Sunday, February 12, 2012

1CARE, EPF, KFC...

There are so many things which boggle the mind. Each time I read about 1Care, I wonder whether there is any real care in it, cos it must take a fool not to see from the initial leaks of what was supposed to constitute our new health care scheme, that this an attempt to line some pockets with really thick wads of notes..... And the kind of 'denials' which came out in the mainstream papers, the 'assurances' from our politicians and attempts to pacify people by trying to backtrack something which has already almost arrived at the lawmakers' tables indicate that some people up there think that we are fools or they are now so emboldened that they feel it's their right to bulldoze through anything that they feel is important to them. 

Our health care works fine. Perhaps some tweaks might help; cut down free or almost free treatment for foreigners, cut down on leaks, increase efficiency, have open competition... It seems the government hospitals can only buy medicines from one company. In patronage Malaysia, you can bet your last ringgit that the owners would have some connection to the ruling party. If the Defense Ministry deals are anything to go by, one can safely assume that medicine too goes the same way... 45 billion ringgit will make some really well connected people filthy rich. Everything that can be milked is being milked....

EPF.... now this makes me really concerned cos my retirement fund is there too. This is our (the working class) fund, and not some fund to be used as loans for houses, even though it's supposed to be for the poor. I am already paying taxes. Cut down other excesses, trim the expenditures and I am sure there will be excess. That can be used to fund those loans for the poor to own those houses. Taking our hard earned savings is just not right. Don't get me wrong. I am not against helping the poor. But lately, I am beginning to feel the pinch of rising costs. And it worries me cos it seems like I am paying more and getting less for everything. Every cash cow that can be milked, someone is trying to milk.... 

This is an interesting read about what's happening in the Penang housing scene.... If it's going to be any thing like Singapore's HDB concept, then it's going to be really interesting to compare with the latest attempt at our EPF monies. It's not exactly low cost housing but supposed to be affordable housing.... On the same note, prices of property has been escalating. If the government is sincere about affordable housing, perhaps it should look into imposing higher tax for second or third properties, if they are not used by the owners. That would distribute the ownership to more people than see it accumulated by just a small group or people.

KFC... Whatever happened to 'the customer is right'? Customer may be rude but that doesn't give the staff the right to punch or kick. This is the second time our Malaysian KFC has come into the limelight.... and for the wrong reasons. Some people are just not cut out to be in the service industry, no matter how you train them. They are a product of a system gone wayward, where many values are skewed for race and religion. Now when you go senget (skewed) at the base, I don't think you can get it right in the later part. It's like having a preacher who is having an affair with a member of the congregation trying to preach condemnation of adultery over the pulpit. Tell me how many people will listen. These days at school, we have many religious teachers who sleep at work places, don't have good teaching practices... and lead very non exemplary lives. And then they lead whole schools for prayers.. Tell me, how do good values ever get passed down or caught.

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

But in racial and (supposedly) religious Malaysia, any incident, any event.... race and religion are sure bound to be brought into the debates, so that the 'they' and 'us' becomes super distinct. It's much easier to stay in power if we divide and rule. The British learned that long ago. And their successors understood that very well. Unfortunately, critical thinking is long lost in our curriculum these days too. They are difficult to get caught. Anyway, KFC.... It has become halal chicken, babi name calling, Muslims vs non-Muslims, Malays vs non-Malays, politician jumping on the bandwagon for the free publicity....last I read, Perkasa has just jumped on. The list goes on. It wasn't too long ago that there was a call to boycott KFC since it is an American franchise. Those who 'shouted' those calls saw it fit then cos it suited their Palestinian agenda. There was the 'us vs them'....

And suddenly, some people say KFC halal chicken is supposed to be nice... Why even talk about halal chicken? Gosh! As for KFC guy calling the 'complaining' customer babi, many of my Malay students call each other babi.... much to my chagrin and not theirs. So, for all those politicians trying to jump onto this bandwagon for some cheapskate publicity, shame on them. Every issue can be manipulated.... We should be wiser by now after having wool pulled over our eyes so many times. If we are not, then we the rakyat must be really stupid. The said KFC outlet in the video gone viral over YouTube basically implies this: Its manager is incompetent. Its staff are not professional. Period! The potential customers should be able to make their own judgements from the videos themselves.

Why can't we just see that all these dubious schemes, shameful 'gangster' behavious are indicators of something gone wrong within our system, that many of us are unable to be critical of ourselves to weed out the negative? Instead we cling on to It's you vs me, they vs us.... All of us have been taken for suckers cos while we have been busy slugging it out under this veneer of calm and false unity that we portray to the rest of the world, a small group has been enriching themselves with glee. Else, how can a dentist who led a state own a house which most of us can only fantasize about in our daydreams like Mat Jenin or how a lawyer could turn a loan to develop the cattle industry end up with so many posh condos in the most expensive neighborhood in our neighbour down south. You've got to wonder who is dumber. Us who voted these people into power or these people who think that they can abuse their positions because they are fighting for the rights of their race. Race is merely a tool.. and we're merely fools.

So 1Care actually sounds like caring about what goes into the pockets, EPF is also how I can continue to keep that money flowing while using other people's money to fund projects which will dupe people into thinking that good has been done and finally KFC which is now synonymous to fighting  chickens, of Kungfu chicks instead of waking us up to the distorted reality that has been impressed upon us through years of divide and rule....  Go figure out what each of us should do........

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wonderful post and definitly worthy of my thank you comment.:)

Broken?

Education in doldrums... An already broken education system given a really hard whack by Covid-19.  I used to read about pandemics, that a b...