Without the slightest of doubt, we are certainly happy that we have been freed from British rule. This means that we are now free to decide the future of our own Nation and how to distribute the Nation's resources.
We are also free to decide how we want the Nation to be developed and how we, as citizens want to be developed into human beings.
But....
Who is the "we" that is free to decide on the future of this Nation? Is it you and me, the common folks in the country or is it merely the elitist class together with the capitalists?
What is the point of being free from the bondage of British rule only to be enslaved by the elitists, the capitalists and the elite religious class?
Is that the kind of freedom or merdeka that your forefathers imagined for you?
That, at the end of the day, you life should be confined to the dictates of the capitalists who will decide how and where you live? AT the mercy of the "economy" designed by the wealthy elitists which makes you a slave to the banks, to the mega supermarkets (that determine how and what you eat) and so on?
That at the end of the day, if you are fated to belong to the low income group, that you shall be housed in pigeon holes called low cost flats and that too crowded in one area?
That at the end of the day, even how you want to relate to your own creator will be decided, not by your own conscience, but by salaried religious officers? And often times under pain of punishment by the law for not confirming to the State's definition of what your religion should be and how it should be?
Can you be truly merdeka when you cannot even decide what's good for your own soul?
I am happy that this Nation is free from British rule.
I only wish we can be free to be human beings.
Peace and Happy Merdeka.
ReplyDeletewell in any scenario.. it is the masses that gives legitimacy to the so called ruling elites or the religious elites.
Historically, the strongest and the most brutal pirate in the Malay Archipelago became the ruler and eventual raja/sultan.
The current so called ruling elites started from their humble being beginning as an ordinary rakyat, voted as a wakil rakyat.. only to be intoxicated with power later-on.
Likewise the religious elites.. they are there because it is the the masses that confer them the recognition and 'respect'.
Even among the communist comrades..who supposed to be equals.. there are certain group in the higher hierarchy of the organisation who more equal amongst equals. The satirical novel Animal Farm depicts very well this allegory.
Now given these scenario, the question is, can we actually free ourselves from being enslaved by the ruling elites or the religious elites that we ourselves created