Get our priorities right, focus on a decent livelihood

For how long will those responsible for the recent waste dumping in a river in Johor be jailed for?

Despite our rapid development, this country is moving backwards instead of forwards. I thought the May 9 polls last year would have restored integrity and sanity to this nation. But this not to be; the baloney continues, one after another.

Yes, insulting a religion sees swift action with one offender handed a 10-year sentence but polluters who caused schools to be closed and many people, mostly students, hospitalised are still being “investigated”.

Thus far, those responsible for environment and cleanliness at the federal, state and local levels have not made a sound. I don’t know, maybe they are too afraid or have “vested interests” to look into this. Maybe they are too busy with their personal lives.

What has happened to the promise of a cleaner environment and better quality of life? We still see hectares of land being cleared. We still see forest reserves being encroached so frequently.

We still see toxic waste being dumped into rivers and atmosphere, causing irreparable damage to others. And we are still waiting to see how the problems at the Lynas plant would be resolved.

Not only that, if we ever have two weeks’ of drought, the water level at our reservoirs and dams inevitably go below the critical level.

Who would ever be bothered with water rationing except those living in low-cost flats? They can, after all, line up with pails for water tankers to come each day and carry the little precious water up the stairs, floor by floor.

I don’t know, maybe I am just not sophisticated enough. Instead of talking and debating about LBGT rights, woman rights and the right of religions not to be insulted, I would prefer we concentrate a little more on our children’s rights of not being raped and murdered by an increasing number of deranged people in our society.

I would prefer to talk about our rights to safety and a decent livelihood.

Instead of talking endlessly about the ideals of democracy, free speech, constitutional rights and the Malay agenda, I would prefer we concentrate a little more on the shrinking value of the ringgit, wages and employment, how taxes are burdening the people, government spending that should be more people-centric, and handling of waste and preservation of the environment.

To be honest, when Pakatan Harapan took over the federal government, I actually thought that the ringgit would strengthen, taxes would be reduced, environment protection enhanced, the interest of cronies diminished, national unity improved and religious bigotry lessened.

Sad to say, not only have I seen no improvement, in many aspects, they have worsened.

TK Chua is an FMT reader.