Friday, August 20, 2010

How Berjiwa Rakyat?

1. On my way to Friday prayers, I was suddenly surrounded by 3-4 traffic policemen in their flashy big bikes aggressively shepherding cars to make way for what is ANOTHER V.I.P.

2. Suffice to say, it almost cause a bit of an accident in front of me as 4 lanes were suddenly being made into 1 by one lone macho policeman.

3. The VIP was royalty, probably the HM The King himself as there were more policemen escorting him than there are patrolling the whole of Subang Jaya.

4. It got me thinking to this conversation I had with a friend of mine somewhere in Johor recently.

5. Every time this big shot politician (very big shot) comes to town, there will be an order to patch up all roads that he will pass by so that it'll be smooth as silk.

6. Apparently this is not uncommon. It's not a directive from the politician himself, but as usual, when there's big gun coming to town, the locals would pull out all the stops.

7. I bet it's the same whenever politicians go on the ground - the grass would be cut, the clogged drain would be cleared, the stench from abandoned dumpsite covered up...even flood prone riverbanks would be dug deeper.

8. My question is, since no high ranking politician or VIPs ever have to fill up petrol, buy groceries, get stuck in traffic jam, start a business, renew their passports, get a maid and all the other things we middle-income folks have to go through, how could they ever understand what the rakyat is actually facing?

9. They don't send their kids to local school, and obviously local universities. They don't worry about unreliable Internet connection. They will very seldom run the risk of being mugged or robbed of their vehicle. They HAVE never bought tickets to ride the LRT or better yet, KTM Komuter. Apa lagi? Banyak lagi....

10. I'm not saying politicians should live like us. But maybe, sometimes, they should just keep the police escorts at home, and try being stuck in peak hour traffic along the Federal Highway. Then they'll start wrecking their brains out trying to solve our issues - one real problem at a time.

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