Whom shall we really fight?

We don’t remember coming to grudges with anyone. Shall we fight for nothing? Surely it will be for something… It’s a battle for our country’s destiny, a battle to make our dreams come true. Surely we need to fight this battle with our own limited weapons; with zeal and zest. Let’s not wait for friends in the East or West to lend us a hand. Let them find us in the middle of fighting, if indeed they happen to come. If charity begins at home, we are the beginners of this battle against our own poverty.

We need patriotic and selfless leaders, leaders that can prioritize common people’s needs above their own affairs. Leaders that can understand and cut a cloak according to our cloth. We need visionary leadership, not only just looking at presidents of this country but also those that head different departments. Whether it be government institutions or non-governmental institutions, it is the development at different levels that contribute to the development of whole nation – leaders that can talk less and do a lot.

It will take honest and transparent leaderships that can take us through in this battle against extreme poverty. Leaders that cannot bite on our back. Leaders that can accommodate the views of others and implement the sounding ones. Political leaders that can join hands, forgetting their political differences, at least for the development of our country’s sake. Leaders like members of parliament and cabinet ministers should be selfless and very responsible.

They should see to it that bills passed in parliament are those that benefit the common people. They should follow the passed bills with attention, and if anything is suspicious, they should ask for clarity from the ministry responsible. If cabinet ministers can be very open and transparent in their ministries, in the use of money and other resources allocated to them, members of parliament should be encouraging.

Sometimes it is like they propose bills just for the sake of proposing. For instance, bills of their salary rise. Their arguments might be genuine but with our current economy in shambles, it is very frustrating. So if they feel shaken, what about those people down on payroll with tax deduction salaries?

There is also need for the public at large to be responsible for public facilities. It frustrates government efforts of developing this country when people are not caring for public facilities or are deliberately destroying them. It also cost government a lot of money maintaining the same projects instead of starting new projects due to theft.

If we, the people, can be more patriotic and guard these public facilities jealously as our own, of which they are, for sure we will never be the same in years to come. For example, in most nation secondary schools there is this tendency of misusing the toilets as well as destroying school buildings. This forces the government to pay for maintenance costs instead of building new infrastructures.

Vandalising of street lights and deliberately setting fire to some infrastructures is what is dragging us backward. These are our structures, we should know that. It’s us who make government and us who use the facilities.

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Tell us: Why do you think people destroy public facilities when they protest?