Social Justice

Last week I was watching TV3’s Buletin Utama. In the business segment, they were declaring the corporate salary for a few directors. Genting Berhad’s Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay has a monthly salary of RM16.5 million. Berjaya Group Berhad’s Tan Sri Vincent Tan has a monthly salary of RM 5.4 million. The first thing that goes through my mind is, “What the hell are they gonna do with that much money?” I was pretty cool with what I saw.

But yesterday’s news really pissed me off. There were 2 families with young kids who needed money for some operation. One of them needed RM 50,000 and the other needed RM 300,000. It was a very emotional segment. Their mother were crying or trying not to cry while their fathers were “begging” on national TV for people to donate money to help their kids.

The first thing that came across my mind was, “How much is Lim Kok Thay and Vincent Tan giving?” RM300,000 is NOTHING when compared to RM 16,500,000. RM 300,000 is only 1.81% of RM 16.5 million. 1.81% IS NOTHING!

Instead of asking money from these people, the poor and unfortunate families have to beg for money from people who earn peanuts, namely the working class society. Lets say that an average office worker gets about RM3,000 per month. 1.8% is only RM 54. Not to sound selfish or cruel but why ask money these classes of people. Working class citizens will have to pay monthly mortgage of their house for the next 25 years. Pay their car loans for the next 7 years. Why burden the working class citizens with more problems by portraying the misery of others on television.

This is not the case for the capitalist class and the ‘elite’ classes, where money is considered nearly unlimited. Since the amount of capital that they have is so much, unproductive spending will happen which includes buying expensive commodities that serve no productive or social value. For example, the purchases of the entire top of the line Mercedes Benz. For sure, 1 individual will not able to maximize the usage of 10 Mercedes in his garage. This kind of thinking is contributed by the “consumer based economy” where it is made to maximize one’s needs with one’s means and NOT maximizing one’s resources for the benefit of society.

This year, Malaysians will celebrate their 47th year of independence or “Merdeka”. Yet, social justice is at a very low level. We have a long way to go for better and perfect Malaysia. As quoted by Elie Weisel, “I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”