Podcast out soon on Do More Today https://www.youtube.com/@DoMoreToday.Official
There are two definitions of the word ‘Politics’.
The official one, according to the Cambridge dictionary, offers the following:
‘Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions, resolve conflicts, and distribute power and resources within a community, society, or organization’
And then there is the alternative meaning, according to the Cambridge University Press:
‘In a corrupt society, politics shifts from being a tool for collective progress into an institutionalized system of self-enrichment. It ceases to represent the will of the public and instead functions as a mechanism for the ruling class to hoard wealth, solidify power, and protect corrupt networks’.
Now.
I will let you decide which category Malaysia falls into.
But it is clear from all the conversations and coffee shop talk that election fever is upon us.
How the cookies will eventually crumble, no-one knows.
And while Malaysia is a nation comprised of many different colors and stripes, its laws stipulate that there is a preferential treatment for only one segment.
Which, ironically, also happens to be a majority segment. Ironic, because preferential policies tend to be implemented for minorities, as they are usually the ones in need of most assistance.
Humans are human. They react to situations. We have seen what happens to kids in families where one is a favored child and the others are sidelined. The outcomes are usually adverse. And there is also no guarantee that the favored child succeeds in life either. That much we can also see.
Malaysia is one such place. Unfortunately.
And on the premise that the children are our Future, what happens to Malaysia and its place in the world when its many other children are the subject of diminished affections?
These outcomes, as I write this, are happening and manifesting all around us. ’s excellent research outfit, , and her researchers and , have put out some excellent pieces on this, focusing on extensive discussions with 18-35yo Chinese and Indian youths.
Needless to say, their findings are quite shall-I-say stark. And painful in their truths.
Humans — and especially Malaysians — are terrible at extrapolating the future, to alter their current behaviors. But if we want to have a better chance of a good future, maybe this election is a good time to start listening to our children.
The sidelined ones, that is. Podcast out. Soon.
