August is our Merdeka month, the month in which date we gained our Independence, 31st August. Our nation is now independent and free from colonisation.
But are we ourselves free? There are other forms of bondage and slavery. Political, economic, social, mental. In politics, one aspect of bondage has been broken. The rakyat are now not afraid to change government. Previously, there was a kind of paralysis or fear that changing the government will lead to chaos or collapse of the nation. So much so, that it appears like we do not have political freedom. Hopefully, this new freedom is here to stay. If the new government does not perform, the rakyat should be politically free and brave enough to change them again, if needed.
But there is a long way to go. Many people are still beholden, even enslaved, to their political ideologies, to the point of ignoring their good moral values. Their support are unconditional. Any wrongs or immoralities or illegalities are justified in the name of the political cause. The political cause trumps everything, even throwing good moral judgement into the dustbin. This is a form of slavery, an ideological slavery. You do not give yourself freedom to judge right and wrong by yourself according to clearly established moral codes. You defer to the political leaders to tell you what is right and wrong, even when the truth stare at you straight in the face.
In economics, freedom to do business are severely restricted. Monopolies and oligopolies are abound and propped up. Questionable bureaucracies and red tape are set in place for various reasons, many to support the political cause of the government of the day. Did you know that not everyone can import sugar into the country? (link) What is the point of restricting sugar import? What is the strategic value in that? There are also restriction in import permit for steel. (link) What is the point of this restriction? The usual excuse of protecting local industries (like local padi farmers and batik/fabric SME's) does not hold water since we do not have a vibrant steel industry in Malaysia. This restriction causes steel price to be high causing housing price to be high which directly impact consumers.
Apparently there are AP requirement for import for almost everything under the sun. (Yes, not just for cars.) What about restriction in signboard for your shop front? You already have a business license and yet you have to apply a different permit to put up a signboard for your shop front. All these unnecessary restrictions are a form of economic enslavement. The rakyat are enslaved to the government in order to make a living. In trade and economics, we are not fully merdeka yet.
What about social security? Do you know that in May 2019, the Bantuan Sara Hidup recipient numbers were 3.6 millions? (link) That is more than 10% of the Malaysian population. This means more than 10% of Malaysians are poor, to such an extent that they need government aid. Relying on government handout are a form of enslavement of the people by the ruling elites.
The only segment of society that should receive government aid are the severely handicapped (quadriplegic and similar), orphans, and mentally retarded. And the only form of government aid to the poor, if any, should be non-monetary, for example in the form of skills training and assistance to find jobs. The only acceptable financial aid should be in the form of scholarships to deserving students geared towards nation building by ensuring sufficient human capital development.
All other forms of aid, especially free cash handout, are a form of enslavement. If you rely on the government to put food on the table, then you are not free.
Then there is mental bondage. The restriction that you yourself imposed on yourself that inhibit independent and critical thinking. It is the most devious of all, because most of the time you do not realise that you have this. There is an invisible wall within your mind that limits your thought, your potential and personal freedom. It is different for each person. How to recognise it? Well, that is for another post. But the short answer is the level of your support for free speech. If there are no speech that can offend you, then you are free. Any speech that you say are offensive is nothing more than the speech "knocking" at the "walls" within your mind. It is annoying (or offensive) because you are not willing to break that "wall". (Don't get me wrong. You let the speech, or an idea, in not to accept them blindly, but you let them in, in order to engage the ideas and evaluate critically.)
For now, assess for yourself. The nation is free from colonisers. But are you free from the tyranny of your own government machineries? Are you free from the mental bondage of your own making?
Mr Crane is poor. He is always in and out of jobs. His life is as per the Malay saying "kais pagi makan pagi, kais petang makan petang" (dig in the morning, eat in the morning; dig in the afternoon, eat in the afternoon). Some days he does not eat. Because of that, he is malnourished and skinny. He is as thin as a stick.
By trade, he is a fisherman and a hunter. Most of the year, he fish, and during the monsoon, he hunts. However, to fish, there are a lot of bureaucratic hurdles from the Fisheries Department in terms of licensing and fishing restriction. Unfortunately, there are also licensing and bureaucratic hurdles for Mr Crane to hunt set by the Forestry Department.
Hence, Mr Crane blames the Fisheries Department and the Forestry Department for his lack of "rezeki".
The Fisheries Department says they set all these licensing and bureaucratic hurdles to protect the environment as required by the Department of Environment (DOE). Rather than plan for sustainable fishing management, they take the easy way out and ban fishing outright in many places, in order to protect the fish and underwater seaweed, the so called grass of the sea. The Fisheries Department said they are simply following the DOE guidelines. So, they blame the DOE for Mr Crane's predicament.
As for the Forestry Department, their answer is similar. They set all these licensing and bureaucratic hurdles to protect the animals and the green forest, even to the last grass. Instead of planning for sustainable long term forest management, they ban hunting outright. They say they are also simply following the DOE guidelines. So, they also blame the DOE for Mr Crane's predicament.
The DOE says they have to protect the environment. Their guideline has become even more restrictive after the spread of the "buffalo flu virus" that infect jungle animals. The virus infects the stomach lining of animals causing them to suffer indigestion and malnourishment.
One of the symptom of the disease is that the animals are not eating. This causes imbalance in the natural food chain in the forest. Some species almost become extinct for not eating and some species become overpopulated due to not being eaten. The forest also grows and encroaches into city limits causing inconveniences to city dwellers. The DOE blames the Veterinary Department for not being able to find the cure for this "buffalo flu virus".
The Veterinary Department, after taking samples from the animals and from the stomach of "Patient Zero", which was a buffalo, found that the cause of the disease was due to "Patient Zero", the buffalo, eating contaminated rice from a paddy field. The paddy field was overdosed with herbicide and insecticide causing the "buffalo flu" to mutate and spread. The Veterinary Department blames the Agricultural Department for this situation.
The Agricultural Department, instead of planning a careful spray management that does not damage the environment and does not endanger the food supply, they simply spray willy-nilly causing overdosing and food contamination. They plan for the rain to wash away the overdosed herbicide and insecticide instead of careful measurement of the dose. For that, they rely on the Meteorology Department to provide them with rain forecast. However, as everyone knows, rain forecasting is not an exact science. And yet, when the rain does not fall as they had hoped, they blame the food contamination on the Meteorology Department for providing inaccurate rain forecast.
The Meteorology Department blames the wrong rain forecast on Mr F. Roger who did cloud seeding in the neighbouring state. Mr F. Roger's state was experiencing drought, so he did cloud seeding to create rain in his area. However, this causes havoc in the weather of the surrounding area which in turn causes weather forecasting to be more erratic and less exact than it already is.
Mr F. Roger blames the water shortage on the water service provider. The water service provider cannot give a decent service to its customers. There are always water shortages, water cuts and interruption in services. So, that is why Mr F. Roger did cloud seeding in his area.
So, who does the water service provider blame? Nobody. They say they are just following their procedure. It is how they operate. Or in other words, inefficiency is their nature. Deal with it...!
And the name of this water service provider? Syarikat Negara Air Kuning Enterprise or "SNAKE" for short.
Lyrics below together with the English translation.
Bangau oh bangau Kenapa engkau kurus? Macam mana aku tak kurus Ikan tak mahu timbul Ikan tak mahu timbul Ikan oh ikan Kenapa engkau tak mahu timbul? Macam mana aku nak timbul Rumput panjang sangat Rumput panjang sangat Rumput oh rumput Kenapa panjang sangat? Macam mana aku tak panjang Kerbau tak makan aku Kerbau tak makan aku Kerbau oh kerbau Kenapa tak makan rumput? Macam mana aku nak makan Perut aku sakit Perut aku sakit Perut oh perut Kenapa engkau sakit? Macam mana aku tak sakit Makan nasi mentah Makan nasi mentah Nasi oh nasi Kenapa engkau mentah? Macam mana aku tak mentah Kayu api basah Kayu api basah Kayu oh kayu Kenapa engkau basah? Macam mana aku tak basah Hujan timpa aku Hujan timpa aku Hujan oh hujan Kenapa engkau turun? Macam mana aku tak turun Katak panggil aku Katak panggil aku Katak oh katak Kenapa panggil hujan? Macam mana aku tak panggil Ular nak makan aku Ular nak makan aku Ular oh ular Kenapa kau makan katak? Macam mana aku tak makan Memang makanan aku Memang makanan aku English translation below: Stork oh stork Why are you so thin? How am I not skinny... The fishes are not surfacing The fishes are not surfacing Fish oh fish Why are you not surfacing? How can I get to the surface... The grass is too long The grass is too long Grass oh grass Why are you too long? How can I not be long... The Buffalo did not eat me The Buffalo did not eat me Buffalo oh buffalo Why do you not eat the grass? How can I eat them... My belly ache My belly ache Belly oh belly Why are you sick? How can I not be sick... I ate raw rice I ate raw rice Rice oh rice Why are you raw? How am I not raw... Firewood was wet Firewood was wet Wood oh wood Why are you wet? How can I not get wet... Rain fall over me Rain fall over me Rain oh rain Why do you fall down? How do I not fall down... The Frog called me The Frog called me Frog oh frog Why do you call the rain How can I not call? The Snake wanted to eat me The Snake wanted to eat me Snake oh snake Why do you want to eat the frog How do I not eat it... It is my natural food (It is my nature) It is my natural food (It is my nature)
