AS a student, I would not dare to tell my grandmother if I were punished in school because she would add to my misery. Don’t get me wrong… she brought me up and I loved her dearly. But she was firm and did not tolerate misdeeds. May Allah grant her jannah.

There were some kids who were publicly caned at the Monday morning assemblies for small thefts, even though they had said sorry and returned what they had stolen. At these assemblies, we were constantly reminded to obey the Rukun Negara and to be a good person when we grew up.

Today, if a child were to be punished in school, the teacher who had dealt out the punishment had better be well prepared to defend themselves from angry parents. Should the authorities take action against wrongdoers, they would be hurled with abuse. And some drivers, with their children in the car, would swear at other road users. In the neighbourhood where I live, park visitors double park, park haphazardly and park on the pavement just to park as closely as they can to the entrance. 

These are the new norms, I guess.

On a higher level, we are seeing people not paying the price for their wrongdoings, even with sufficient evidence against them and after they are charged in court. Our crime-busters worked hard to catch them but afterwards we either do not hear about them being charged or we hear that the charges have been dropped.

And then there is this thing called plea bargaining, in which you plead guilty or nolo contendere to reduced charges. Or you could just return some of the loot and strike a deal.

As for democracy, we religiously hold elections to select the government but recently we experienced a new norm. People who lost in the last general election are now in government replacing those who were actually elected.

There were mass defections after the polls. Does it matter that GE14 cost taxpayers RM500 million? There are no limits to how much a political candidate or a third party (corporations, unions, special interest groups, etc) may spend on a campaign

All this has done little to quell the anger of the rakyat and the mockery of the world directed at our beloved country.

Are there laws to put things right or are there loopholes that needs to be plugged to change this?

It makes a mockery of our aspirations for law and order, adherence to the Rukun Negara ,and to nurture a progressive young generation.

Or are we preparing our youth for an afternoon of frivolity and binge drinking?

What say you… – December 9, 2020.

* Saleh Mohammed reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.