“…to know your enemy, you must become your enemy” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Vivegavalen Vadi Valu
The ultimate paradox being would a ship over the years having had its parts repaired, reconstructed and rebuilt still be the same ship? How one can expect change from within two sides of the same coins will forever be beyond me for as we stand motionless in a continuous loop of illusions and mirages, there is an unmistakeable void in our conscience that this is no longer a problem of systems and institutions but rather the very people making up the framework. This then is the bitter truth of a country and its people, of Malaysia and the Malaysian dilemma.
The common man comprehends causality as the relation between a set of variables or factors and its resulting phenomenon. Thus, a cause succinctly is the reason as to why something happens and an effect is the result of the cause itself. Now, in 1798, a British scholar by the name of Thomas Malthus wrote a paper on the Principles of Population. He highlighted two crucial elements in that the increase of population is necessarily limited by subsistence and that the superior power of population should be repressed, in that the actual population is kept equal to the means of subsistence by misery and vice.
The derived hypothesis for instance was that global warming was not the reason for the melting of the polar ice caps but rather global warming was the symptom of the actual problem but overpopulation, or in other words, the human race was in its entirety. In context then, is corruption and racism in Malaysia the cause of our current quandary or the mere effect stemming from twenty nine million causes calling themselves Malaysian?
The fallacy of an ideal that serves the elite few, they who go through formal education, more so today an intellectual wasteland, where one placates their conscience to fit the needs of corporate morality - these are the people whom you pin your hopes upon, whom you leave unchecked, void of support, and when it all invariably comes crashing down, you weep in misery, blaming all but forgetting one, you. You berate the politicians, despondently laying your problems on the shoulders of another. You hate the disparity, revel in calamity and wallow in self-pity but do nothing.
Then, the cry, as old as time itself, ‘for tomorrow’s children and for a better future’; we stand, sit and march, never accepting that to each lie within a selfish dream. Oh the usual arguments of a failed system and state, the problems of a single party ruling a country nigh on fifty-six years, the real enemy which needs to be displaced and destroyed no matter the consequence. The plethora of support only before an election, to fight the good fight, a majestic tale of genuine concern for the country and your kinsmen and yet the irony is that more than half of you probably do not even know your neighbours name, what more, most of you lack the basic decency to love and care enough to take an interest in the welfare of a fellow Malaysian.
I wonder then, who here truly is the enemy?
The common man comprehends causality as the relation between a set of variables or factors and its resulting phenomenon. Thus, a cause succinctly is the reason as to why something happens and an effect is the result of the cause itself. Now, in 1798, a British scholar by the name of Thomas Malthus wrote a paper on the Principles of Population. He highlighted two crucial elements in that the increase of population is necessarily limited by subsistence and that the superior power of population should be repressed, in that the actual population is kept equal to the means of subsistence by misery and vice.
The derived hypothesis for instance was that global warming was not the reason for the melting of the polar ice caps but rather global warming was the symptom of the actual problem but overpopulation, or in other words, the human race was in its entirety. In context then, is corruption and racism in Malaysia the cause of our current quandary or the mere effect stemming from twenty nine million causes calling themselves Malaysian?
The fallacy of an ideal that serves the elite few, they who go through formal education, more so today an intellectual wasteland, where one placates their conscience to fit the needs of corporate morality - these are the people whom you pin your hopes upon, whom you leave unchecked, void of support, and when it all invariably comes crashing down, you weep in misery, blaming all but forgetting one, you. You berate the politicians, despondently laying your problems on the shoulders of another. You hate the disparity, revel in calamity and wallow in self-pity but do nothing.
Then, the cry, as old as time itself, ‘for tomorrow’s children and for a better future’; we stand, sit and march, never accepting that to each lie within a selfish dream. Oh the usual arguments of a failed system and state, the problems of a single party ruling a country nigh on fifty-six years, the real enemy which needs to be displaced and destroyed no matter the consequence. The plethora of support only before an election, to fight the good fight, a majestic tale of genuine concern for the country and your kinsmen and yet the irony is that more than half of you probably do not even know your neighbours name, what more, most of you lack the basic decency to love and care enough to take an interest in the welfare of a fellow Malaysian.
I wonder then, who here truly is the enemy?
Vivegavalen Vadi Valu is in his final year of the LL.B and is currently the editorial writer for the United Kingdom & Eire Council of Malaysian Students (CEKU). He enjoys the subtle nuances of all things Malaysian and hopes to one day make a difference – although he isn’t quite sure how just yet, he welcomes all feedback atvivek.v_velan@live.com
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