We asked ourselves every second, hour and day why what we earned every month isn’t enough to spend as a Malaysian?
We witnessed our exchange rate dropping against our neighbours whom we used to go for holidays because of the strong purchasing power we have back then but when queried, our leaders gave various excuses but nothing on their incompetence in managing and governing this country.
Instead of utilizing the national resources to the country’s advantage and ensure maximum welfare for citizens, it went into a few hands only.
A civilized government has a responsibility to combat poverty and enhance the lives of its residents. To do so, the government must establish an atmosphere that encourages materially better living standards and economic progress.
What do we get for paying toll everytime we used the toll roads only to spend countless minutes or hours sitting through the traffic jams entering and exiting the tolls?
More and more housing estates have to pay for security guards to guard their little area because they cannot depend on law enforcement.
We continuously have to be on the lookout for sudden enforcement operations whereby they will be lurking in some obscure places or hiding behind some bushes to catch you for using your mobile phone or not putting on the seat belt when comparatively, they will give the public excuses on why they did not stop the mat Rempit menace.
Almost every household in the urban areas have to install filters because the water supply is dirty.
We have to pay extras to watch pay channels because the government broadcasts nonsense.
Many kids have to go for tuition or to private schools because the government schools are bad.
We have to pay independent power providers because the government cannot provide consistent electricity supply.
We have to pay Indah Water to clean up the sewers.
We have to pay tax on foreign cars because Mahathir Mohamad wants to keep his dying local car industry alive even until today.
Most have to drive because the government cannot provide good public transport.
And then we have to endure with the poor conditions of the roads.
We have to pay for the high maintenance of our cars because of the constant beating and battering it received from the poor road conditions.
Pot holes here and there are a regular feature on most of the public roads.
We continuously witnessed floods devastating certain parts of the country destroying lives and livelihood of a lot of people. Year in year out it happened. And year in year out, the only solution offered is that they are better prepared to assist the rakyat when the flood comes. It was never about them resolving the flood issue once and for all to prevent flooding from happening year in year out.
We are paying rates higher than our neighboring countries for our poor network services and have to endure the false promises dished out by the telcos saying that Malaysians are enjoying one of the best connectivity in this region.
We are getting scammed almost everyday whereby monies from individual’s bank accounts were siphoned off without their consent and knowledge and yet the banks first response is to blame the individuals for their own carelessness.
We have to pay for private health care because the public hospitals are crowded.
We are paying a premium to purchase even the basic food items and for lesser quality food stuff because the government is unable or refused to dismantle the monopolies they created but conveniently blamed it on the middlemen, who, in fact are actually their cronies.
We continuously witnessed the rule of law applied differently between different classes of the rakyat, the haves and have not.
We continuously read about the haves and elites stealing from the public coffers year in year out but yet nothing was done to catch the perpetrators.
From hundreds of thousands to millions to hundreds of millions, the trend now is to steal in the excess of billions. It is a game amongst the politician to see who has the guts to steal the most from the public coffers.
We continuously hear of leaders justifying their actions as doing it for the benefit of the rakyat and country but in the end the truth always prevailed where their actions are undertaken solely for their own benefit.
Instead of playing its role to unite the country and promote greater collaboration between its diverse communities, we continued to witness politicizing amongst the politicians for their own selfish benefit. The only collaboration the rakyat witnessed is between the elites and haves of different communities joining together in the stealing of the country’s resources.
Instead of preserving nature and the environment, maintaining forests, establishing sanctuaries, we continuously hear of politicians and leaders silently degazetting forest reserves for their own benefits.
If we continuously highlight all the above, some will tell you that if you are not happy, you can always migrate.
If this happen, Malaysia will dislodge Finland from its top rank in next year’s ranking of the world’s happiest country.
Maybe the fast pace of our time will also need a new way of government.
Chat GPT might tell us to elect leaders who are actively leading us into a better future for the whole instead of managers who are just trying to react and optimize based on the past.
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