Let It Go

I was rather tickled at how yesterday's by-elections turned out. Opposition supporters this morning were all moody. News portals all quiet. Haha, relax lah brudders. This is democracy in action. Now you know. The majority *wants* this. They're more interested in immediate satisfaction than long term gain. They want free money, new projects, free makan. The abuses & the corruption? Pffft. Who cares. Got nothing to do with them what.

I had the same feeling after I got over my dismay of PKR's own sham elections. If their own members from president to the coffee boy don't give a sh*t about the very public bitchfights for positions while the ship drifts further & further away from Putrajaya, who are we to say anything? They cooked the dish, let them eat it lah.

And in yesterday's post, I alluded to some well-meaning civil society people who were egging voters to take free money. Money allegedly being used for vote buying by the other party. So now, stealing bribe money is legal. Uuhh... okay. If everyone wants to believe that while shouting themselves hoarse about honesty, integrity and accountability, then let them do it lah.

I'm not even going to mention "Be end".

Seriously man. Democracy 101 - Who gets the most ayes runs the ship. If the vast majority is a bunch of pirates who'd sell their children for $100, and if they choose a leadership who'll give them that money, you know what? Its perfectly within their rights to do so, just as its perfectly within your rights to disagree.

If they outnumber you 100 to 1, too bad for you. If you're not prepared to accept the outcome, then maybe you should get off the ship.

Am I saying its game over, let's give up? Hell no. I'm saying that to get anywhere, we first need to get over our own denials that whatever's been done to change things hasn't exactly worked out has it. What's the definition of insanity? Its doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each time.

I LOLed at the post by-election chatter on Twitter and FB, noticing how we're still barking up the wrong tree. Did we forget it takes 2 hands to clap? Everyone's pointing their finger at the big bad wolf...

... and conveniently forgetting the quiet uncle and auntie who queues up for hours under the hot sun believing they could get a $100 bribe. Kakakakaka....

Now multiply that by a few million people who'd do exactly the same thing given the chance. So where do you think the votes will go to?

I've said it time and again. Its not the politicians that I'm worried about. Its the people that put them there.

So, is anyone even interested in why these uncles and aunties came out to queue for $100? Or are we not interested because its easier to throw obscenities at the big bad wolf than think about why otherwise good people would do the unthinkable?

Yes, I'm talking about us, the Ugly Malaysian who set a low bar for ourselves.

We who don't see anything wrong in giving under-table money to get our way, trashing the environment without any consideration for our kids, oggling at accidents instead of getting down to help, and thinking that being unethical is actually being clever because it shows that we're smart or competitive.

And yes, we who'd sell out our children's future for $100. All symptoms of a more severe disease.

These things are heck of a lot harder to fix than shooting at one bad wolf isn't it? No wonder our lazy minds take the easier route.

I know what you're thinking. If religion can't fix it, how can we?

That's just the thing. When you drag religion in, people start arguing whose religion is true and whose is false. How do we even expect to get past first base?

Everything starts with us. We, as individuals, harbour our own imagined fears. We cultivate our own greed, desires, hatred and delusions. We *choose* to feel this way and that. People may try to influence us to shoot a gun but in the end, it is our finger that pulls the trigger so lets not blame other people for our actions.

With our choices, we collectively give rise to our identities and institutions and subsequently this whole mass of suffering that we call reality. Yup, we created this hell. Bad political parties, bad politicians, bad institutions, we breathed life into all of them. Since we created it, only we can reverse it, not the politicians.

Imagine, when people decide to act ethically, morally and with compassion, when they no longer feel like they need to flirt with the dark side to live and be happy, what use would dodgy leaders be to them? When bad politicians no longer have support, something happens. They and their dodgy institutions fade into oblivion.

Can it be done? Of course. Got so many examples out there.

The wolf is just a decoy. Let it go. Put your attention where its needed most, then we just might have a genuine chance.

(*Picture copyrights belong to the owner of whom I'm not.)