THE end of the year is right around the corner again. In 19 days’ time, many will be toasting, celebrating and ushering in 2010. For some the New Year is nothing more than a flip of the page on the calendar and life goes on as usual. For others the New Year represents a new and better tomorrow. Instead of the traditional list of New Year resolutions, the Eye has, instead, come up with a wish list for the coming year.
Topmost on the Eye’s wish list is an improved government delivery system — human resource-wise. As much as the public service insists that their delivery system has improved by leaps and bounds (some public agencies are boasting fancy and new high-tech services for the people), the public service cannot rest on their laurels merely because of one or two improvements.
The people are still frustrated by delays, ‘tidakapa’ attitudes of counter staff, waiting, more delays and the infuriating ‘officer tidak ada sini’ replies. There are many of us who still get the feeling that the public service delivery system, despite all the talk and efforts to improve, is still manned by those who are in their seats merely for a pay cheque at the end of the month.
Then there’s this lifelong wish of having civilised and considerate motorists on our roads and in our parking spaces. Some may say that this is like asking for the sky and that there is no way the human race will ever attain a 100 per cent polite motorist status, ever! A friend who lives near a commercial centre in Kuching recently complained of how people who worked in the area resorted to parking indiscriminately around housing areas. Apparently the phenomenon of parking at the corners of junctions and in front of houses began a couple of weeks back when the parking coupon system was implemented around the commercial centre area.
The Eye also wishes that, starting 2010, politicians in the country, regardless of parties, will stop making half-baked remarks and stop acting like spoilt little children. Fat chance of this wish coming true! All the same, it is not wrong to wish for a stop in name calling and theatrics of emotional displays (no, you do not have to stomp on photos of other people’s faces to make a point or stage walkouts every now and then). All that energy should instead be put to good use, for the people. It seems these days politicians are just too wrapped up in their own personal causes and agendas, that they have forgotten who they represent and their responsibilities to the people.
Next on the wish list — celebrities and those with financial means need to become genuinely involved in volunteerism and supporting worthwhile causes. No doubt, there are those who are ‘genuine’ in their involvement, but for most (honestly speaking) being involved in causes by being ‘seen’ at charity events and fundraisers is more about publicity mileage.
What we need is more people of means and celebrities actually getting down and dirty where causes are concerned. After all, we’ve all seen those glitzy glamour shots of them ‘supporting’ causes, and quite frankly, it has become more of a farce.
How many actually go right down to poverty stricken areas to hold and spend time with children who have no proper water supply to bathe with or get their hands dirty rescuing mangy and discarded pets from the drains?
The Eye could go on forever where wishes are concerned, but to sum it up, the Eye hopes that 2010 will see a more considerate and less pretentious society that will actually make an effort to understand one another better.