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Of late, many had been picking the right moment to hit out at Perkasa chief, Datuk Ibrahim Ali and his team on the "white ang pow" fiasco and though, I believe it is no excuse for the veteran politician to squirm away from being the target of abuse for this lack of sensitivity, there was one glaring bigger picture which most people had completely overlooked during the fiasco. So, okay, the organisers ran out of red packets but it's no excuse to give white packets-lar. Easily, the situation could have been averted if the organisers could handed out just plain cash but that wouldn't have looked good ( MACC watching-mah!/meh? ) but to me, it is much better than the white ang pow-lar. The fiasco is like a balloon filled with cow dung and it hit the fan-lar! You should know what happened next! 

Anyway, we all have our own views on Datuk Ibrahim Ali and his motley crew of clowns [ believe me, I have harsher views about them than you'll ever know but I'll keep them to myself! Somehow, Kamunting packet rice serving doesn't sound too good nor suited my culinary taste either. Cannot pick on "tua liap lang"-mah! ] but that is not what I want to write about. I believe no matter what he did, he ain't gonna win the popularity contest lest win any vote of approval from anyone who is sane enough to know of what is going on. My concern, which is also highlighted by my colleague, Teo, was the embarrassing "hand-out " mentality of the people that were attending that function. My God, you should have seen how the Chinese community and some others pushing forward, elbowing their ways, pushing, shoving and even hands/legs/torso being manoeuvred/ wormed through all to reach out for the red packets. I was so embarrassed when I saw a video clip of what had happened. All this for a RM 10 or RM 20 ang pow packet?!!! It's unbelievable and really embarrassing.  Believe me, it is not just this function but of the many functions I have attended or had the opportunity to view on the tube, it is always the same scene. The hands swinging, the forceful stepping forward, the pushing, the legs cringing near, the twist and contorted contour of the bodies among the masses of bodies and the grabbings.  How have my own Chinese community stooped to such shallowness? This "hand-out" mentality had indeed crippled our community and not just the Chinese community. What had happened? Is it because there are free food and free money to take that every Tom, Dick and Harry including Jane, Helen and Suzi are willing to stoop to such shallowness just for a fistful of ringgit and embarrassment? Please, forgive me. I am not out to hit out at anybody but just to highlight what had become of our values in our community today. This is the reality and this is what has become of our society today. I tell you this, I blamed the community leaders and Chinese leaders for advocating such hand-out mentality! Call me fool or even a senile old man but pictures and videos don't lie.  

We are so stunted by such ways knowingly or unknowingly. Even political parties and leaders of our communities are doing such things.  We are so used to having "hand-out" that we "expect" to be given goodies. It really crippled us as a society. Our humanistic reaction nowadays are so governed by these hand-out mentality which is really the cause of doomed in our younger generations. Maybe, you may feel that I am out of place but I tell you, I am not. A couple of months ago, I spoke to my good friend, Vive about this and our conclusion was the same - this hand-out mentality had not only crippled our youths today but also our working yuppies today. Mind you, you and I may not be around for a long time but their generation will move on. Do we want to built a generation of people who expects hand-outs in life? Aren't each day is getting tighter and harder for us to earn a living decently in this country? Need I say more on this matter?

Honestly, I have never ever seen any hardworking individual let it be a Malay, Chinese, Indian or others who do not succeed in life when they work hard. Look , being successful is not about having lots money or status only. Some people can have both money and status and still permeates stinking aura in their personal character and ways of life. Many in our society are like that, yunno. Anyway, my combat is actually that this "hand-out mentality frame" had crippled our society a lot and the Chinese people is no exception. I believe with all my heart that the Chinese people are well-known for their hardworking attitude, alert and always very shrewd in the dealings. However, nowadays, it's like they "expect" to have things fall off the table and working hard is like a dirty word nowadays.It is surprising to see Chinese boys and girls failing in their exams, can't read or write ( YES! Don't look surprised! Go to some urban schools and you will see them at the last class,ok? ), can't speak a strand of English or BM properly, speak rudely with a great mixture of flowery dialect language or even just fall out from school at an early stage in life. They, mostly, come from broken homes while they have been indoctrinated that making money is their main priority in life.  Even in college, they don't work as hard as the other communities and being average is okay with them. Can't pass first semester ; change course midway through the course. Some even took the course but doesn't have a single idea of what the course is all about or just have no idea of what they want to be in the future. Look, these are some of the realities in life. I take a big dig at my own community because it affects our young people's lives today. I know because I talked to them, I hear their views, I see what they do and there is a rot that has become septic if we don't treat it.  I really suggest we take a good look at our young people's lives today. I have seen passionate teachers like Bee Ling ( the one person whom I marvelled a lot ! ) who would spend her time to really help out these boys and girls while giving them a sense of hope in themselves. I have heard many heart-wrenching stories from her. I really feel for her for what she is trying to do and at the same time, I marvelled at her strength to really educate our children today and make them realise the need to work hard & be successful in life. There are many Bee Lings out there and blessed you people for fighting this battle each day and for not giving up.  

The pampering, the mediocre performance and the "tidak apa" attitude has to go.  It is time we wake up and realise our need to rise up. I fear, one day, if we continue to slumber in this kind of attitude, our society will be the couch-potato of whimps and Jabba,the Hutt lookalikes!~ What do you think?