The ironic lamentation of Zahra X

It is not easy to conclude or formulate what the recent (hashtag #SayaZahra) Zahra X phenomenon represents.

I call her “Zahra X” for two reasons – I am unable to confirm her full name and I feel the “X” better states that she represents a whole segment of the Malay young adult population.

This segment represents what I call the people of the “dis” – disempowered, disenfranchised and disenchanted with life.

Was her lamentation a fair one? This is not an easy question to answer.

One can hardly not sympathise with her but the premise on which she bases her lamentation is flawed from the very outset.

She begins her lament by recalling her student days during she planned for a bright future. “sudah tentulah indah kerana dengan gaji besar yang saya akan perolehi” was what she planned to build this future with.

At this stage, I could not help but get a whiff of her sense of entitlement.

There was no element of “hard work”, or “learning job skills” let alone a desire to give back something to the rakyat.

It was just a straight up, “I am a graduate, I demand a high salary”. Not really a humble attitude, I think.

Zahra then describes her life as “kais pagi, makan pagi”. This may be somewhat of an exaggeration considering that she, for most of the month, drives to work an even pays RM500 for that privilege.

No fuel, parking or car maintenance costs were mentioned so I assume they are separate from the “car rental” she pays her father. This is hardly “kais pagi, makan pagi”.

There are millions of people who do not have even that privilege. When Zahra rides the LRT at the end of every month, she could perhaps ask her carriage mates, how many of them get to drive cars for even a portion of the time?

And yet she gives a meaningless “bukan saya tidak bersyukur”.

She then mentions the cost required to purchase a house. To put a deposit down, she requires 10% of price and must be work a minimum of five to seven years to make it happen.

I wonder what she was expecting city life to be? City life is fast and competitive and the economic climate is not always sunshine and roses.

She pays RM500 ostensibly to share a room in a house were eight people live. This is, quite understandably, not easy but having grown up in a Chinese area where house sharing was normal, I can tell her that it is not a racial thing.

What can one say about Zahra’s psyche? Is she expecting too much? Is she simply operating on a sense of entitlement? Or perhaps just plain old naivete?

I believe the answer to understanding Zahra’s psyche lies in remembering who organised the event in which her speech was delivered.

It was none other than MTEM – Majlis Tindakan Ekonomi Melayu and it was perhaps ironic that the event was attended by the deputy prime minister himself – Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

This young lady’s mentality can be easily understood – it is the mentality of Umno itself!

She is the product of the Umno based meta-education – that is, the values which are imparted by the school system which underpin the nation’s entire philosophy of education.

We are told by Zahra that her local degree is not recognised. There is something deeply problematic with this confession.

Zahra is a local graduate who works in her own country! Yet her degree is not recognised.

How can this possibly happen? If this is true, then the nation has failed to do justice to its own graduates.

Once again, Umno is to blame. The Umno-led government, in order to appease certain sections of the electorate, have lowered our educational standards to such an extent that scoring dozens A1s is no longer the laudable achievement it once was.

It is possible to score A1s in English and still be hardly able to speak it. Instead of increasing the standards of education, millions is wasted on racial and religious indoctrination.

Zahra feels that as a “Malay, she feels like a pendatang”. This dichotomy shows her true racist mindset. There is no co-operation between Malaysians mentioned here.

Zahra feels that as a Malay, she feels her future is glum.

As someone who reached the “menara gading” (peak of achievement) and is “highly educated”, she feels she deserves more.

I hate to burst her bubble but getting an unrecognised degree is hardly “menara gading”. The government needs to visit educational policies and not pander to the electorate.

She doesn’t care about racism or even politics, but only her survival.

This is ironic because it is institutionalised racism which constructed her worldview.

A racism which is used to entrench a political party so much so that its cronies can charge astronomical fees for their services (RM42,000 for a laptop has to hurt the economy).

Everything is interconnected.

My message for Zahra would be please don’t think the “tanahair” belongs to you alone.

We are all in this together and if we wish to make a better future, we must change the people who have misgoverned us for over half a century and co-operate between all the rakyat.

A brighter future is very possible indeed, just not with your attitude. – July 15, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.