This World, So Unfair...Or Is It Just My Country?

Warning. The following story which I'm about to narrate will definitely boil your blood and burst your veins. Nah, just some hyperboule for introduction but then again, not just plain hyperboule. It contains a splinter of truth and the truth is, that was just what nearly happened to me on one Tuesday afternoon, dated 28th of February 2006.

It would be a beautiful and flawless day if it were not for the damn hocus pocus I had to go through in order to get my MyKad. You see, me and my mom had to travel miles, all the way to some cursed, isolated place in the middle of nowhere, just to get a piece of card when things could be a million times simpler if people were to just use what they have - brains. And that's just the beginning of a very bad dream which cannot even qualify as a nightmare.

Sometimes, I just could not understand where is the little intelligence in some people. I don't know where do they put their brains or when do they use them. I mean look, we have a nice building, completely or almost new, in the most strategic place one can ever imagine (Greentown Ipoh) and yet our Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara was purposely moved to some isolated place even further out than Silibin. And just today, the price of petrol has gone way up by 30 cents a litre. Man, I'm living in Pasir Putih! Can you fathom the distance I have to travel? And can you calculate the loss in that? Now, that's what we call mere wastage. Both of time and money. Talk about being thrifty. This is the first issue I would like to address.

Upon reaching there, I thought, "Alright. This will be worth it since I'm getting my MyKad." Hell no. I was completely wrong. It didn't really take me a long time to get my MyKad in there. But the way the staff were doing their job made me sick. Some of them were just walking around like they were doing window-shopping in a huge mall. They have few counters and yet only one or two were operating. The way they were doing their job makes one wonder if there's nobody waiting for anything in there at all. This is the second issue I would like to address.

While queueing up for my number, a woman came and stood next to me. I thought, "Well, maybe she'd move behind me when the queue moves." And this was the day when all my thoughts were wrong. She kept moving up alongside me. I was getting angrier by the minute when suddenly, she left the queue. I thought, "Aha. Now she knows who's the boss." But as I said earlier, this was the day when all my thoughts were wrong. This was my Friday the 13th. I turned around and saw her calling her husband and these were her words which fueled my wrath. She spoke in Cantonese to her husband, "Line up here. You're behind the guy with red shirt." She was completely ignoring my presence, like I was invisible. The guy with red shirt was right in front of me and here she's telling her husband that her place was just behind that guy, dethroning me from the place I deserved. And so, her husband took her place alongside me and continued what was started by her. While almost my turn, the staff at the counter made a remark to the husband of that unreasonable woman saying, "Encik, tolong berbaris." I thought, "Aha. Justice is served this time." But he got off by just mumbling, "Bini saya suruh saya baris sini." which I'm quite sure the staff didn't hear a word. And so, I lost out to the infamous queue-cutting couple.

The number rang and it was my turn to collect my MyKad at the counter. I went with an overflowing hope that I'll get a nice and beautiful MyKad. The first impression I got when I look at myself in the MyKad was that I was a drug-addict who simply can't get enough of drugs. Putting the photo aside, everything was well apparently. I went on to check my details and fine enough, something was good this time, or so I thought (Now take note of the word "I thought" here). Then I went to another counter to check for further details, which was my religion and to my dismay, I was entered as a Buddhist. The guy at the counter asked me, "Do you want to change your religion in the system or in the chip or both?" I replied, "Both." and he gave me some forms which were exactly what I filled up when I applied for the MyKad the first time. Then, I was given a number and I had to wait again. The apparent consolation I thought I was getting was this : I'd get a new MyKad with a better photo. =P

I went when they called my number and sure enough, I took a photo and was asked to wait till they call my number again. And so, the waiting continued for awhile before it was finally my turn. Now, this is the final blow which dashed all my hopes to the ground. I was asked by the woman staff, "Do you want to change your religion in the system or in the chip?" I told her I want both. And her answer was one you thought you heard wrongly or you had trouble with your hearing. She told me that to change the religion in the system would be free but to change the religion in the chip will cause me RM10. Come on! Where is the justice in that? I wasn't even at fault here and now you're asking me to pay for your fault? Finally, she told me that I had to change my MyKad again when I'm 18, which I will be in November 2006. She then told me to wait till then and not waste 10 bucks for nothing now. That's reasonable. NOT! I was forced to change my IC to MyKad because the government said they will fine those who don't in December 2005. And here, I was told I need to change it once more when I'm 18. So the question is, why didn't they just let me wait till I'm 18 and change my MyKad once and for all, thus avoiding all these nonsense??

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the brains of some folks.

Unshave Me Bald?

Lost hair in a bet

There is nothing like instances to grow hair on a bald-head argument. The words of Mark Twain echoes through my mind. The latest episode of the Police-Citizen epic was this. 1 man with a coffee shop, 10 men with mahjong : 11 men shaved bald. The whole story was as simple as this. It wasn't even one month away after the nude-squat issue was barely settled and here comes another drama. My mind is overflowing with words to describe the police force but "out of control", I would say, are the best.

Where is freedom? Where is democracy? What crime did they commit, these 11 men? What crime did they commit, deserving such humiliation? A simple game of mahjong? Alleged gambling? Ridiculous. Absurd. One could never fully fathom the mind of the police force. But yet, as the Bible says, quoting from Luke 7:35, "But wisdom is justified of all her children." True wisdom shows itself by its works; folly is never found in the wise man’s way, any more than wisdom is in the path of a fool.

These 11 men were not completely innocent. But neither were they guilty in such a way as to deserve such treatment. Why did criminals, who committed even more serious offences, not receive a hair cut, what more to say, shaved bald? Let's say that these 11 men were indeed gambling. Then, and only then that they are guilty of a crime. But what if they were not even gambling? What if they were just having a mere game of mahjong to blend into the Chinese New Year mood? Both options leave no room for the police to justify their actions. Guilty or not, they never deserved such treatment. They were no murderers. They were no rapists. They were no dogs to begin with.

One of the most outrageous thing that I found was this. The police were unrepentant. They were not even sorry for their actions. They claimed that shaving heads was a law and was necessary. This is no different than a murderer who killed someone and then claimed that he has to do it as it was necessary. A game of mahjong is simply a tradition. It's simply a game, to meet up with friends during the Chinese New Year festive season, and to sum it up, it's simply for fellowship. Now, everyone would be afraid to touch mahjong every Chinese New Year. Everyone would be afraid to use chips to play mahjong. Everyone would be afraid to play mahjong even without chips. Think of the possible consequences of this incident. Think of the worst case scenario. This could cause a tension between races. Just one foolish act by the police and the many years of building and bonding of relationship between races could be destroyed. The Chinese would accuse the government of being unfair and unjust. They would think, why were the Malays not caught for playing with fire-crackers during Hari Raya? Why were the Indians not fined for dirtying the streets during Thaipussam? As simple an incident as this may result in a tragedy similar to the one in 13 May 1969. Maybe worse.

We know that the government has been fair all the while. Still, this incident definitely brought a certain impact upon everyone (but of course not as serious as what I said). Citizens would have a different view about the police force now (it's not like we do not have one before). A view, maybe, of how abusive is the police force. The only thing we as citizens can do is to forgive. Christian or not, forgiving is no harm to anybody. The police should be granted another chance. We should not put the final nail in the coffin just yet. Let us wait for the change, the improvement that we hope to see. Let us pray that the nail would never need to be hammered in, or heads need to be shaved again.