Economists ; Shut Up~

              I went to a student conference recently and found out how small was my world. My thought was narrowly formed by the rigid textbooks which recommends parochial one-sided views upon economic policies. I do agree that the writers do give opposite arguments for every economic issue, but one point or another is always given more weightage , stressed upon and preferred. It was unacceptable for me at first to discover how different was other people's thoughts, and they do not make sense at all.

              We were discussing about the National Automotive Policy in the economic council. Imported cars were taxed up to 300 percent the original price. A Mercedes at at a hundred thousand ringgit in London is priced at three hundred thousand here.  It is that way for  Nissan, Toyota, Chevrolet and Honda. I explained that as a middle-income nation, with 60 percent of the population having a monthly income of less than 3 thousand, the people have to pay one third of their wages for cars alone. That is a lot of money. If they can pay less for cars, then the people would have more income at their disposal. The money can and should be used to sponsor education for the children, better nutrition , and perhaps a better house. Tax revenue of 8.1 billion from  cars and APs  will then be gone, but it is not lost. The people have more disposable income, and this adds strength to domestic demand.

                I thought that I would be receiving major support, but I was wrong. This is the general opinion;

1. Malaysians can afford to pay the tax up to 300% , as there are a lot of BMWs and Mercs on the road.

2. The loss of tax revenue is too big and unsustainable.

3. Cheaper cars will go against the motives of public transportation, and will incur more pollution.

               They tend to view this argument from a rich man's point of view, because, well, they are from rich families. I handle my own expenses alone, drive my own cars and I know how costly is the price of fuel, plus the road taxes, and there are no BMWs in my village. Our backgrounds really influence  the way we view things. They never felt the overwhelming cost, because they are the 1%.

           Malaysians can't afford the excessive amount of taxation. It is ridiculously high, taking one third of their income. The tax is not lost, it is reproduced in another manner; disposable income is higher. Our public transportation sucks, never efficient and causes terrible mental stress and loss of time, and it is nowhere near sustaining the public needs.

                Then we spoke about subsidies. Pertaining subsidy rationalization , they wholeheartedly believe that subsidy should be reduced. Malaysians are too pampered, they said, We people are a rich bunch , they said.  It seems that living in a big house with four cars really change the way you view the world. They somehow managed to stereotype Malaysians as people who cannot live without air conditioners, and everyone drives expensive cars. We were somewhat ignorant to the fact that the people's average income had stagnated for the past two decades, and is not proportional to the rate of inflation.

             Reducing subsidies for fuel will spark a cost-push inflation, price of goods will rise automatically, and only the top 1% of the income group can actually sustain themselves. I mean, seriously, this is basic economics, a fixed textbook theory, can't they see it to that point?

          Those men in the ministries who proposed for subsidy rationalization are the 1% percent themselves; they are the elites, they do not speak for the poor. Economists are people with high income who are unable to form a perspective from a regular citizens' point of view.

"And what Allah restored to His Messenger from the people of the towns - it is for Allah and for the Messenger and for [his] near relatives and orphans and the [stranded] traveler - so that it will not be a perpetual distribution among the rich from among you. And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from. And fear Allah ; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty." ( Al-Hasyr, 7)

          We people don't care if the nation have an outstanding budget surplus or a behemoth GDP, they don't make sense at all to us. 5 percent growth or a high competitiveness rank have nothing to do with our lives, so them economists can either shut up or say something closer , more significant to the lives of citizens. I mean, who cares if the current interest rate is 3 percent? Why would that matter?  The things that matter is the prices of sugar and salt, gas and cars. Or the fact that more than 900 billion of illegal money had been robbed away from this country from 2000 to 2008; they should focus upon that fact rather than asking the people to pay more, 'be thankful', sacrifice for a greater good, or whatever terms  those government bloodsuckers use nowadays.

      Rather than introducing GST and reducing subsidies, the government should really curb the overwhelming corruption, or else they must go down.

          I learned one thing that is vital from Economics; the Malaysian government is full of crap.

Peace.

Say Sorry~

           I love watching my two little cousins play with each other, because they are the most cutest and loveliest creatures I have ever seen. Not being cheesy, but just the sight of the tiny eyes and chubby hands makes my heart grow fond. I feel a sweet serendipity, a peace like no other whenever I hear their voices . It is a pleasure to behold, unlike any other, when you hold them in your hands and make them say words they don't understand. All the pain , fatigue and stress in me go missing for a while, and I am the happiest person on earth.

               She would always quarrel with her brother for the most trivial things; ants, slippers, Ultraman and teddy bears; in tears and screaming unintelligible words-she speaks Spanish by the way-but seconds later they would be playing together again. As if nothing had happened. Kids always forgive and forget, no matter what you did to them . If only that the world adopt such policy, there would be an eternal peace.

          Kids' fights are somewhat funny and simply short, it always ends with both of them coming to you with teary eyes and making reports about the other , demanding for a justice, and that's that, they would be playing again soon . But I like to remind you that the same thing does not happen when adults quarrel.

           Fights among adults are among the most ugliest thing that ever happened upon this planet. They exchange cruel remarks and curse words that one can never imagine. It is detrimental to everybody, a mental torture, verbal abuse, depressing for kids who are taking exams-seriously. Nobody likes to see people quarrel . Nobody, ever, likes to hear any curse words and verbal discontentment. Nobody in this world would ever want to see any two sane people yappering and slapping each other like retards, savages of the jungle, apes of the Amazon, two dominant gorillas, greedy pigs and hungry ducks. No. One. Ever.

           Grow up. Seriously.

            There is a limit to everything we do upon this planet. We cannot eat too much food. We cannot sleep for too long. There's a limit to exercise, studies and love. There is also an age limit when your fights are no more kids' fights, when it is freaking immature, when such things should stop forever. It is very not cute.

           I was once a very angry person. I was mad at everything that can move. I slapped a close friend and scolded my teacher alive. I even feared myself for I was also angry at myself. There were reasons for that, but let's not talk about it. Every prefect in school received my piece of mind with the utmost discontent, and I used morning speeches in the assembly to scold everybody. Sorry for that. It was eons ago, and I went past that craziness. I learnt how to forgive everybody.  I discovered a way to look someone in the eye , forget everything he did and make amends.

                I found a way to forgive , and to say sorry, even for things you did not do. I realized that winning is not important at all , you have to admit that you are wrong in some arguments for the sake of peace. Even if you are so obviously right, you have to give in at times. I learnt to forgive myself, and that is indeed a blessing.

             If you are over-aged, and you quarrel for trivial things like kids do, here are the things that you must follow;

 1.  You must not get married. Who would want to marry someone who argues about socks? That would be one hell of a marriage.

2.   Don't go near kids, EVER. Adult's fights cause trauma among children, creating an unhealthy picture of how adults should behave in their young minds. Be ashamed of yourselves.

3.   Never try to lead some group or plan some activities. You are the worst leader on earth.

4. Learn to forgive. What do you get from a continuous hate and anger , other than stress and tension? Learn to forgive. It is always a million times better to forgive than to despise.

Learn to forgive. Forgive me. Forgive yourself. Forgive everyone.

5. Try not to retaliate. When someone curses you, don't slap him in the face. Don't curse him back. Just smile , and wave , like good penguins. Say nothing. That ends everything, and why shouldn't it do so? If someone hits you, just hold back or just run away.

         The strongest person is not the buffest guy, remember? Nabi Muhammad pbuh taught us that the strongest person is the one who defeats his anger.

            What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Seriously.

6. Say sorry. Say SORRY. It is just one word. Just one word. You lose nothing by saying it. It takes less than a second to word it out, minimum facial contractions, and a bit of air. Just say sorry, you arrogant, egoistic ,narcissistic human. Sorry for that. SAY SORRY. LOSE NOTHING.

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry, and sorry again. Seriously, just say it. Even if you are right. Even if they are wrong . SAY SORRY.

          When you forgive someone, you will feel a great peace and serenity in your hearts. I promise you that.  People kill to feel that kind of peace , seriously.  It is as if you have a burden weighing 20 tons on your shoulders being lifted away. Say sorry, and you would be the humblest man. There is nothing wrong to say sorry, but there is always something wrong when you fight back.

           There are times when you really should be angry-at times when a man who committed statutory rape gets nothing for that crime-for example, you can shoot the judge or bomb the court.

       But most of the times, you should never ever ever ever be angry.

"Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity. It will have [the consequence of] what [good] it has gained, and it will bear [the consequence of] what [evil] it has earned. "Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. Our Lord, and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord, and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear. And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy upon us. You are our protector, so give us victory over the disbelieving people."

(AL-Baqarah, 286)

Grow up, seriously.

Peace.

          

          

Decivilization

                 "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

          

    -Neil Armstrong

                   We went to the moon. Not exactly 'we', but that kinda does it. Curiosity reached Mars before any Martian invades our planet with big lasers and a droid army. The development of the technological array had surpassed mere imagination and it keeps progressing.  Our achievements had transgressed the times before us , and so we are proud obstreperous creatures , vociferous in new ideas and progressions.

          We are so entrenched with the idea of progression that once people proposed that we are originally monkeys; primates; to show how much we really progressed.  Well, that is seriously unnecessary. I was born human, without any monkiness in me.

you think this is a kind of a game?

               While we are being so garrulously pronounced  about such advances in the modern history, there's an irrevocable fact that we must ponder ; the turbulent progressiveness does not apply to everybody. There are people out there who chooses a sedentary lifestyle and a persistent  parochial mind setting. People are reluctant to making changes due to culture boundaries and all sorts of hindrances.

        But that's fine, really. Who cares if they don't wanna progress anyway. We have nothing to lose, and instead we gain a more rewarding age of consumerism. People don't wanna attain goods by themselves, and so we have a permanent  demand for everything, ranging from socks to  potato chips. The thing that is puzzling is the egregious existence of people who choose to progress backwards; regress; stuck in reverse. We are moving forward, whatever speed or ways and vagaries, but them people are moving backwards.

               We want to build skyscrapers, and these men choose to live in straw huts and caves-sort of. The nation is becoming more liberally democratic, more freedom in speech and lesser information boundaries, but these men choose to oppose that. This is called decivilization .

Genkidama

            These groups of men are devolving into monkeys themselves; while we are occupied with using appropriate words and to cater to everybody's sensitivity, these men understand no language and see no reason. At least monkeys can accept orders when trained and run away when being chased, but them people are oblivious to standard human communication.

serious monkeys man

              We are living in a democratic country, where everybody should be given freedom of speech and electoral rights as a citizen. Races other than Malays are not secondary, second class or whatever crap these people say. We are of equal rights and friends of all times, citizens of the freaking world. We are not barbarians who kill people for fun.  

            Monkeys love  mischief and disorder, and I discovered this mischievous fact after years of having those apes stealing rambutans from my backyard to the point of an extreme land takeover by the monkeys. It was brutal, a destructive occupation.  Those group of men, in the other hand sabotages every programme that the opposition runs.

                   There was a butt-dance in front of Ambiga's house a few months ago. They sent a beautifully decorated shit-shaped cake to Lim Guan Eng. It was a delicious cake with the shape of poop. Yep, that's true. And then there were people who step on potraits of leaders, pee on it and stuff, without any obvious reasons. We are proud savage people indeed.

what?

           They are old men with kids and grandkids. How fascinating is it for us to see grandpa do  a butt-dance?

                  Wisdom grows with age, but for these men, it appears that wisdom is inversely proportional to age. Who have the guts to disturb religious preaches in mosques by hurling slippers and stones, switching off the lights, yells and curse words, other than uncivilized 

monkeys?

Peace.