Where have the voices gone?
May 21, 2008
Where have the voices gone?
Increasingly I find myself wondering this question. Where are the voices?
Is the world really so blind?
In response to the taxi fare hike in the 1980s, there had been a boycott of taxis. Many people refused to take taxi, and soon the taxi companies gave in, reducing the taxi fare. There was still a voice then. The public still assumed accountability; they knew that the voice of the people will triumph.
Fast forward to the present, and I cannot help but wonder, “Just where had the voices gone to?”
Are we too blind to see? Too oblivious to the things this government had done?
From the absurd pay-check, to Mas Selamat escape, to the police force arresting people who were simply exercising their human rights by a peaceful protest, to the unjustified GST hike, to the lack of accountability to the public.
Are we really so blind to see? Are we really too nonchalant to speak?
As I sit here now wondering, I looked through the drafts of topics I’d written but never finished, and I can’t help but wonder one thing:
Will they change a single thing?
I do not think the PAP should be overthrown or anything. To me, I think they are capable of running the country (in fact, the most capable out of all the political parties so far), but they must be accountable to the people. Oppression of the individual rights need to stop. Self-serving policies must stop.
But will what I say change anything?
I am sure that is what many people out there, who had not spoken, think. Yes as an individual your voice may not change things. But remember, freedom and democracy are not simply paper-talk; they are ideas and perspectives, and they are given power by words.
One may not be good enough, but speak out and let your voice be heard. The like-hearted will come.
And the voices will return slowly.
The people should not be afraid of their government- the government should be afraid of its people.
May 21, 2008 at 12:58 am
[...] Is the world really so blind?] Read the rest of this entry ยป [...]
May 21, 2008 at 11:31 am
[...] and Pink Issues – The Maxima: Where has the voices gone? – Nomed Letters: SDP vs PAP – The Video [...]
May 21, 2008 at 3:32 pm
A nation of sheep begets a government of wolves. You are no longer sheep in speaking up. Congratulations and welcome to the real world.
May 21, 2008 at 4:04 pm
well said. now begin to name names!
May 21, 2008 at 4:48 pm
[...] in your heart you know that they are the biggest fools if they but knew it! You have found your voice but they continue to bleat every single day, fearing so much to have a mind of their own. In their [...]
May 21, 2008 at 6:22 pm
I feel obliged to mention the fact that you (Aidil Omar) seemed to speak as if you are in a higher level of morality.
What with the repeated “you” in your articles, I can easily mistake you for the same pack of people in the government.
Much moving and inspiring your text is, but I sense no empathy, only the desire to control and lead the sheep from one shepherd to the other.
May 22, 2008 at 1:47 am
from the land of the free, we get crap
from the land of the free, we get gems coming
but in the land of the bondage, not yet there.
dream on
May 22, 2008 at 1:52 am
@mclaren:
When one hide behind the veil of anonymity, one gets false courage.
The courage to simply post without having to consider the content. This is the manifestation of freedom of speech.
But the veil removed, our voices are immediately muted because we fear.
Yes we may be “in the land of the bondage”. Does that mean we just shut up and “dream on”?
There are people who do not want us to speak. They fear the words and ideas we might exchange.
But do we simply let them get their way?
You think about it. I already have my answer. =)
May 22, 2008 at 1:58 am
I assure you, Signore, that I am not. Neither that I am of a higher level of morality. The article I wrote is a simple piece to inspire those who seek words of encouragement in their quest to attain the freedom of expression as enshrined in the constitution.
If I have failed is the one thing I can never have in this present society.
May 22, 2008 at 11:36 am
i have read works written by anonymous. the book was a classic that moved thousands.
in an authoritative work where the originators have been wildly speculated, it said
in the beginning was the word(whatever that word maybe), and the word is god.
it did not say, in the beginning was a hero, and the hero is god.
no doubt the word was fleshed out. and so it must. but if you watch the journey, he lived short, resisted the crown, like a seed died, disappeared into the ground and then blossomed into the masses of fruitfulness.
and so it should be
sad that he was wrongfully made into an idol for CORRUPTION.