The fluff must go somewhere

Getting old and crochety in my dotage, but seriously, some of these people could jolly well just grow the hell up.

All fine bitching about others (or in one case about siblings) but when you act like that yourself, you don’t get a shred of understanding nor sympathy from me. Besides, the world doesn’t revolve around you so stop acting so touchy as if it does.

Urgh! Juveniles!

I hardly read mainstream newspapers these days. Every paper has their own agenda backed by whichever political party owns it. But I sometimes do skim the online news sites to see what’s the latest. And today, the very first piece of headline and piece of news I see set my blood to boil not for the news it contained (that’s stupid too IMO) but for the poor English grammar in what is an English newspaper.

Here is the online extract edited by me.

Error #1 – “Police Report Not Needed for LOSS of documents” or “Police Report Not Needed for Lost Documents” The reporter and editor can’t seem to make up his/her mind so they went for a mish mash of both.

Error #2 – “KUALA LUMPUR: The public no longer need to make a police report for lost or damage birth, marriage, academic and vehicle registration certificates, a Malaysian passport, a driving licence and a land grant.” should read “DAMAGED”

Error #3 – “The requirement not only inconvenient the public..” Even if the man did say it as quoted, I don’t think he would complain if the editor amended it to read “The requirement not only inconveniences the public…” It makes him look more intellegent and less like an idiot.

Error #4 – “ This requirement also resulted in rising cost in police operations and does not add value to the police service delivery,” Messed up tenses. Decide if you want to use present or past tense and not just mix them up willy nilly. The man may have a poor command of English but as an English newspaper I think you owe the public the use of proper grammar.

Error #5 – “Mohd Sidek asked all government agencies to identify matters that need the public to submit” Tenses again. Asked = Needed.

Reading this article was like driving along the roads of KL – bumpy and full of potholes that jar the smooth reading of the article.

This was just one piece of news. I didn’t even bother to read the rest. Back in the day, we built our language skills by reading newspapers – whether English or BM. These days, I think some (not all) bloggers who own alternative news sites write better. Is it any wonder people would rather read the alternative news? They at least make sense.

The English newspapers owe the public a duty to ensure they maintain a high standard of English. There is no use lamenting the decline of the English language among the young if the papers can’t even get it right in the first place. If the standard of English in the press is anything to go by, I would suggest the press clean up their act first, then turn to the education system, so the young have something to learn from.

If it makes you happier to leave then perhaps that is the right thing for you to do. If that decision was made for you and you like it where you are, that is too, perhaps the right thing for you.

But just because I choose to stay does not make me stupid, ignorant or apathetic. I’m really tired of people insinuating that. You don’t have to feel sorry for me, nor do you have to feel the need to champion my perceived rights in the safety of your first world country. I know how the winds are blowing and perhaps, I just happen also to know what I want and how to work the system to my advantage. And contrary to my rantings, I am happy where I am. It isn’t perfect – what is? But I’m happy here and that’s most important.

I would just prefer for people to understand that and stop ramming your rhetoric down my throat. Yes, we may not be leading the perfect life where we are. But we stay for a reason, whatever that reason may be. It might be family, it might be that you can and do earn a decent living, or it might just be that you like it here.

So yes, I am happy where I am. Surprised?

If you are as happy where you are as you say you are, stop looking back to see what you left behind or if you are missing out. Stop that pitying look. Perhaps, just perhaps, living here makes me stronger, more wily and less complacent.

I made my choice. Now make yours.

In the midst of the brouhaha that is the Bersih rally, I have learnt a few things about our fellow Malaysians:-

The top 4 are admirable qualities. We have shown the Government that the people, the Rakyat, is a force to be reckoned with. We are ready to put racial differences aside to stand side by side against something we feel strongly about. We are united not because of a man or a woman. We are united because we all believe in a common cause. I read some people lamenting how Tuanku Abdul Rahman would feel were he to see the people in the streets. My guess is, he would be proud. Back in his day, he too led a rally for independance. What difference is that to what happened last weekend?

The people of Malaysia are no longer the docile lambs led to the slaughter. We are now ready to stand up for something we believe in – in this case, a cleaned up electoral roll (Bersih) and various voting procedures and rights. The BN blamed the Opposition and trumpeted “If the electoral roll isn’t clean, how did the Opposition win 5 states in 2008?”

But that isn’t the point. Because the political tsunami in 2008 was so strong not even the postal votes or phantom voters could save the situation. They could hardly drum up a bigger number of votes than there are people in a certain constituency. Hence the large win by the Opposition.

But when you can run a search in the SPR and find people still listed as born in 1898 and the like, that tells you the electoral roll isn’t clean. When people overseas cannot vote, that is not a clean election. That is a fact and the SPR should stop barking that “People die everyday! How can we keep up!” and instead say “We will look into it and see if its correct. ” The former makes people angry at the ineptitude, the latter placates the majority who will say “At least they are doing something” whether or not they do. Its basic simple phychology 101 folks!

But what troubles me is the last quality I observed from Saturday’s events. We aren’t a very coherent people.

Example No. 1 our Information Minister, Zainuddin Maidin, when quizzed by Al-Jazeera at the height of the street rally. He blustered, stammered, shouted and made an utter fool of himself on international TV by failing at every turn to utter a complete sentence. Even Chemical Ali, Iraq’s Information Minister who steadfastly proclaimed “The Americans are nowhere near Baghdad” when the Americans were knocking at his door, was more coherent than ours. Zainuddin Maidin has to go. I have never heard him utter a coherent sentence at any time!

Example No. 2 our beloved PM. On the day of the street rally, he chose to go to Terengganu and proclaimed he had a packed day of back to back events. In the safety of KT he praised the people there for not attending the street rally. The next day, he held a meeting with NGOs and UMNO members where he behaved not as a Prime Minister should, but as a person craving for attention and endorsement. He raised his voice, he dramatised, he praised the police despite the video evidence to the contray, he denounced the Rakyat and he played the racial card. This is our second flip flopping PM and we really do not need another. He wasn’t very coherent. What I took away from what little I heard (and I couldn’t stand the dramatizing) was that he was afraid. Anyone who dramatises in that manner is afraid. A person unafraid will look at the camera, speak in a calm voice and be rational about things, not bluster and wave arms in the air like a football hooligan. From a rally for clean elections, his actions has turned it into a rally against him and his government.

Example No. 3 Anwar Ibrahim. I don’t support him you know. I’m angry with how the BN and Government is taking a lot of things for granted but I cannot support this man. I cannot support a general who abandons his troops to the maelstrom. I’m sorry if he was tear gassed or hit by a canister. But to retreat before taking 20 steps out the door and leaving the people, your troops, to defend themselves against the police and FRU, that was wrong on all counts. A true general fights with his people not makes his people fight for him alone. You are not the cause for which we fight.

Example No. 4. The people at large. Everyone is angry at what happened. The videos shot on the ground do not lie. Photographs do not lie. People who participated but who do not support any political party do not lie. However, in the main, I have found that people are largely incoherent about how they feel. One can oppose the PM or the Government or even the Bersih rally in a coherent rational manner. Instead, from the many Facebook pages that have sprouted, I find that people are merely name-calling and, like the Information Minister and PM, blustering and waving their arms about. No one has, from what I have seen, advanced a rational sentence. Name-calling and cursing only brings us down to playground level. It shows in the immaturity of these people who are the new generation of voters. Just because the people who lead are irrational and incoherent and immature doesn’t mean that we have to be too.

So I will watch and I will monitor the Facebook pages calling for the PM’s resignation. I don’t want this man but I cannot “like” the page until someone can advance a coherent sentence without cursing, name-calling or just making an ass of themselves. We are and should be better than the people we do not want leading us. Let us show we can be a coherent voice.