Why thank the thieves?

This article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 20/10/2013

When thieves stole our money, are we going to say thank you to these thieves? Sounds crazy, isn’t it?

This is the case of the petrol subsidies which have been taken away little by little from our people by the Barisan Nasional government.

When people are complaining of an increase in inflation following the rise in the petrol price recently, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan, who is also the Umno information chief, came out in defence of the government by saying that the people did not even thank the government when there are subsidies for the petrol all this while.

Yes, no one thanks the government, the BN coalition or even Umno for the subsidies that the people had enjoyed all this while. First of all, why should we thank the thieves?

The BN government, Umno and Ahmad should understand the basic roles and responsibilities of a government. When you give subsidies to all of us, we do not have to thank you or feel grateful because it is the utmost duty of every government to provide or assist the people by whatever means. This is the basic concept of being in the government’s seat.

Furthermore, what make things much worse is that this government of the BN coalition dominated by Umno is full of mismanagement, corruption and power abuse.

And when you increase the prices and cause a rapid rise in inflation, the people grumble because this BN government is dipping into our pockets so that its leaders could become even wealthier.

This government gives some of our people RM500 once a year and had even pledged to continue such payouts following the petrol price increase and the rise in inflation. Kindly calculate how much subsidy you have given to the people and how much you are taking for yourselves (to become even wealthier).

Indirectly, we would say this government is quietly stealing from us. Well, some of us would even say this government is robbing us in broad daylight. In this case, why should we thank the thieves?

Just look at the latest report from the Auditor-General. According to the audit report,  mismanagement, corruption and power abuse within the government are rampant; worse still, it has already become an annual “event” since this government has not taken any serious measures to get rid of such negative elements from its administration.

1Malaysia, GTP, ETP or even Endless Possibilities and what else? This government is losing billions of ringgit almost every year because of its ignorance of all those wrongdoings.

Again, why should we thank such a government? Why should we thank those who took away our rights, our money and now dipping into our pockets in order to enrich themselves?

If this government is not here to lighten our financial burden, high cost of living and the impact of inflation, what then is this government good for? Saying “thank you” to them? No way!

In fact, the BN government should be thankful to the people as nobody staged an uprising to topple the administration, like what had happened in many countries most recently. The BN leaders should be thankful to the people because until today they are still the government of the day, even though the BN received fewer popular votes than the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat in the last general election.

Then, the BN leaders should also be thankful that they are still drawing ministerial salaries, perks, benefits and annual allocations continuously at the expense of the people. Apart from that, the people continue to pay their income tax dutifully every year, even when mismanagement, corruption and power abuse are still rampant in this government.

And yet this government has the cheek to publish an advertisement in major TV channels warning our people not to stop paying their income tax or prison term awaits them.

So, how could our people show their appreciation to this government which has too many shortcomings and yet arrogantly refuses to acknowledge its major weaknesses by seeking measures to redeem the dire situation.