Is materialism a national sickness?

“I notice you don’t need material things to make you happy,” one of my former colleagues said to me.

Quite possibly, he was struck by the absence of a watch and jewellery and had observed that I always wore rubber tapper shoes (known colloquially as Adidas kampung) and was usually outfitted in a range of fading rock T-shirts. A battered briefcase and a 22-year-old Perodua Kancil being other components of the get-up.

But he was quite right for I have long lived by the credo of keeping things simple and not placing any value whatsoever on expensive material products. It seems to me that it’s a lesson lost on many of us.

Certainly, our former leader and wife seemed fond of ostentatious living and we have already been treated to almost surreal accounts of the lavish spending of businessperson Jho Low. But we don’t really have to go very far to see examples of Malaysians competing with the Joneses to display their wealth. Popping your head out the front door will probably suffice.

But how did it get like this? Over the years, I have become acquainted with no less than four families of cabinet members from Tunku Abdul Rahman’s time. While successful and comfortable, they are not overflowing with wealth the way ruling party politicians from the 1980s appear to be. In fact, they spoke of how making personal sacrifices for the sake of the nation was an essential part of their political journey.

When did it become the norm to try and own garages full of vintage Rolls- Royce models? I visited a long-serving state minister with an expensive imported grand piano in each of the front three rooms of his office. Just how many does one need, I was thinking? The funny thing about the very rich is that a man who has RM10 million or RM100 million or RM1 billion is usually still greedy for more. And more.

Our much missed socialist MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj (photo) told me that it’s obscene to live opulently in a world where billions are struggling to survive. And that’s exactly how I feel.

“Don’t develop expensive tastes…,” I tell my three children, “for you will only end up having to work harder to maintain a ‘standard of living’ that you didn’t really need to have pursued in the first place.

“Invest in knowledge and experiences like travel, building relationships and making memories. Don’t take pride in glittering prizes that leave you hollow inside.”

I must say that having lived in bourgeois neighbourhoods most of my life, I have seen materialism held up as something to aspire to. But I never (ahem) bought it.

Even as a child I felt an acute conflict between the stated goals of religiosity and the avaricious accumulation of wealth. I felt like we Malaysians spend an hour or two each week going to a temple, church or a mosque and the rest of the time figuring out how to get rich.

When observing my fellow “worshippers,” it seemed to me that many would, in the words of Robert Plant “buy the stairway to heaven” if they could. Indeed, looking back, I can see that in the 1980s the country was full of nouveau riche Malaysians adapting to new-found wealth.

Dazzling exteriors

Of course, one has to be realistic. Ultimately, living in a capitalistic society means that our quality of life is frequently affected by the funds at our disposal. Health insurance, property, savings for college, EPF, writing of a will.

Those were all the things on my mind as I strove to be debt-free while living up to my duty of providing comfort and opportunities for my children.

I did succumb, eventually, to a smartphone, an iPad and a laptop at various points in time but not without substantial resistance before I found them unavoidable for my work. I also do have large collections of books and music, which I do not see as being related to the projection of wealth or upward social mobility.

At the same time, I want a basic fridge; not something that gives me ice sculptures of nativity scenes. I need a car to get me from point A to B, not an armoured vehicle trying to break the sound barrier.

If I can pay RM4 for a vegetable kuay teow dish at the corner coffee shop, I don’t feel inclined to spend eight times the price at a posh restaurant.

And I sure as hell I don’t need a watch with more encrusted jewels than the British crown jewels. Functionality over luxury at every step of the way for me.

Personally, I think it’s a fallacy that the profit motive is a prerequisite for progress. But I understand that that is probably too idealistic a goal. And I certainly don’t want to come across as one of those humble-braggers or reverse snobs. I genuinely don’t get a kick out of a lot of shiny prizes and will be glad to remain that way.

But I do understand, for example, that others have a genuine passion for high-end architectural constructs or the technology that makes a luxury watch so efficient.

As Malaysians, I believe we have come to a crossroads and need some clarity over what needs to be ditched and what needs to be retained. The days of white elephant projects on which vast resources are devoted, with little or no long term returns for the rakyat, well, surely they are over.

As for the preservation of our national resources versus rapid industrialisation, surely nobody needs to be schooled on sustainable development?

I am not suggesting a nation-wide gotong-royong with special attention to our clogged drains, although coming to think of it, that really isn’t the worst idea! What I am calling for is that as we seek to build a new Malaysia, we choose solid foundations instead of dazzling exteriors.

That we might want to go for a lot more substance and a lot less style. Surely a little spartan-ism wouldn’t hurt a nation that has become used to gorging itself on too much of a good thing?

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MARTIN VENGADESAN is a member of the Malaysiakini Team. - Mkini