My blogpost was only meant for my friends, to ask them to look at the spirited Malaysians who are willing to stand up against corruption.
Most people would remain silent even when they see a fellow Malaysian being oppressed.
I had enquired around about this gentleman, Imraz Ikhbal based on an earlier voice message. After posting a message on his Facebook Messenger asking if I could get to talk to him, there was silence for a couple of months, and I had totally forgotten about it.
Imraz was, of course, cautious and did not respond until recently. He sent me a message to ask who I was, and soon, we were somewhat connected.
Not Enough Colourblind Malaysians
This all happened just in a matter of hours before I listened to another voice message from Imraz talking about a Mandarin orange trader in Kuchai Lama. Then, we started talking and he told me that there are not enough colourblind Malaysians.
I told him there are many, but most people prefer to remain silent to voice their views out of fear of repercussions from within their community. It is a 3-monkey culture: See No Evil, Speak No Evil and Hear No Evil.
We agree on one thing that God, and both of us (he a Muslim and I a Christian) are against corruption and oppression of the poor.
While we can say that we are against oppression and corruption, hence, the reason for Imraz's voice message; but honestly, just the two of us, what can we do? How many cases can we handle?
Just take 'colourblind Malaysians' as an example. I can tell you a story that, while driving to work, I passed by Sri Damansara when I saw an elderly man collapsing on the ground. People were standing around him, trying to wake him.
I immediately parked my car and contacted the ambulance and the police. What irked me was when the Police at Balai Kepong asked, "Melayu kah, Cinakah, atau India?"
This question did not go down well with me. Here is a case where an elderly man had collapsed, and instead of asking the location, the voice over the phone merely wanted to know what race he was.
Using my fluent Malay, I gave him a lashing tongue. I gave him a piece of mind. "Why do you need to know what race he is? He is an elderly Malay man. And people trying to revive him are Indians and a few Chinese. I am Chinese, but what are you doing as a police officer?"
Had I been used to foul language, I would have used it on him, but there was enough lashing on my side, my righteous anger drove me to give him a warning: "If you do not respond, I will bring this matter to Bukit Aman."
He did not know that I had friends at very senior level in Bukit Aman. They supported in a number of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) events by providing the outriders and other forms of support.
We are not hypocrites
When we say we cannot stand oppression of the poor, this immediately opened the flood gates with messages coming from different people including strangers who asked if I could expose some online scams.
Of course, I can't! After all, what can Imraz and I do because we are just two simple individuals without any power of investigation? What we are doing, we are not even paid a salary.
We have to focus on our bread and butter, so I have to be honest, I cannot handle everyone's case; or else, I would be so busy that I cannot focus on my doctoral studies and earn an income when times are bad.
Imraz did the voice message because he wanted to help a petty trader, and I did it because I wanted a good story to encourage my fellow Malaysians to help bring the country back on track again.
We know the new Unity Government has been set up at the decree of the Seri Paduka Baginda yang DiPertuan Agong.
We also know that people's hopes are now higher, but to put everything on one man’s shoulder, is like asking him to carry everyone's burden.
Anwar Ibrahim is not Superman lah.
We all want him to do something but why are we shirking our individual responsibilities. Those who contacted me and volunteered information, if I find they are not credible and unwilling to be witnesses, all I can do is, you can live on with the current state. Please do not blame others for your current plight.
Just wait and see: If Anwar fails, you are going to crucify him and say he promised to put the country back on track again. But we are the ones who should take the blame.
What can one man do? We are the NATO (acronym for 'No Action, Talk Only') which I see so much on social media.
Rather than being proactive, and helping to bring the country back on track, they are only doing the rocking chair stunt in the echo chamber of social media platforms where the `converted' share their views agreeing with them.
Many of us are expecting everything to be done by Anwar. While he has set the tempo to turn the country around, it is now everyone's responsibility to make it happen by keeping a watch against corruption.
This includes trade associations attending to the grievances of their members who are having to pay bribes to get their business going. After all, who likes to pay a bribe when they can do without it?
The cost of bribery will be passed down to the consumers. As it is, we are already tightening our belt. Unlike in the past, now we only find one or two occasions to lavish ourselves just to motivate ourselves to bigger things in life.
A Good Story
I did not write the blogpost in order to be used by the press. That is why it was written in a chatty style.
Being Corruption Free
Over the years, I have seen two corruption-free companies making it big now. Over the years, they may have lost a number of big contracts, but over time, they grow stronger.
The explanation is very simple, and you do not need rocket scientist to explain. Investors won’t their money place their money here unless they can be assured of pilferage-free business environment
And business owners would like to deal with suppliers whom they know would not pay bribes to their staff. Companies that are corruption-free would strive to work harder to win contracts, and they would want to remain competitive in terms of their cost and efficiency of delivery.
They will eventually attract big clients from overseas. The Chinese have a saying that Trust in the business circle is more powerful than cash.
So, if you think that businesspeople delight to give bribes, you have to better go to your drawing board again. There is no willing giver and willing taker as far as bribery is concerned.
Although I can debate with Hadi Awang on this using Bahasa Malaysia, I rather not as I can then be accused of being a pro-DAP, a lie that I will find amusing because I have been known to also whack DAP leaders before when they are in the wrong. They know I do this as a friend who cares for the welfare of all Malaysians.
For that, I will leave it to Imraz to debate Hadi, as both can then present their own differing views as fellow Muslims on the same topic for others to decide who is right and who is wrong.
If I do it, I may be accused of trying to proselytise Muslims; only narrow minded people think that way, because the Gospel is accessible these days on the Internet.
Nor do I want to be accused of trying to put two Muslims to go head on against each other. Both are mature people, and I always believe that even parliamentarians can argue their hearts out in parliament but after that, they should be friends again.
I do not wish to meddle, but I believe many would respect Imraz's view as a Muslim man who wants a friendly debate with Hadi Awang. Listen to Imraz's view on this:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19AHEP_h3hwMGxT4eHp0KvNjnhT2qIVL1/view?usp=sharing
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