(Talking about being the dreamland, the image above has nothing to do with the post below but it’s damn funny. Just letting you know. Source: Malaysian Gags Facebook Page)
Yes, I am still here…
In the morning, one of the first things I do when I am away from the country, is to switch on the news channel (BBC & CNN preferred but if there is none, then the local news channel). It has been my habit since I started flying overseas for assignments. You will never know what would be the breaking news for the day.
That is how one day back in 2004 when I was in Ghana, I woke up to a beautiful morning and switched on to the BBC news channel and watched the tsunami that killed almost 280,000 people. I recalled my wife saying that they were going to the beach.
I panicked and desperately tried called the numbers that I knew but no one answered. It was a good 30 minutes before my wife picked up and noticed the 20-25 miss calls. They were at the beach with my Big Boss (who was a few months old) and had not known what had happened on the other side of the world. They went back to the hotel room and were glued to the TV for the rest of the day.
I still maintain this habit and one thing about watching the news on Malaysia overseas is that there is less propaganda and biased reporting (honest, it seems to be so). When it comes to calling a spade a spade, you get the raw deal.
Yes, you still see Najib on the news but the foreign news channels do not waste the opportunity when the administration bungled big time (not like in Malaysia where such delicate matters are swiftly swept under the carpet or the respective Ministers coming out in public and making dumb statements).
Then someone pointed out this and it got me thinking (my first thought was WTF!):-
KUALA KANGSAR: Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, chairing his first meeting of the Perak Dewan Negara since ascending the throne, told its members to always tell him the truth “no matter how bitter it may be”.
“Do not tell me tales to send me into dreamland when the reality on the ground is something entirely different.
“Hopefully, members of Dewan Negara will help me in all sincerity and honesty so that I can discharge my responsibilities fairly and equitably,” he said in addressing the 159th meeting of the Perak Dewan Negara at Istana Iskandariah here yesterday.
Sultan Nazrin recalled that his late father, Sultan Azlan Shah, when addressing the 150th meeting of the Dewan Negara in March 2012, had said that the institution of the monarchy would remain relevant so long as it had the respect of the people.
(Source)
In an ideal situation, in an ideal country, this would have admirable but it is not. This is Malaysia and of all places, this is Perak where in 2009 BN politicians staged a coup (sort of) with 3 assemblymen frog-jumping to the dark side of the force and took control of the state in the most undemocratic way.
And now 6 years down the line, the new Sultan addresses the assembly and asking the politicians (the very same ones who were involved in the power tussle in 2009) to tell him the truth no matter how bitter it is. The good Sultan’s intentions may be noble but this call is a mere wish list. It is not going to happen – not now, tomorrow or ever.
Which politician have been angel and been the one who tells the truth, nothing but the truth? There are a couple of them out there but you not going to find it in the Perak assembly where even pepper spray was even used. And because, most of the time, the trouble makers are the politicians themselves. The last thing they want to do is to point the finger at themselves.
Even in the net, some even questioning why the Sultan is asking the politicians for the truth? Doesn’t he has other alternative sources? Doesn’t he had aides who can go and check around on the issues in the his State? Doesn’t he has the power to call up people who are involved and ask them directly? Does he has any powers to punish or make things right?
And speaking of living in a dreamland, there is one clear winner in this country.
You also know who is the person. And this is one reason why this country going down the drain. It does not take an Einstein to know that you are in dreamland.
Just look at the front pages – child custody issue and the police confused which law to follow, Malaysians getting famous for the reasons as fighters in other countries, racial and religious slurs and accusations is flying all over the place and at a rate of free for all. And where the guy in dreamland doing? Busy flying around the world and closing one eye to all these issues. In other words, no where to be seen. That’s right – no where to be seen.
And I am not talking of him not being in the country (well, lately he has been doing just that). What I mean is he is not in the thick of the situation.
Child custody issue – both parents gets involved, both courts gets involved, the police gets involved and then get confused and both side politicians gets involved and ask the Government to step in and makes things clear. The man in charge is no where to be seen. He is still in the dreamland where the country is doing well and the citizens living happily ever after.
And sometimes, he sends his dumb minions to check on the issue and they seems to have the same delusions and symptoms of being in dreamland. For example:-
This incident Saturday morning where a skinned cow’s head was found in front of R.S.N Rayer’s house in Penang is a result of the Seri Delima assemblyman’s big mouth, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Dr Ahmad Zahid said this was the price Rayer had to pay for being a “mulut celupar” (lose cannon).
”As a politician, I sympathise with what he has to go through in the incident. But that is the price he has to pay if ‘mulut celupar’,” he told reporters after launching the Certified Security Guards training programme here Saturday.
(Source)
As a politician, he sympathises but as a Home Minister, shouldn’t he be doing something? Or is he like his big boss, still in a dreamland where ministerial job is taken as something exclusive and opened to the selected few and failure to discharge their duties rightfully, unbiased and with greater responsibility & care means nothing?
Nah, this too is not going to happen and you know why? The big guy is sleeping on the job and still in a dreamland. No one knows who is on the pilot’s seat. Will he wake up and come out and smell how the real world smells like?