Bread For The People

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1. I have mentioned in one of the recent postings that the uneven treatment of people breaking the Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) brings back memories of class struggle of the past. 


2. The struggle that pitched the ordinary people against the ruling class. On the side of the suppressed masses were the thinkers, poets, writers and dreamers. The ruling elites had the political power, money, the army and the propaganda machine. 


3. The French people might not have bread to eat but they had the likes of Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau to speak up for them and keep their spirit alive. With their philosophical views and passionate writings, they brought about changes by abolishing the class division and other chaos in the country. 


4. The French elites were so detached from reality (or just didn't care) that, when the powerful Queen Marie Antoinette was told that the people had no bread to eat, she said they could eat cakes. 


5. Then on 14 July 1789, the French people stormed a medieval armory-cum-political prison known as the Bastille and triggered the French revolution. Marie Antoinette and her husband, King Louis XVI, were put on trial, found guilty and had their heads chopped off. 


6. I'm sure Prime Minister Mahiaddin Md. Yasin, being the representative of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, had read the French history and would make sure that when the two-week lockdown resumes tomorrow, the people have enough bread to eat. I don't think the rakyat are expecting to be served cakes or beef of any type. 


7. We may not have the eloquence of Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau but we have the social media at our disposal. We can express our views, expose injustices and call for change. 


8. Mahiaddin, Hamzah Zainuddin and Saifuddin Abdullah can use their vast power to cow the people or even incarcerate them, but truth will prevail. The social media has no editor that they can order around. 


9. It's a level playing field. It favours not the king nor the pauper. Whoever plunges into it will be subjected to the same bouquets and brickbats. 


10. For those brave souls who are here in Malaysia (as opposed to those who live abroad or are fugitives from Malaysian laws), do be careful. Please respect the laws, ethics and customs of the country. Remember the saying, there are many ways to skin a cat. 


Thank you.

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