These days I hear a lot about “those days”. Mostly because of the frequent advertisements on Astro featuring Santokh Singh and Soh Chin Aun. Seeing these two bring back memories of a time long past when these characters dominated the national football landscape. In the ad Santokh Singh said:

“Those days we never thought of rewards. We wanted only to make the country proud because if you make your country proud you are yourself proud.”

I have to say that this attitude, having a sense of that which is greater than who we are, and setting our approach to life and all we do consistently aiming for that greatness, I rarely see these days. In simpler terms, it is about teachers who care about their students (despite the poor conditions in school), politicians whose vision for the country is coloured by their concern for the welfare of the people and nation, musicians who are dedicated to their craft, pastors who encapsulate the spirit of Jesus – you get my drift. Among politicians Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh come to mind. People whose dedication to their cause has cost them dearly, and still remain steadfast. Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tan Chee Khoon were a little before my time, but I remember their articles in the newspapers and I especially remember Tunku’s battle with Dr Mahathir over the soul of UMNO.

These days the self dominates, and that currency of self, money, rewards, popularity, acclaim. Those politicians who switched their allegiance, what was their excuse? They were unhappy with the leadership. They couldn’t even invent good altruistic reasons for their actions. During recent flap over the financial grant by the BN president during the Sibu by-election a church leader was reported to say “It has no relation to the by-election, other than the timing. This is not the first time that we have received grants from the government. It’s not wrong, because it is also our money, as tax-paying citizens.” And a recent Malaysiakini report headlines, “Dr M: Politics is money, there is no escape.”

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/132683

Another “those days” moment came when I read an article by sakmongkol AK47 entitled “Old and New UMNO- how the halves differ”. In talking about the New UMNO, he says:

This other half, insignificant in number, but extraordinary in the powers they have, looking good and pure in their APCO-like cultivated public image, has a different preoccupation.

Their preoccupation is in making hay while the sun shines.

Not for them, the discussion of nebulous ideals such as the soul, essence and spirit of UMNO. They do talk about the ALIF-BA-TA or ABC of UMNO’s weltanschauung, but only in monetized terms. Only if discussions on UMNO’s Islam, Race and Nation state, generate profits, will they be matched by more than their cursory interest and involvement.

…

The difference between OLD and NEW UMNO is reduced to the manner on how these halves of, the OLD and the NEW pillaged the country.

The half in the OLD UMNO has more finesse and a higher sense of guilt- to use a simpler notion. They took but never in Croesus-like proportions.

A friend once asked a late leading leader of UMNO. Are you corrupt? The man thought for a moment and answered. Yes, I took. The friend asked again, how? The UMNO leader answered- you see that kitchen in this house, when it was about to be completed, I was short of 400 bricks. I accepted a free gift of 500 bricks.

… I can see no better analogy between the OLD and NEW UMNO than the comedic film Ali Baba Bujang Lapuk by the legendary P Ramlee. … Ali Baba the younger brother looted the robbers’ Fort Knox and treasury. But he took one small box and carted the loot in a trishaw (old means) and later used the ‘sukat’ or measure owned by the older brother Kassim Baba. In that sense, Ali Baba’s thievery was measured and conscionable.

But Kassim Baba reflects the current UMNO leadership. He drives a lorry and looted the treasury clean.

http://sakmongkol.blogspot.com/2010/05/old-and-new-umno-how-halves-differ.html

Those days corruption existed, but so too a sense of decency and restraint. These days, there is unrestrained greed and no conscience. Interestingly the major problem many people have with the call to cut subsidies is that the savings may go into unscrupulous pockets.

Finally, an article by KK Tan in The Sun on “Promoting cross-racial representation”. His main point is that there will always be politicians who play the race card because it is easy and often effective. To combat this destructive brand of politics, leaders need to demonstrate convincingly their cross-cultural credentials in the issues they advocate and work for. But my attention was mostly captured by the next portion of his article:

On a related issue, I have been getting several phone calls from Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam commenting on my past articles. While commending me on my analyses in my articles, Navaratnam remarked that I had not emphasised enough on the importance and role of our youths. He believed that our younger generations would ultimately shape our future on race relations or for that matter, anything else. I couldn’t agree with him more.

The youth of today are more susceptible to change, creativeness and innovation. They are also imbued with a greater sense of idealism, fairness and justice. They are certainly more open minded, intolerant to injustices and less influenced by racial stereotyping.

…

Our hope for a better future in ethnic relations and unity lies in our youths. But as Navaratnam said, in order for them or their views to be taken more seriously, they must exercise their ultimate “weapon”, their right to vote. However, it has been estimated that up to five million eligible (21 and above) young voters have yet to be registered. What is the point of having such an important right but not exercising it?

http://sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=47232

Yes, the youth should exercise their vote. More importantly however is that they should ALSO embody the ideal of racial and religious blindness and become agents of unity. For that to happen they too must embrace the ideals of justice, mercy and humility over and above their natural instinct to be self-occupied.

I must admit that I am not very hopeful. The world these days is so much more complex morally than those days when society has a clearer sense of right and wrong. And so those of us who are older need to be guiding lights to the young. But the generation gap continues to widen. Also we have often failed to embody what we want to teach our children. But indeed our “hope for a better future … lies in our youth” and we need to do much more than talk about those days and instead do what we can in these days, whether as a teacher, a politician, a musician, a pastor, a father, a mother.

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