All men are brothers

Listed below are two of the finest speeches in American history:

I Have a Dream
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
- Abraham Lincoln


God made man, man made law

Sickle and Hammer

31st August 1957. The date of our independence.
1967. The year Malay was made the National Language (Bahasa Kebangsaan)
1969. The bloody communal riots.
70s. National Economic Policy.
1985. The first car.
1997. The "outstanding" economic growth was stunted.

The issues:
1. 48 years of independence, but nothing great has been achieved. The govt. has succesfully moulded a pretentious, govt-policies conforming crowd. And to shut the rabble-rousers we have the ISA (internal Security Act). We have the tallest tower, the 3rd longest bridge, etc. but the disparity between the haves and the have-nots still remain considerably high.

2. The central govt. is too autocratic. This is not democracy, even I will agree you need to be autocratic to govern a weak country (Malaysia). But imagine what happens when you have stupid policies and corrupt leaders leading the central govt. The media is too weak, too agreeable, a rather great propaganda tool for the already powerful government.

3. The bully. It's a Malay Malaysia, not a Malaysian Malaysia!!

Proposal:
Change the constitution. Allow job promotions among the non-Malays in the Govt. Focus on more important issues. Punish corrupt leaders severely.


All Men are Brothers

Do not let sickles confuse you. I am NOT suggesting for a socialist govt. Only demanding for a just society. OTHERWISE, the Malaysia we know will cease to exist.

If...

I was in KLIA Express the other day, and couldn't help myself from not reading this beautiful poem by (Joseph) Rudyard Kipling.

My favourite has to be these lines:

......If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;.......

We all make mistakes, some are great some are not. Some affects us badly, some not too bad. Regardless, we learn to move on and improve ourselves. And forgive and be forgiven in the process; often we are trapped in situations where we ask ourselves, what if only.....it's consoling but doesn't help a bit.