JYSim for jobless-yokel Sim

Been forced to read up on PA lately, and I’ve found Malaysian politicians are very aspiring writers in general. I find bombastic words, inspirational sentences and policies promising tomorrow will be a better day. Yet, after 30+ years of policy-making and almost 50 years of nationhood, do we live in a ‘Malaysia yang saintifik, progresif dan maju’?
No offence to our 2 most respected politicians, but here’s Dasar Wawasan Negara (2001-2010) on the textbook. Italics being the thoughts of the writer.

Dasar Wawasan Negara
Strategi-strategi utama DWN ialah:
- pembasmian kemiskinan tanpa mengira kaum (and why is Mr. Tan Ying Jing still oh-so-pitifully poor?)
- penyusunan semula masyarakat
- pembangunan yang seimbang
Teras-teras kritikal DWN adalah seperti berikut:
1. Membina bangsa yang berdaya tahan dengan memupuk semangat perpaduan, menyemarakkan semagnat patriotik, membentuk kematangan politik (as in a Sabahan minister cursing Karpal Singh and our Higher Education Minister blindly defending the Ethics Relations textbook? Or as in Mr. Sami Veloo crashing another bridge?), membina masyarakat supaya lebih teratur dan penyayang (as in the lorry and bus driver who knocked and ran over my ex-schoolmate? and nobody offering help after that?) yang tersemat dengan nilai-nilai positif…
2. menggalakkan pewujudan masyarakat yang saksama melalui pembasmian kemiskinan dan pengurangan ketidakseimbangan di kalangan dan di dalam kumpulan etnik serta wilayah (and that’s why scholarships won’t be merit-based, not yet, and as if that’s very ’saksama’).
3. (omitted)
4. mempertingkatkan daya saing negara untuk menghadapi cabaran-cabaran globalisasi dan liberalisasi (how nice it sounds in our written essays, but I do not see any improvement in competitiveness except in parlimentary debate sessions).
5. membangunkan ekonomi berasaskan pengetahuan sebagai satu langkah strategik untuk meningkatkan nilai ditambah dan mengoptimumkan daya pemikiran rakyat (appearantly bomohs are considered a ‘pekerjaan berasaskan pengetahuan’, they’ll get their offices and clinics soon in hospitals).
6. mengukuhkan pembangunan sumber manusia untuk menghasilkan tenaga kerja yang mahir, produktif dan berpengetahuan (even if we have the best workforce in the world, the frequent (and sometimes misleading) ’sistem down’ in our immigration offices, LHDN, post office, Astro customer center and Maybank will still slow us down).
7. meneruskan pembangunan alam sekitar yang mapan (recently they tried to chop down out precious Belum-Temenggor Forest Reserve, we signed a consignment, we sent it to UNESCO, UNESCO responded, the Prime Minister agreed to keep it, and 5 days later you see huge logs in The Star, readily processed and sent to US by MASKargo).

While we undeniably are among the top in technological civility and digital literacy, our mentality is still, sadly, uncivilised. From the English Mr. Lim Seng Huat speaks to how our Ministers act in public and appaling PowerRoot advertisements on TV, we still have much to catch up in order to achieve Vision 2020. No doubt it is a responsibility to preserve our heritage i.e. wrapping Bah Chang, speak Hokkien and cook Chay Koay Teow using the traditional charcoal fire, keeping the boasting attitude (as in a Mr. Loh in my class), being superstitious, and treat a grand public function (as in the Nobel Laureate talk) like some low-class ah-pek’s wedding is not going to contribute towards a first-class mentality as mentioned in 9MP.
I put the blame on our ministers. Being the frontliner of the country, they should act and speak with discipline, principles, and bearing their image in minds. Joking is still a common act in Parliment, much to our agony, and very often ministers spend days after days discussing unimportant matters i.e. London Sports Complex, Siti Nurhaliza’s wedding etc. Some of our ministers are pak turuts sadly i.e. when Mahathir says ‘build the Johor-Singapore crooked bridge,’ they shout ‘yes, go ahead!’. Several months later, when Abdullah cancled the project and Mahathir verbally lambasted him, instead of supporting Matathir (as they did), they said they’ll back Abdullah and they trust the government is doing the right thing and the country is poor and it is not suitable to build the bridge etc etc etc.
While Vision 2020 is still within our grasp, if we bend the conditions a little, it’s vital to start a mentality revolution now. The first step will be to widen our viewpoints and plan ahead, and replacing our rotten ministers as soon as possible. Next would be to create a truly, genuinely fair and merit-based society, with no credit given to those with Dato’ supports, racial identity and family background.

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