see stupid people. They are everywhere. And they don't know that they are stupid

We in Malaysia have to put up with stupidity on a daily basis.

That's a strong statement.

First things first, no one has the right to call anyone else stupid (straight at the face at the very least). But sometimes, referring to someone else as 'stupid' is not insulting the person but merely describing the action performed by that person. And a person who does something stupid is a stupid person. This is English. How else can we refer to this person. The stupidor? Or stupider? No, it's a stupid person.

Malaysia has many people who do stupid things. It's not our culture to do stupid things for sure, but the frequent occurrences cannot be explained. Stupid acts are abundance in Malaysia. Here are but some stupid acts done on a daily basis nationwide.

Crossing the highway on foot. Not roads, highway. NKVE, LDP, SPRINT etc. If you jaywalk at Jalan Bukit Bintang with care, that's still reasonably acceptable even though the overhead bridge is just 10 meters away. We know of many overhead bridges which are not well located. But running across highways with cars traveling at top speed is plain stupid. And we get this on a daily basis in Malaysia.

Riding a motorcycle 'superman' style. No prizes for guessing the culprits. Your mother went through a whole lot of pain over 9 months plus a crazy-as-hell-non-stop-cursing labour and you try to show off to your mates by doing a superman and placing your blardie life at extreme high risk. All it takes is a rock on the road and you can say hello to Death himself. Our mat ramp-its put all X-Gamers to shame I tell you. This is not a silly act. This is plain stupid. And of course this is again a nightly routine in all major roads in Klang Valley. I don't know about the rest of Malaysia though.

And here are something closer to home, stupidity seen from my eyes.

Technicians coming to troubleshoot at 4.00 pm when his working hour ends at 4.30 pm is plain stupid. Trouble shooting means there's a problem. If a problem is easily rectified, then you don't need a technician. So, a technician giving himself half an hour to solve his problem is only asking for trouble.

I had this TM technician who came to my office at 4.00 pm to rectify my fax line problem which he could not fix. And then he disappeared and was never heard off again. I am not sure if his day ends at 4.30 though (just my guess), maybe he just went ular. Am sure this happens on a daily basis with Telekom Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional, and all other GLC monopolised businesses. Mind you, the fax has been down for some 3 weeks and it took TM that long and after numerous complain calls before they finally decided to despatch this... this... this 'person' to my office. Nothing fixed though. But that's Malaysia. Did I tell you about our Streamyx broadband? Never mind, am sure you have had your 'personal compliation' of our fucked up Streamyx. Well, that's Malaysia and her monopolies.

Unreasonable clients. Everyone has their fair share and honestly, I can tolerate and take unreasonable people most of the time. Most I said, not all the time. But Malaysians at their unreasonable best are no ordinary monsters.

What have we?

Clients who want you to provide them with solutions but will not accept solutions which do not come from them. Oh, yeah.... But am sure many of you are not surprised. Why hire a subject matter expert anyway?

Clients who insist you come for a last minute meeting even though you have prior engagements. No! No representatives allowed. But what about my other meeting? No, you must attend personally. This is a very important meeting. Huh? So I am attending the other meeting because the other client of mine needs someone to breathe the oxygen in his office?

And clients who want Porsche at the prices of Perodua Kancil. Not even a Myvi. A Kancil. I even know of some who wants a Kancil for the price of a scaled model. What happened to these people? Is it our rice? It's our water right? It must be the Malaysian air.

Enough about me. Let's go a little macro, current and hot.

What's the deal with the remains of Mohan Singh anyway? What's with all this 'body snatching' issues we have in Malaysia. To me, it's just a stupid issue caused by stupid people. What is the religious department's craze with the body of a dead person, muslim or not? Let's go back to the very objective of a grave. Apart from obvious hygiene reasons of burying the dead in a grave, does the grave not serve as the place where the family members of the deceased will come to say 'hello'? Is the grave not the 'new home' of the deceased? The man is gone for heaven's sake (no pun intended). He has a family for crying out loud. How can the religious smart asses claim to be religious when their very actions cause hurt and pain to someone else. And to top that, who benefits in any way at all from having Mohan Singh buried in a muslim cemetary? Who?

So, the religious authorities insist Mohan Singh be buried in a muslim cemetary. And what? Are Haji this and Haji that going to visit him at his muslim cemetary during Hari Raya? Are Haji this and Haji that going to maintain and ensure that the grass is well kept? Come on la Malaysians.

So, let us say that Mohan Singh's family will still visit him at the muslim cemetary. Sensibly, there is nothing they can do, so they should just accept his grave - muslim or Sikh.

But there is also the matter of funeral rites. Those who believe in the after life wants the departed to have an easy route and good after life; and this is where funeral rites come in. Give the man's family his body and let them do whatever religious rituals that they deem is fit for the dead. Why can't you give those alive this peace of mind? This is a matter that may traumatise some for a very long time.

What is religion anyway if not 'something' spiritual? Can you substantiate that burying Mohan Singh elsewhere (even if he was a muslim) will prevent him from going to a muslim heaven (even if there is such a thing)? Can or not? But what can be proven is that by denying his family members the opportunity to perform upon him funeral rites which they deem appropriate cause his family members heartache and stolen peace. We don't see the American muslim authorities doing the same with Michael Jackson's body do we? (There is a rumour that MJ had converted to Islam prior to his death). Why in Malaysia? Why? Why are we so fanatical? This is not Islam bashing. I am merely pointing our actions carried out without common sense. I am merely pointing out actions carried out that stray away from the objectives of the very action itself.

Or what if Mohan Singh never converted to Islam? And by denying him his Sikh funeral rites, he cannot go to heaven. Can you live with that Tuan Haji? (Honestly, I think you can).

So you see, I am not trying to insult these people by relating their stupid actions. But how else can you describe them and their irrational behaviour? Darn. That's the word. I should have used 'irrational'. Sorry.

SP&LK
16/07/09

No comments: