Malaysians live under a false sense of security unlike our neighbors, Thailand, Myanmar, Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines. We honestly don't think anything bad is going to happen to us - so bad that we could not go ahead with our daily lives.
I obviously sound like an alarmist when I say, "That shiny car? Won't be of much use if you can't get any petrol. And you can't get any petrol if petrol pumps can' be filled because the petrol tank couldn't get there safely. It was blown up in the midst of all the civil unrest going on. Or maybe the entire oil refinery had to stop production, because people couldn't get to work, or the whole refinery has been blown up."
Or, "that dream home? Wouldn't be much of a dream home if the streets outside are licked with flames and strewn with broken pieces of things, and you can't get any food, running water, electricity, etc." "That nice showroom? That big mall? Would amount to nothing if a mob broke into it and cleared out all the supplies............and shelves are going to stay empty because no transport trucks can load or move goods....no factories producing them......." - All that we know right now, simply will not function.
This is war. This is what happens when people who cannot afford to eat or find a fulfilling and meaningful way to earn a living, revolt. Whatever you have which you did not give to others, you are now under threat. Wealth and affluence without security is not prosperity and happiness.
I've heard rich Indonesians and rich Filipinos simplify things that "those people are just lazy." They truly put the entire blame of poverty on the poor. They do not see a civic responsibility to use their advantage in life to ensure that economic policies and daily attitudes towards life provide a level playing field to all.
In the midst of the escalating increase in the price of rice, I broke down in the middle of having dinner with my daughter. I was asking her what she wanted to eat, and have made it a practise that she never thinks about price when ordering, to just order whatever we desire. I then realized that it has not always been this way for me. It dawned on me then that to those who bought rice per kg, like how I had to live many years ago, to have it increase from $1.70 to over $5 per kg means $3.70 less to get on by. $3.70 is another pack of large fries for some, but to others, it's whether or not they get a 1 kati of veg, 1 kg of potatoes and onions, 1 dhal dish that night or 5 omelettes for the family. It's one entire botol of kicap tamin to go with the rice.
People who were born into relative privilege and education cannot understand what it means to have lived in a way where they are incapable of being informed of the things the privileged take for granted. Those who grew up in middle-class families with sports clubs to go to and private lessons this and that, whose parents leave them enough money to make more money, or who gave them a lifestyle and education which equipped them with a mental blueprint to get ahead, cannot empathise with those without and instead,look down on them. They lull themselve into believing, "If I can do it, why not them?"
But what the privileged fail to see is that it was their upbringing and their association which provided them with the way of thinking they have now. They apply their way of thinking to the lives of people who have a completely different programming and then judge them by that. The privileged are the ones that can tell a tyrannical boss, "Fuck you, I'm quitting this shit job!" while the poor have been programmed from the very beginning to submit to abuse and bad treatment by those they perceived as more powerful or superior.
The educated woman can say, "This isn't the way you're supposed to treat another human being"and leave the abusive relationship. Or, "This isn't the best environment to raise a child" and walks out the door while knowing how to build a wall of security around her that the abuser cannot penetrate. Also, the educated woman can decide whether motherhood is something she is ready for and will embrace. These are not the same options for the uneducated or disempowered woman.
It goes to show we cannot judge other people from their actions even if knowing what they've done or did not do upsets us so much. Actions are a consequence of Thoughts - and skillful or unskillful thought is a collective of the influences we've had growing up and the amount of examining and sensitivity our mind is capable of based on the learning we've received.
To unprogramme people, we have to enlighten them. We have to put into words and in details they can visualise - the story of their life and their beliefs and how they came to be. Then only can we teach them the story of other people's lives and to make them see the only true difference between them and others is the inherited ignorance, pessimism and fear which breeds their fear and stumps their creativity and straitjackets them into their poverty-stricken, soul-crushing 'reality'.
It is an almost impossible task- I still find myself trapped in my past programming and habits and each breakthrough is painful and difficult. If it was all just about me, I'd quit trying to change my trajectory a long time ago and I do know that we have to delve into each individual to see what makes them tick - so that they can discover a bigger reason than themselves to want to change. A reason that they feel so much love towards that will make everything a purpose.
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