In defence of Wees video
CH OngPublished: Sep 3, 2007 7:24 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
I refer to the malaysiakini letter Wee should make video showing true Malaysia.
1. Police corruption
After reading the writer's statements: 'Wee Meng Chee's song gives the impression that the police are going around stopping innocent Malaysians then demanding bribes' and 'Since our men in blue earn a pittance, they do on occasions succumb to temptation', I cannot help getting the impression that the writer is either very new to this country or that he rarely travels on our Malaysian roads and highways by car, or that he is one of those rare few who has never been caught committing a traffic offence, or that he has never been a passenger in a car that was caught for committing a traffic offence.
Allow me to explain. I have been travelling on our Malaysian roads for 40 years, mostly as a driver of my own car but quite often as a passenger in friends' cars. My personal experiences tell me that when the police conduct a traffic operation, their primary aim is to collect bribes for themselves.
Although I am not a habitual traffic offender, I have been careless on occasions during the last 40 years. All my offences were for exceeding the speed limit. On each and every occasion, I was stopped during police operations, there were many other drivers who were also stopped and I seemed to be one of the few, if not the only one, to eventually receive a traffic summons. Most, if not all the other drivers would be negotiating the quantum of bribe to be paid, and such negotiations are conducted quite openly.
My personal experience is that the police do not demand a bribe. They are not that stupid. However they will not take out their summons booklet but instead give hints like telling me that I had exceeded the speed limit and then proceed to ask me in the most polite way possible what I think is the best way to 'settle the matter'. Every time I would tell them that I would like them to quickly write out the traffic summons so that I can continue my journey, and every time their behaviour would change on hearing my 'suggestion'. They were not so polite to me any more and the smiles quickly disappeared.
There have also been many occasions when I was a passenger in friends' cars and the drivers were caught using their mobile phones without a hands free kit. I assure you that I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never seen any friend of mine receive a traffic summons. On every occasion, the police were extremely polite. They informed the offending driver that he had committed a traffic offence and then proceeded to ask him to suggest the best solution to 'settle the matter.'
Therefore that part of the writer's statement, '... on occasions succumb to temptation' is nonsense in the light of my experiences. In any case, what is the relevance of the low salary? Is the writer suggesting that because the police salary is low, corruption is no more corruption?
2. Discrimination in regard to educational opportunities
He further writes about the tens of thousands of non Chinese students whose applications for further studies are rejected, '... that they cannot afford an education because their parents are too poor to pay the exorbitant fees of our private colleges', and that 'These young men and women now have to scrape a living because in Malaysia, minimum wage does not exist.'
All these may be true. But if Wee feels that he was discriminated when applicants with poorer results were selected over him for a place in a local public university, surely he has a right to feel aggrieved. The fact that he can afford to get his education outside Malaysia and the point that he should perhaps show compassion for those less fortunate than him is another subject for a different discussion.
3. Showing videos of other facets of Malaysian life
Wee had chosen to show certain facets of life in Malaysia. That is his prerogative because it was his video. If the writer prefers to see videos of 'homeless Malaysians sleeping on the sidewalks and the municipal council workers asking them to get lost as they are eyesores not unlike pieces of garbage' or of 'single mothers who prostitute themselves' then he should produce his own videos. It's a free world we are living in now. If Wee has to comply with everyone's wishes on what facets of Malaysian life should go into his video, his video will have no ending.
1. Police corruption
After reading the writer's statements: 'Wee Meng Chee's song gives the impression that the police are going around stopping innocent Malaysians then demanding bribes' and 'Since our men in blue earn a pittance, they do on occasions succumb to temptation', I cannot help getting the impression that the writer is either very new to this country or that he rarely travels on our Malaysian roads and highways by car, or that he is one of those rare few who has never been caught committing a traffic offence, or that he has never been a passenger in a car that was caught for committing a traffic offence.
Allow me to explain. I have been travelling on our Malaysian roads for 40 years, mostly as a driver of my own car but quite often as a passenger in friends' cars. My personal experiences tell me that when the police conduct a traffic operation, their primary aim is to collect bribes for themselves.
Although I am not a habitual traffic offender, I have been careless on occasions during the last 40 years. All my offences were for exceeding the speed limit. On each and every occasion, I was stopped during police operations, there were many other drivers who were also stopped and I seemed to be one of the few, if not the only one, to eventually receive a traffic summons. Most, if not all the other drivers would be negotiating the quantum of bribe to be paid, and such negotiations are conducted quite openly.
My personal experience is that the police do not demand a bribe. They are not that stupid. However they will not take out their summons booklet but instead give hints like telling me that I had exceeded the speed limit and then proceed to ask me in the most polite way possible what I think is the best way to 'settle the matter'. Every time I would tell them that I would like them to quickly write out the traffic summons so that I can continue my journey, and every time their behaviour would change on hearing my 'suggestion'. They were not so polite to me any more and the smiles quickly disappeared.
There have also been many occasions when I was a passenger in friends' cars and the drivers were caught using their mobile phones without a hands free kit. I assure you that I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never seen any friend of mine receive a traffic summons. On every occasion, the police were extremely polite. They informed the offending driver that he had committed a traffic offence and then proceeded to ask him to suggest the best solution to 'settle the matter.'
Therefore that part of the writer's statement, '... on occasions succumb to temptation' is nonsense in the light of my experiences. In any case, what is the relevance of the low salary? Is the writer suggesting that because the police salary is low, corruption is no more corruption?
2. Discrimination in regard to educational opportunities
He further writes about the tens of thousands of non Chinese students whose applications for further studies are rejected, '... that they cannot afford an education because their parents are too poor to pay the exorbitant fees of our private colleges', and that 'These young men and women now have to scrape a living because in Malaysia, minimum wage does not exist.'
All these may be true. But if Wee feels that he was discriminated when applicants with poorer results were selected over him for a place in a local public university, surely he has a right to feel aggrieved. The fact that he can afford to get his education outside Malaysia and the point that he should perhaps show compassion for those less fortunate than him is another subject for a different discussion.
3. Showing videos of other facets of Malaysian life
Wee had chosen to show certain facets of life in Malaysia. That is his prerogative because it was his video. If the writer prefers to see videos of 'homeless Malaysians sleeping on the sidewalks and the municipal council workers asking them to get lost as they are eyesores not unlike pieces of garbage' or of 'single mothers who prostitute themselves' then he should produce his own videos. It's a free world we are living in now. If Wee has to comply with everyone's wishes on what facets of Malaysian life should go into his video, his video will have no ending.
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