On the recent toll hike

I read Nik Nazmi's blog today and his latest post was on the recent toll hike (thanks alot Samy Vellu, I really appreciate it) and how we the people are treated unjustly by the capitalist corporations in an agreement signed by our own representatives.

I for one doesn't agree with the word Indonesian use for government, Pemerintah and even our word Kerajaan.. it makes me feel lowly and on the other hand makes me feel that they are so much better than me. So what word do I prefer? Well, try 'Wakil Rakyat' and 'Civil Servant'.. now doesn't that sound nicer? It also have a little more weight on responsibilty with the word Civil and Rakyat. Great! That's the word to use.

Who is the Prime Minister and who are the ministers? People, just like you and me. It's just that their work is to serve the Rakyat and making decisions in the interest of the Rakyat above other. They don't work for the country, the country is a piece of land, they work for the Rakyat. Without the Rakyat the land is meaningless. I believe in a hierarchy with the you and me on the top and the Civil Servants at the bottom. They work for us, we pay for them to do their job and we pay to make our life better. Well, at least that's what I believe to be democracy.

As we grow older and wiser it's hard not to agree to the fact that that is not how democracy work here and all of that was just textbook bullshit. It feels more like we are in fact slaves instead of Rakyat and every five years we elect an Overlord to enslave us. It's like that everywhere. We don't have a say in anything.. it is what they say that matters. You can go and protest by the thousands to not increase the toll and nothing would happen but when just one of the Overlords open his mouth and say "Tol Naik!"... it will be so. Yes of course the slaves will continue to protest, but at the end of the day all of it will be forgotten and when you ask people on what do they think of the toll hike, they will answer, "Is it? I thought it was always RM1.60?". It kindof remind me of George Orwell's 1984...