WHEN DID BEING AN OPPOSITION SUPPORTER MAKE YOU AN IDIOT?

Erna Mahyuni, Malay Mail Online

Too many Malaysians do not fully understand the function of an Opposition. It has gotten to the point where as soon as I hear someone publicly declare their support for the Opposition, I secretly wonder if the person is an idiot.

There’s a reason why I’m non-partisan. The problem with partisanship is that it often breeds a lack of objectivity and an unwillingness to accept that sometimes you are wrong.

Take the recent diatribe by Kee Thuan Chye, the known arts practitioner whose recent rant on the Budget is disappointingly dripping with naivete.

While yes, the Budget is problematic with its doling out of financial incentives by race, he makes certain assertions that are pretentious and made out of partisanship and demonstrates a lack of understanding about how the other side lives.

He mocks the assistance given to civil servants, asking “has the service provided by our civil servants improved in the last couple of years for them to deserve this?”

We walk a dangerous road when we insist on KPIs over all things, treating humans like machines. Machines can be fixed and repaired ― human beings cannot be held to the punishing exactness we expect of tools.

To answer his question, in some areas of civil service, yes, there is a marked improvement. For instance, renewing your passport is no longer as tedious as it used to be and counter service has markedly improved.

Of course our prime minister is playing to the gallery with his incentives for civil servants; we can all see that. But some of them will argue they are needed. The civil service is no longer quite as cushy as it used to be; if you’re not of a certain rank, you don’t really get much take-home pay and you are no longer set for life once you retire. Pensions are no longer a sure thing.

Being in the civil service doesn’t insulate you from inflation; by right all salaries in the country should be adjusted for rising costs. The reality is that 10 years ago, the starting pay for F&B and retail was RM1,500. It still is.

BR1M is yes, ridiculous. Those one-time piddling payments are not enough for the poor. But Kee also goes on to question payouts given to those who earn no more than RM2,000. His assertion that RM2,000 is enough to see a single person through comfortably is ridiculous.

It’s not enough if you have a car or study loan. Not if you have family to support. Not if you live in the Klang Valley, where all the jobs are.  Not if your family is not in the Klang Valley and you don’t have much savings and you’re forced to rent. Perhaps if you live in the less-developed parts of the country and stay with family, RM2,000 will still leave you with change in your pocket at the end of the month. In the Klang Valley, a single person would struggle to make that last until payday.

If you must criticise the Budget, criticise the huge allocation given to the prime minister’s department. The huge cuts in funding to public universities. The handouts given out  by race, instead of by need. The absence of proof that the painful plundering of the ordinary man’s pockets by the GST is actually helping the people who need it the most.

The government deserves a lot of criticism, yes. But make it the right kind, not blithely declaring that RM2,000 is enough for most single people, regardless of their circumstances. Not making emotional, elitist, severely entitled criticisms of the working class.

That is my problem with so many Opposition suppporters. Bla, bla, the government is evil, we must destroy it. That is not a proper argument. Learn to use your heads and not just your partisanship. No matter how you look down on the lower-income groups, understand this: right now they have more power than you, the entitled champagne socialists who sit on your high thrones declaring that they don’t deserve anymore help.

You want to see part of the reason why Barisan Nasional is still in power? Look at yourself in the mirror and think about how you alienate the very people you need to affect any sort of change.