I am God, said Pharaoh

The more than 26 million Malaysians are paying the 798 Malaysians, employed as servants of the people during the elections, to do a job. Their job and the salary that comes with it comes from the people. The people are digging into their pockets to pay these 798 elected Malaysians their salaries.

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I am God, said the Pharaoh.

You are not God, replied Moses.

And why do you say I not God? asked the Pharaoh.

Because God can give life and God can take life, was Moses’s reply.

Okay, I now sentence you to death, said the Pharaoh.

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But before the palace guards could drag Moses away and cut off his head, the Pharaoh added, and now I withdraw the death sentence. So you see, said the Pharaoh, I have just taken your life and then I gave you back your life. So, since I can give life and I can take life, that means I am God.

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Barisan Nasional is the ruling party, says Umno. Barisan Nasional brings development to the people. Barisan Nasional builds roads, schools, hospitals and whatnot. So the people must be grateful to Barisan Nasional. And, to demonstrate this gratitude, the people must vote for Barisan Nasional.

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Barisan Nasional is just like the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh used warped logic. Barisan Nasional also uses warped logic. So Barisan Nasional has the same mind as the Pharaoh. And all those people beholden to Barisan Nasional for whatever reason, the Rulers included, who also argue that the people must support Barisan Nasional because of the development that Barisan Nasional brings, also have the mind of the Pharaoh.

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Barisan Nasional does not bring development to the people, just like the Pharaoh was not able to give life. It is the people who bring development to the people. And the people bring development by paying taxes and by voting in a government to manage their tax money.

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If the people refuse to pay taxes and if the people refuse to vote Barisan Nasional into office then not only will Barisan Nasional not have any money to develop the county but Barisan Nasional will also not have the power to develop the country, even if it had the money, because only the government in office can develop the country, assuming, in the first place, the people give them the money to be able to do so.

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The system works like this. The people give the government money. Then the people go to the polling station to give the mandate to 222 Malaysians at federal level and another 576 Malaysians at state level to manage the people’s money. That is a total of 798 Malaysians out of more than 26 million Malaysians being given the mandate to manage the people’s money.

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So these 798 Malaysians have to be grateful to the more than 26 million Malaysians. The more than 26 million Malaysians do not have to be grateful to the 798 Malaysians elected into office.

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The more than 26 million Malaysians are paying the 798 Malaysians, employed as servants of the people during the elections, to do a job. Their job and the salary that comes with it comes from the people. The people are digging into their pockets to pay these 798 elected Malaysians their salaries.

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The more than 26 million Malaysians are also paying for the development of the country. The more than 26 million Malaysians pay taxes to the government, which the government then uses to build roads, schools, hospitals and whatnot.

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Every year, around November, the government presents its budget in Parliament for the approval of 222 elected Malaysians. These 222 elected Malaysians will have to look at the budget and on behalf of more than 26 million Malaysians tell Parliament whether this is what the people who paid that money really want. If it is not what the more than 26 million Malaysians want then the budget has to be rejected and redone to the people’s satisfaction.

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If the 222 elected Malaysians do not look carefully into the budget and into how the people’s money is being spent then the more than 26 Malaysians will have to sack these 222 elected Malaysians. And this will be done during the elections every five years when the 798 elected Malaysians at federal and state levels have to go back to the people and beg the more than 26 million Malaysians to employ them for another five years with a salary attached.

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That is how the system works. And let no one, even if he may be the Ruler of the land, tell you otherwise. The Pharaoh also tried to be funny. He thought he was God. And the Pharaoh was a most powerful man indeed who was matched by no one, not even the greatest dictator in history. But God smite the Pharaoh down. And the more than 26 million Malaysians are not Gods but they too have the power to smite down the 798 elected Malaysians who have the mind of the Pharaoh and expect us to be grateful to them for doing the job they are being paid to do and using our money to do it on top of that.

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The Sultans had better be very careful. They are not as powerful as the Pharaoh. Heck, they are not even as powerful as the 798 elected Malaysians whom the people voted into office. The people do not want to show gratitude to Barisan Nasional. The people do not need to show gratitude to Barisan Nasional. Barisan Nasional should instead be grateful to the people. Heck, even the Sultans should be grateful to the people. Without the people’s money they would be eating sand (makan pasir, the Malays would say). And the day the people stop paying their taxes and stop voting for Barisan Nasional will be the day that those who think they are in power will realise that the people are more powerful, more powerful than even the Pharaoh and all those Malaysians who have the mind of the Pharaoh.

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P.S. To Muslims, being called the Pharaoh is the greatest insult. So I urge Malaysia Today’s readers to NOT call our elected leaders, and unelected leaders like the Sultans, Pharaoh. They would get extremely upset.