Ladies and gentlemen, and the award goes to... — Art Harun (Courtesy of The Malaysian Insider and art-harun.blogspot.com)
DEC 22 — The theft of an F5-E fighter jet engine from the Royal Malaysian Air Farce, eh sorry, Air Force, perhaps aptly defines the year 2009 as far as Malaysia (1 or otherwise) is concerned.
The absurdity of it all. And not to mention the audacity of it all. And as if to further add sodium chloride to the wide gaping wounds that all of us, Malaysians, suffer every time our so-called leaders forget to take their medications, we are told that so and so have been sacked or told to leave their job, some even earning pensions and whatever.
First, it was some plastic explosives being taken out from the storage to blow to smithereens some poor woman from a far away land, whose entry into Malaysia was erased from record. Just like that. As if C4 explosives from the people who are supposed to protect our country are just some cheap chewing gum which could be taken by anybody, at any time, for whatever reason. As if immigration records are notations made on some scrapbook which could be altered, amended or erased by anybody, at any time and for whatever reason.
And nobody even shook their butt to do anything. No report. No investigation. No blinking, nothing. Just like that.
At the same time, the public has to endure living in fear of crimes. We have to keep even our rubbish bins in locks and chains. Our drainage cover has to be welded lest it will be stolen in bright daylight. Our roads and lanes have instant holes as the sewage covers are stolen. Women can't even walk on the side of our roads for fear of being dragged to their death by handbag snatchers.
Nowhere is safe. Not even in the police lock-up, as Kugan found out the hard way. Not at the MACC office either, if reports of death and torture are to be believed.
Meanwhile, those in whom who are entrusted the duty to protect us are busy tracing individuals like Raja Petra Kamarudin, who apparently had so insulted Islam that he was, and still is, deemed to be a threat to national security. Even then, with all the might and powers of the state behind them, they are not able to trace him!
If RPK had insulted Islam, what about those who had walked after Friday prayers with a bloodied and severed cow head while policemen stood by the side doing nothing for fear of "making the situation worse"? Haven't they insulted Islam? What about those who said non-Malays are second-class citizens? And those who wrote that the Kelings are so lucky to be in Malaysia that they should just shut up and count their blessings? Oh well, they are given a pat on their shoulder because the newspaper they wrote for is the "voice of the people".
And at the same time, billions are squandered, pillaged and stolen. PKFZ has become really dirty letters. And what do we all get? Yes. We get engineers, architects and some minions charged for falsifying claims and the like. Now, the questions are, were all those false claims paid? If so, why? And who are the beneficiaries of those payments? Who authorised those payments? Aren't they guilty of something too?
Elsewhere we are the masters of sloganeering and self-glorification. We shout and scream 1 Malaysia at every possible instant and opportunity. Why? Even our mandatory "salam" has been reviewed to "Salam Satu Malaysia".
We have become, or been reduced to, a society which is shallow. Which is no deeper than our skin and the colour of it. We are obsessed with some drama actress becoming the second wife of a member of Parliament who ironically declared that women "leaked" once a month. Never mind the FDIs. Never mind the proposed GST. Never mind the Copenhagen Conference failing to reach any kind of tangible consensus on climate control.
Never mind. Because we are a society who love celebrities and their weddings. And divorce too.
An old professor of mine remarked to me over tea some months ago. After leaving Malaysia for Japan for so many years, he observed that Japan had gone through a period of extreme physical and material transformations. Coming back to Malaysia briefly after some years, he also noted that Malaysia had achieved so much physical and material transformation, just like Japan.
But there is one marked difference. Japan and her people have not seen their values and honour change. Their values and old-aged honour are still part of their society. They still know their responsibilities. Their duty to account. They still possess a deep sense of honour. And all that despite their physical and material achievements.
Malaysia and her people, according to him, have lost their sense of honour. We have changed our values. We are now measured not by our honesty, honour and sense of responsibility. We are now measured by the location of our houses and mansions; by the Cayennes X6 and whatever road-going behemoth that we drive; by how much power we can wield to bend the rules and laws in our favour; by how much favour we can call our friends in high places to do us. And of course by the trophy wives and girlfriends (and vice versa) who are seen beside us with the obligatory gold and diamond-crusted watch, LV handbag and Blahnik shoes.
Because that is what we are now. How we acquire those material possessions is not important. The question is what we do possess.
We are a society which is almost bereft of any spiritual and moral guidance. As if whatever is fair is foul and foul is fair. As if the very fabric of our existent has changed. And for the worse, that is.
It is the little wonder that a whole jet engine could be stolen from our royal air force. It is a right royal embarrassment, by any count. But what do we care? It is an old engine. We could buy thousands more. We have the money. And the persons whom we think are responsible for this shameful act have left.
Never mind any criminal offence which have quite obviously been committed by these people. They have after all been punished by being told to quietly leave. That was what we did to Ahmad Ismail, remember? And Isa Samad, remember? We dealt with them internally. They have served their sentence. And they, as everybody else, deserve a second, or even a third, chance. Why? Even Anwar Ibrahim, a convicted criminal, is now a member of Parliament.
And so we are told that we do have a full-proof system which would ensure these kind of things do not happen. But is this system fool-proof? Because if it is not, then there will always be some fools who can't even operate within a full-proof system. That is quite obvious.
And so we are told that there will not be a cover up. Yes, we, the people expect that there will be no cover up. But of course what constitutes a "cover-up" is subject to interpretation, isn't it? Like "we will not discuss it ever because the matter concerns national security". Is that a cover up? Or "we cannot charge them because matters concerning national security should not be discussed in open court". Is that a cover-up? Or "we can only charge them behind closed doors because the matter concerns national security". Is that a cover-up?
And we are left to wonder how it all happened. And why did it take a full year before the whole magical act was discovered by our ever vigilant military who is supposed to protect our nation from rogue countries, evil terrorists, Islam-insulting individuals scum of the Earth and hell, and Ketuanan Melayu evil objectors who really should just go back to wherever they came from (never mind the fact that these people were born in this country).
Would it be a severe case of paranoia if we, the people, start to wonder what else has been stolen from our military? Like our defence strategy? Or tactical blueprint? After all, these are sensitive and highly protected secrets (or supposed to be). Remember what they said in Parliament when questions were raised as to why there was not open tender for the submarines that we bought? It was said that open tenders should not be called because that will expose our national security matters unnecessarily.
Oh well, why must we worry. We still have our submarines. — art-harun.blogspot.com
By the time blogspot post this schedule posting atau korang baru baca posting aku nih, aku dah berada beribu batu dari Malaysia yang mana ianya satu tempat menarik, tertarik ko memang da b**m... aku boleh layan family aku main air bersih berseri-seri macam crystal, snokel carik ariel si ikan duyung, main pasir buat sand castle, naik kuda, naik off-roader, boleh buat sesi tembak menembak, dok kat tepi pantai tengok sunset. makan tak hengat tapi rege OK, rilek-rilek tepi pantai, tak yah pikir pasal kerja, tenang bak itik berenang..... bak kata pakcik dalam tibi, macam-macam ada.......
dan
dan
kat opis.....
tapi for sure yang apa yang akan aku dapat kat opis bila aku masuk nanti, macam kat bawah ni (minus the lady in the middle ><) 
Apapun enjoyS to the max sebelum terbungkam !!! >< Hepi Holidays Everyone...
Geng2 India yang melepak di roundabout Bab Al-Bahrain...
