Pulau Batu Puteh

Antara banyak-banyak batu di Malaysia ini, batu ini lah yang paling mahal harganya kepada rakyat Malaysia. Keputusan Mahkamah Antarabangsa di The Hague, Belanda baru-baru ini amatlah mengecewakan kebanyakan rakyat Malaysia. Kita kehilangan sebahagian daripada negara kita tetapi apa yang lebih penting... kita kehilangan maruah kita.

Terdapat seorang Menteri yang kurang pandai mengatakan "it is a win-win situation for both countries". What a crap. Kita kehilangan sesuatu yang sepatutnya milik kita. Dekat mana dia belajar it is a win-win situation amatlah boleh dipertikaikan. Kenyataan yang diberi oleh mamat Rais Yatim tersebut hanyalah satu cubaan untuk memperbodohkan rakyat Malaysia di mata rakyat Malaysia sendiri. Kesedaran tentang mempertahankan sesuatu yang merupakan hak kita semenjak azali lagi hendaklah ditanamkan ke hati sanubari setiap insan yang bernama RAKYAT MALAYSIA.

Semejak akhir-akhir ini kita dibelenggu dengan berbagai masalah yang mempunyai hubung kait secara langsung dengan kehidupan kita. Kerajaan telah mencuba berbagi cara untuk mengaburi mata kita di dalam menyembunyikan banyak hakikat mengenai kesalahan yang telah mereka lakukan. Pihak pembangkang juga tidak kurang cerdiknya dengan menggunakan segala kesilapan ini untuk menghentam kerajaan. Pembangkang akan tetap sentiasa membangkang tanpa sebarang memberikan penyelesaian kepada masalah kehidupan kita ini.

Maruah kita yang sebenarnya tercalar dengan keputusan yang dibuat pada hari tersebut. Pada sesetengah rakyat Malaysia maruah yang tercalar apa lah sangat harganya tetapi pada sesetengah yang lain maruah yang tercalar amatlah penting hakikatnya. Saya yang sebelum ini kerap melawat Singapura tidak lagi melawat Singapura semenjak si Pak Lah menjadi Perdana Menteri dan berbaik dengan Singapura. Dengan keputusan Pulau Batu Puteh ini saya mungkin akan mencuba cara Mahsuri.... mengharamkan 7 keturunan saya menjejakkan kaki ke Singapura.

Pihak kerajaan haruslah ingat bahawa mereka adalah sebenarnya pelindung kepada kedaulatan negara ini termasuk segala wilayah dibawah jajahan Kerajaan Malaysia. Diharapkan peristiwa Pulau Batu Puteh akan menjadi pengajaran kepada mereka agar kita tidak lagi kehilangan sebuah pulau ..... Pulau Pisang.

YANG PENTING VS YANG BERKEPENTINGAN

When I was in school, I was thought a very important principle …. make sure that other people’s well being is more important than your own. It is the very basic principle that I believed our politician these days does not posses.

How many politicians these days are already rich before they decided they should join politics ‘to serve’? ‘TO SERVE’ … these two words does not seem to have any meanings to today’s politician. The only politician that I can think of that is already rich before deciding to serve the people is our very own Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad. Well done to you Tun, but I am so sorry to say that you are a dying breed.

Most people nowadays decide to join politics (especially the government parties) because they have no better profession to make money. They know that by joining politics they are basically handed license to make money. Their entrance into politics are filled with high expectations of earning big bucks, driving big cars, owning big houses and probably having big wives. These are the so called ….. Yang Berkepentingan.

Politicians fail to realized that they are supposed to serve the very public that has through thick and thin supported these politicians. These politicians have neglected the well being of the people that they are sworn to protect. These people’s well being should be taken care of every single time, every single breath as long as the politicians are still in power. These people are the so call …… Yang Penting.

When petrol price goes up...

Last few nights I had a dream, a dream where petrol price goes down as the nations get richer. What a dream and remain an elusive dream to most and unthinkable dream to the government. But hey, I was not born yesterday and I believed that with the education that I have and brain that the Al-Mighty give, when there are wills there are ways.

When the announcement was made yesterday about the increase in the petrol price, my dream was shattered. The powers to be fail to realized that their decision have affected the very group of people that they are sworn to protect – the public. Their decision has further increased the gap between the rich and the poor. The poor will feel poorer and for the rich …. well. .. not much is changing except a few more loose change has to go towards the purchase of petrol for their big cars.

Well, they always say that it is easy to critique but can you show us a better way in handling of this situation. Here is my proposal – Hit where you are supposed to hit, by that I mean the rich. Sorry, I have nothing against the rich, just some sympathy towards the poor.

1. Increase the road tax

Increasing road tax is the best way to recover the enormous amount of subsidy that the government has to fork up in order to maintain the petrol price. Increase the road tax for those who can afford it. The table below further explains my point.

CC/Cars age |  Below 3 yrs  |  4-9 yrs  |  More than 10

3000 above          600%              400%        0%

2001 – 3000        500%               300%        0%

1801 - 2000        300%               100%        0%

Below 1800            0%                   0%            0%
(The percentage refers to increase in current road tax)

2. Ban the sales of subsidized petrol to the foreigner.

The subsidy is meant for Malaysian but the Singaporeans and the Thais has been enjoying it. Why should we allow this to continue? I read somewhere a few months ago about a system using My Kad for the purchase of petrol for Malaysian. Well, the excuse they give is that it will incur a lot of cost for the installation. Oil and gas companies (including Petronas) have been making tonnes of money by using our national resources. They have been recording records growth almost every year since time in memoriam so why not for once force them to pay something that can protect our interest.

The foreigners might argue that that is one of their considerations for coming to ‘our turf’. Well, it is ‘our turf’ and we decide how the game is being played. Let them pay if they want to keep coming.

Conclusion

I know this can be done but the powers to be do not want to do it as it is going to effect the upper echelon of their supporters. Lets face it, we vote for you to make sure that we can live happily ever after ….. not so that you can do whatever you want without thinking about us. As an elected representative you are answerable to us …. The PEOPLE. Please have a will to find a way to bring the price of petrol back to yesterday as today is to far away from my dream.