to bear. A seminar for religious teachers to discuss the Christian threat is proof of how insecure we are. But the fact is only idiots like Hasan Ali thinks Muslims in this country are insecure. Furthermore, I am sick and tired of the reason they have been giving — to avoid young Malaysian Muslims from being confused. The only thing I am confused is — how did you pass your exams?

I have written on this subject many times. Just what is our problem with Israel? To the extent we have Jew-bashing Friday sermons. How pathetic is that? We have elected MPs and paying their salaries with our tax and they are busying arguing about Israel. Don’t you all think we have more pressing issues to deal with? Stop making Israel and the Jews a scapegoat for our political plays. Seriously, please move on or find something new to bash.

Knowing the election is around the corner, day by day we see our Parliament turning into a pig farm. The way things are going in there will amaze even a school kid. No civility, no respect for each other, shout to win publicity, scream to get attention, mock to make one look like a clown. If this is the state of Parliament then I wonder how comical the Cabinet meeting must be.

If the comedy episodes in Parliament are not good enough, we have the DPM-cum-education minister coming out with a statement saying that our education system is better than the United States’, Britain’s and Germany’s.

To be frank when you read such statement you are stunned, unsure if one should cry or burst out laughing. If you laugh then remember this is our DPM who you are laughing at.

Last weekend at dinner with a couple of friends, we were served by a part-time waitress who had just finished her SPM. She scored 9As. And guess what? She had not heard anything on the NFC. When my friend asked her if she knows who Shahrizat is, she went blank. We stopped ourselves from asking if she knows who the PM of the country is because we did not want to lose our appetite.

The list can go on with me discussing the crime rate, the economy which is nose diving, the poor quality of our graduates, high-level corporate deals (or scams), etc. The point here is — this is a beautiful nation with amazing loving citizens. We are blessed with so much of nature and talented people. Unfortunately, politicians from both sides are taking this country down with not only their corruption but also their stupidity. Pure, gross stupidity.

Let’s stop that. Let’s have a fair and clean election, thus we can vote people with principle and integrity into public office. Let’s clean this mess once and for all.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer