Malaysia is always wanting to boast that it has a system of parliamentary

democracy but behind that boast lies a highly undesirable situation where
it can only be said that Malaysian politicians are the products of a flawed
system rather than any kind of a truly genuine parliament-based regime.

Malaysian politicians have a long history of making statements that betray

a narrow and tribalistic upbringing, but lately, perhaps as a result of the
shocking outcomes of the March 2008 elections, these politicians have become
even more shrill and intense in their speeches and actions.

Many of the speeches and actions carried the implied message that other
communities away from your own are to be regarded as potential adversaries,
if not outright enemies.

This kind of scenario does not bode well for the future. Indeed this was the
recipe for the violent break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

Take for instance; The recent ruling that half of the new housing in a certain

state must be reserved for a certain community. This is exactly the kind of
outdated fascist mentality that the country can do without but which has been
allowed to hold sway over the nation for the last few decades.

And then there is the recent senseless statement by a senior minister that the
politics of the major community needed to be strengthened by numbers.

This major community by the way is the fastest-growing community in the

nation.
This is so because of a significantly higher birthrate as well as the influx
of people from neighbouring Indonesia, many of whom get residential or citizen
status (lawfully or otherwise) not long after their arrival. It is important
to note that politicians from this particular community are generally not
trusted by people belonging to the other communities.

Hence, such a statement does not provide much comfort to the other
communities,
in fact, it only served to send a chill down their spines.

In another state, certain politicians were busy trying to show which one
community was the boss. These people were appointed or rather they self-
appointed themselves to oversee pig farming, an economic activity that does
not involve them. These politicians were from the very same group which not
so long ago were making big noises about the proposed integrated pig-farming
project in another state. Imagine one community trying to control the economic
livelihood of another community. This can only happen in a country or nation
like Malaysia because of the inherent flaws in the administration of law and
justice. Why can't the MCA be appointed to oversee the pig farmers ?
Why can't the pig farmers be given the chance to move on to modern farms ?
Is it that no trust can exist between the politicians in this country ?
Or is it that one community must lord over another community in order to
have a semblance of justice and authority ?

If the situation was another way around, people would be baying for aid from
the government night and day. But in this instance, the farmers did not get
help from the government but instead the farmers faced the full wrath of these
myopic and provincial politicians, who, incidentally, were supported by the
powerful pro-government mass media. Where is the sense of natural justice and
fairplay that are supposedly existng here in this country.
 This situation reminded one of the recent ship hijacking off Somalia in Sept
this year. There was loud outpouring of sympathy in the press and in the end,
a big sum of money was paid as ransom to free the crews. Not highlighted in
the press and neither was any aid given were the many cases of piracy in the
Malacca Straits which involved fishermen as victims. The pirates responsible
here were mostly heavily-armed men from the Indonesian maritime police who
had no compunctions to do a side income. It really is no surprise that people
with mega-size families usually find it hard to make ends meet and therefore
extra money is always needed and it could be obtained by such activites, or as

over in Malaysia, it could be obtained by practising corruption.

Again, the flaws of the system in this country have allowed money politics to
thrive to this day despite the many public denunciations against it. Money
politics is just a gentle word for bribery. Bribery is just one form of
corruption. In Malaysia, corruption comes in many forms. There are lucrative
contracts, expensive gifts, expensive weddings, prepaid services, and even
sexual favours that regularly get doled out.

The flaws in this country have allowed the government to get away with the
injustice of depriving minority communities of fair job placings in the civil
service. People usually prefer to keep silent over this matter, but when
someone dared to open his mouth on the matter in the state assembly, the hot-
headed mainstream politicians immediate issued open condemnations and threats.

Minority communities have gotten used to insults, threats and other forms of
abuse from the mainstream politicians. Once in a while, they might protest,
but they are met with even louder insults and threats and even arrests. Even
others like the multi-community Bar Council have not been spared.

Malaysia is one among a very small group of countries in the world that allow
mainstream politicians to openly and repeatedly insult and zealously issue
threats against minority citizens or non-governmental groups whenever they
felt
that they have been offended, rightly or wrongly, as the authorities are
always
known to look the other way each time it happened. This is really bad and
evil.

Meanwhile these mainstream politicians are quick and ever ready to use such
terms as "social contract", "supremacy" and other neo-fascist conoctations to
justify their stand. Even the name of the hated colonial master (Reid) is used

to support the continuing existence of the flaws in this country.

These politicians do not have the intelligence or prefer not to have it when
they deal with social issues in the country. Neither Reid nor any social
contract would permit abuse to be used in administrating the country. More so,
when the abuse is perpetually aimed at the minorities.

It has been more than half a century since the departure of the colonial
rulers, but till today, our politicians are still no more than a bunch of
ill-educated people save for a handful of individuals.

Many politicians even in the top echelons are no more than people who have
been implicated in many scandals and even those who were not have been well
known to unhesitatingly enjoy the good life, with endless parties, luxurious
and alcohol-laden functions and meetings with the high and mighty to attend.
The sufferings of the ordinary citizen are very far from their minds.

Meanwhile crime is on a wild and boundless spree and policemen now have
greater opportunities to practise and hone their shooting skills at live
targets. Never mind ,if occasionally, the targets were more than one at a
time and in a crowded or enclosed space. Eventually such shootings would end
with innocent civilians or bystanders getting the one-way ticket but with our
kind of politicians in power, one would not be surprised if they behaved like
the US military and deemed these innocent casualties as colateral damage.

Others would see them as the victims of a fatally-flawed political system.