Something’s been buzzing in my entire being for sometime now, and I really need to get it out of my system… And to make matters worse, I couldn’t put my finger on it.

I guess I’m quite anxious (not excited) that the general elections are just round the corner. The anxiety is partially caused by all the ineffectiveness, inefficiency and incompetence that I observe, and I wonder if we’re ready to face the general elections.

And now I’m getting even more anxious and agitated when I look at the front page of today’s New Straits Times. The actual newspaper has a nice photo lineup with the Prime Minister and all these other supposed members of the ‘Unity Squad’. Another half-baked idea from somebody’s backyard, but a definite sign that elections are just around the corner.

Is there nothing more important for the newspaper to publish? In this piece, we get the usual “unity, peace and harmony… blah, blah, blah!” I have on a previous occasion wanted to write about this topic, when our supremely intelligent Prime Minister said something similar about peace and development a few weeks ago…

Anyway, here I am. Whenever hypocritical politicians, anywhere in the world, talk about peace, I am reminded of this poem:

“Say NO to PEACE
if what they mean by ‘peace’
is the quiet misery of hunger,
the frozen stillness of broken spirits,
the unborn hopes of the oppressed.

Tell them that PEACE
is the shouting of children at play,
the babble of tongues set free,
the thunder of dancing feet,
and a father’s voice singing.”

The writer is Brian Wren. I have no idea who he is but he makes an excellent point.

Is there really peace in Malaysia, Mr. Prime Minister?

Many a time when I mention to people that I’m involved in politics, someone will inevitably comment, “Why?! So dangerous, they’ll put you in ISA” or “Can earn money, meh?”

And I sigh – a long painful sigh. It’s understandable that people respond like that. But can they see that there’s no real peace in this country? There’s fear, yes – not peace. There’s fear to speak against injustice, there’s fear to question stupidity, there’s fear to do what we know is right. There’s so much fear that we even tell our children to look away and just carry on with life as if nothing bad is happening in this nation of ours.

So far, all we do is pussyfoot around difficult topics, and the politicians just try and say the right things and get on with their money-making. Can there be real peace if we don’t address the real issues that undermine this nation’s unity?

We must get used to facing the difficult issues. If we do not ever honestly confront the brutal facts of the present situation, we can never ever move forward. Not one inch. All we’ll get is more babble as purported news, which just wastes more natural resources and contribute to global warming.

Sighhhh…

And I haven’t even started with so-called development according to our “another project by Barisan Nasional” government. Let’s leave that for another day…