Berating Life

Hey guys and assalamualaikum to my Muslim brothers and sisters. Happy Eid Mubarak to you all.

VVhen was the last time I posted something on this blog? Damn I could not care to remember now. Anyway, I landed a job earlier this year and quit after five months of working with the company. A friend of mine chose to stay and work there because he's posted at a different department than I was. Being a reporter is challenging and fun. You get to attend events and meet people. Seeing myself as an introvert, I thought I gave it a shot. You know, trying to fight my introversion. Somehow, the more I tried to fight it, the more withdrawn I become. I wanted to stay for a year but something made me unhappy and I decided to resign halfway through. Like this friend once said; everyone can write but not everyone can become a reporter. You're goddamned right.

Five months passed and here I am; return to square one. Unemployed. At the moment, my best friend Aduka and I are applying for any available post both in private and government sectors. Fuck it I mean, let's face it. This is the time where degree holders are scattered everywhere like municipal waste. Just think about that. In Malay, cuba bayangkan sedang orang macam kami ni, degree holders, pun susah cari kerja, apa lagi yang cuma sampai menengah lima or PMB. Mampuslah jawabnya. Sikit sikit cakap 'para belia janganlah memilih kerja'. Yeah right. Fucking 'A'. You received 20 to 40 thousand dollars a month, of course you won't understand what we've been through. You do not have to pay for your electricity bills, your car expenses. You even have a driver ready to take you wherever you want to go. I am not solely putting the blame on those asswipe government officials, but the least they can do is approach the youths in person and find out what their stories are. Only then will you understand. Alas, if we say something that goes against their so called norms, we'll be labeled as 'outlaws'.

VVhat are their norms? This applies largely to those in government sectors, ranging from directors to its lowest subordinates. You see, there is this invisible red tape or glass ceiling if you will that prevents the effective flow of information and command throughout the entire government system. One of the first norms in this nepotistic system is the ability to not question the authority. Yes. Not to question the authority. Anyone who does will again be labeled as 'outlaws'. Actions will be taken in various forms both discreet and official. It always sickens me that whenever us young people defy and question the authority, they will always, always respond with 'You are too young, you do not know anything!'. Yeah right. So what, do we have to wait until we are 90 years old and wear fucking diapers to even know anything? Fuck them. They are afraid of us. They afraid of people who are actually able to think beyond the designated, ever-inculcated mischievous paradigm of theirs. Now this is where it gets interesting. VVe, people like us, take not everything at face value. VVe questioned things. VVe don't just simply accept things the way people want to have it shoved down our throat. This is what we need. VVhy? People like us have seen how authority can misuse, embezzle and abuse the power given to them. They silence you. They quote a verse from Al-Quran so that we, being Muslims, will not be able to argue any further. You see, there is nothing wrong with the religion itself. Islam and especially Al-Quran repeatedly reminds its believers to think wisely with their heads; read Al-Quran and discover things that are in line with its prophecies. However, some assholes preferred to take Al-Quran, hadiths (traditions and life of Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wassalam) and sunnah to their own ends.

Take for example this verse from Surah An Nisa (The Women): "O ye who believe; obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. This is the best way and best in result". From what I have observed in this country that holds MIB as its core philosophy, this verse truly does apply not just to Muslims in this nation, but to all who believe in Allah. Again, I will neither reject nor deny this verse for what it stands for. My point is, government officials repeated this verse time and time again to instill the subliminal sense of blind obedience among this country's Muslim populace. VVith that being said, it simply tries to lead you to believe that whatever wrong things they do, you should not criticise or ask questions because they are those in authority. Fucking pathetic.

Then we have this so called religious officers who are superhuman they can see almost every single mistake that you do simply by observing your clothes and your hair. More so annoying than the abusive, tyrannically incestuous authority, these religious officers have come to us and denounce us because of what we wear, rather than we think and what we are capable of. A friend of mine has long hair, the other guy is smoking. This officer approaches the two who have just finished praying at a mosque and starts talking about how bad their image is. He first targets the cigarette smoking man (The X-Files, anyone?), claiming it as un-Islamic. After minutes of heated exchanges, a woman wearing short skirts and tight fitting t-shrit passes by the three. The cigarette guy simply asks the religious man; do you see that? Why do you not come up to her and speak to her about how irreligious her dress is? The pathetic religious man simply replies 'that's different'. The cigarette guy begins arming himself with munitions of counter argument berates how hypocrite he is for being double standard; no, there is nothing different about it. If you really are doing His service, you would've come up to her and give her some advice, tell her to not wear such revealing clothes in public, if you are sincere to begin with. The man now apparently running out of ideas, begin to use MIB instead as a weapon but to no avail. He switches the topic from religion to racially motivated comment, citing the duo as not fitting with the concept of Malay people. Seeing this as an easy opening, the two return fire, claiming that it has nothing to do with Malay because minutes ago, he enthusiastically talks about how smoking is un-Islamic with utter religious fervor. As a last ditch effort by the loser, he simply said "kids nowadays are stubborn" before leaving them, apparently scarred with his own shameful defeat.

That is not the first. Perhaps I've posted on this blog before about how our colleagues in university, especially the Sufi-wannabes vehemently berated us for the clothes we wear and the music we listened to. This goes on without saying that we are not anywhere better than anybody but you got to think; if people truly hate you for what you look like? Are you really the problem at all? Just because you don't look like them, dress like them, think like them, speak like them, fuck like them, then you are considered an outcast?