By Augustine Anthony

People love seedless fruits. It is convenient for our consumption. The value of the fruit ends the moment it enters our digestive system. But a fruit with seeds can maintain continuity if placed in the hands of a creative and resourceful owner.

Just imagine if we pick up the seed and visualize the beginning and the end of what the seed can become, we will see many things that the mind had not thought or perhaps had taken for granted. We will begin to see the seed becoming a shoot, a little plant, then a tree after which it will bear fruits and we get to enjoy the fruits. More fruits mean more seeds and more seeds mean more trees and the cycle continues. Of course we can expand this simplistic explanation into a complex and endless discourse. But in short, in the miniature seed we are able to glimpse the continuity of a grand scheme of things.

Play the concept forward and then play it backward, play the idea from the seed to the fruit and fruit to the seed. We will see nothing but harmony and purpose. The seed has a purpose for which it must grow as a tree to bear fruits and the fruits have a purpose to produce more seeds and the end result is continuity of purpose.

Empty Slogans

Like seedless fruits, empty slogans are also a convenient item for consumption which will experience its death pang without any hope of continuity the moment the shout is over. If a meaningful national slogan cannot be expanded into grand scheme of things, it will become a disservice to a nation as it turns hope into a mirage and a vibrant society into a mass in a state of inertia that will soon see its distant surrounding overwhelming it. Lip service has the capacity of turning the greater population into a cynical lot.

An idea called democracy

An idea is a seed with a grand scheme of things with continuity in mind. Today the world over, we hear the rejuvenated shouts of democracy echoing in every corner. At its inception the idea was to give power to people and that people themselves should decide what is best for them.

The Greeks started it. The Romans experimented on it. The French Philosopher Montesquieu debated it (the concept of separation of powers is an integral part of democracy). We now have Congressional and Parliamentary Systems. To safe guard the realization of “Power to People”, creative and resourceful thinkers had put in place various mechanisms for compliance. Inventive people know too well that without instruments exacting obedience, people in general will tend to abuse anything that is designed for a common good.

The sacred position of common good necessitates instruments outlining the obligations of all who form and become inclusive of a collective voice called a society. Documents outlining the contractual relationship between People and the State, which we now understand in our country as the Federal Constitution, had become imperative with room for expansion and improvisation. The effective adherence and commitment to the Constitution is made possible by various administrative institutions with the introduction of separation of powers to safe guard that sacrosanct citizen and state relationship.

Now a forward or backward reading of democracy and “power to people” in which ever way will reflect harmony and purpose. And because of this unity, there is hope for modification, improvement and enhancement of the concept. There is room for remodeling and there is space for improvisation in an ever evolving society.

Society and Evolution

A society consisting of living beings is endowed with a self generating pattern of evolution. It is constantly changing. It needs to remodel itself and that can only be done effectively by adaptation and improvisation and this is where the slogans are introduced to spark an innovative idea for a renewed beginning. A slogan with an intended grand scheme of things can give birth to a vision of harmony and purpose very much like the seed and the fruit.

A slogan is a spark as well as an impetus. It ignites and remains a flame.

Trivializing Slogans

Reformasi

What is Reformasi apart from being a wonderful slogan?

Does this seed have a greater purpose for reformation to survive or continue? Right thinking members of society ask what this movement intended to achieve by the very shout of this slogan. Can we visualize this seed turning into a grand scheme of things with comprehensive policy safe guards that will allow room for experiments and improvements?

In hearing the shouts of Reformasi, people would generally think that it is intended to bring reformation to the people which encompass a positively altered way of thoughts that will pave the way for the restructuring of the unworkable system of governance that is pulling this nation down.

After more than ten years from the first clenched fist of Reformasi, we see that many associated with this movement struggling with basic issues like unethical party hopping, corruption, mediocrity and the propagation of distrust among the ethnically divided fragile cooperation. Racial and communal political patriotism and championing are still deeply rooted in many within this movement.

As this slogan is only a sub slogan of the main slogan of democracy, one expects that this slogan will compliment and supplement democracy but sadly the basic ideas of good governance which is part of democracy whether of a state or a political party, still elude many within this slogan. No wonder we hear less and less of the shouts of Reformasi nowadays.

Is Reformasi dead? Or is there a renewed direction to this slogan.

Change

What is Change? Is it not obvious that a change can be for better or worse? A mere sloganeering with word such as “change” does not define an idea with a grand scheme of things in mind.

The fact is reformasi is a form of change but more importantly a change in a positive sense. Thus the slogan change is in effect an outdated slogan going back to reformation. In fact reformation is a superseding theme for the slogan called “Change”. Reformation is an improvised positive term for change, applicable in an advance, clean and efficient system of governance.

Between Change and Reformasi, there is confusion and we are regressing even in sloganeering.

A slogan that screams change must have reformation in mind otherwise sporadic whispers “that the only change that is taking place is the change of heart of many who feel that they are terribly short changed”, might become loud and boisterous shouts.
If there is one reformation that our society must desperately and urgently embrace, then it must be the reformation with renewed mindsets of our people that free us from the very system that has a terrible grip on all our actions and reactions. Look around and see how feudal and patriarchal our society has become.

1Malaysia

What is the grand scheme of things by the utterance of this 1 Malaysia?

Is it one nation with one identity called Malaysians where there is no place for race based society and congregation, one language spoken by all where none will be a stranger in a crowded promenade, one education system where there will be no distrust and suspicion, one judicial system where there will be no confusion and confrontation, one financial system that streamlines our financial prudence, one system of governance where all will have equal opportunity, appraisal, recognition and occupancy. One vision, one struggle, one goal, one dream and one unwavering hope, not of Malaysia for Malaysians, but Malaysians for Malaysia our motherland?

A simple visualization of this slogan gives many skipped heart beats in exhilaration. Can this nerve tingling excitement translate into an endless euphoria in the collective contemplation of the entire nation?

That endless euphoria is only possible when and if the author of this slogan visualizes and sets in motion an agenda in anticipation of the harvest time.

Upshot

When we elevate our focal point from Malaysia for Malaysians to Malaysians for Malaysia, we reach a higher consciousness where our collective conscience will discard its greedy consumerism enslaved by scarcity mindset and embrace the splendor of conservationism.

Barren lands will turn into vibrant ecosystems, polluted rivers will become pristine waterways and the air will be ours to breathe deep.

Not possible? Think again.