Overcoming the despondency in our midst
Not a day passes when I don’t receive some message or another containing articles, graphics or satire about where the country is heading to, politically and economically.
Apr 15, 2015

By Anil Netto
Not a day passes when I don’t receive some message or another containing articles, graphics or satire about where the country is heading to, politically and economically.
The steady economic foundation which we have taken for granted has been eroded by high debt levels, whichever way you look at it (federal government debt, household debt, external debt).
We are faced with the prospect that whatever savings we may have (if we have savings at all) may not be enough to cover post-retirement living expenses, children’s higher education and any medical emergencies that may crop up.
Meanwhile, the huge illicit financial outflows from the country have caught the attention of Global Financial Intergrity, which ranks Malaysia fifth highest in the world. In terms of illicit outflows, US$395bn was drained out of the country from 2003 to 2012. Using today’s exchange rate, that would work out to close to a mind-boggling RM1.5 trillion.
Where has all the money gone? A huge chunk, no doubt, is sitting in foreign bank accounts. The Swiss Leaks expose has given us a glimpse into this.
Billions of ringgit have also been lost due to corruption and cronyism. Lower corporate and personal tax rates and lower commodity price, especially for petroleum, have resulted in falling revenue for the government. Many have also questioned our standard of education, which they see as declining, even as many national schools increasingly resemble religious schools.
It is against this backdrop that we now have to contend with more draconian laws that are having a chilling effect on dissent.
Detention without trial, purportedly for terrorism, is back. Penalties for sedition have been made harsher including a minimum three-year jail term. Social media is being closely monitored.
GST, a regressive law, has been introduced to spread the tax burden over most of the population, including the lower-income group, not just those earning above a certain threshold. This has caused widespread unease not only for the public but also for businesses as people become more careful in their spending.
And Pas private members’ bills to implement hudud in Kelantan (and other states eventually?) could surface soon.
Meanwhile, Malaysia could be on the verge of signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, which would give large multinational corporations more clout and influence over the national economy.
It would seem that the country is moving into a harsher, more authoritarian and religiously conservative environment that would promote big well-connected corporate interests.
No wonder, many are feeling despondent. Some have spoken of migrating, which would add to the brain drain.
How should we react?
It would be easy to retreat into a shell and confine ourselves to parish activities like the proverbial ostrich. It would be easy to lose hope much like the followers of Jesus did on Good Friday when they thought all hope for a brave new world had been extinguished.
But then, we are also called to be the salt of the earth. We are called to build the kingdom that Jesus proclaimed — a kingdom of justice and love.
Whenever groups work for justice, peace and compassion, they run the risk of being misunderstood. Others, within and without, will feel threatened.
Jesus was executed, suffering a rebel’s death on the cross. Gandhi and Martin Luther King and Oscar Romero, who all preached non-violence, were assassinated. Many of their followers were jailed.
Why? Who felt threatened by the compassion and justice and vision of the new world they were proclaiming?
The values of the kingdom of above are not of this world. Inevitably, these values will come into conflict with the worldly values of our time — power, corruption, institutionalised violence — whether against people or the environment. The classic encounter was Jesus coming face-to-face with Pilate.
Whereas we believe in genuine peace won through love and compassion and justice, other forces may believe in peace (‘stability’) won by military conquest or executive dominance or religous control (no matter which religion or ideology, for we have seen how the Christian rulers in medieval Europe also used religion to entrench their power.)
Fear shouldn’t stop us from reflecting on alternative models of holistic human development — a more sustainable and just economic model, environmentally and worker-friendly policies, more people- friendly public institutions, and respect for basic human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Fear shoudn’t stop us from stepping outside the boat (a symbol of the early Church) to spread the Good News of a new world that we could help fashion.
The Spirit, the same Spirit of the resurrected Jesus, should energise us to go forth. For in this eternal conflict between Light and Darkness, there can only be one winner in the long run.
Total Comments:0