This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 7, 2018 - May 13, 2018

Dear candidates,

I normally mind my own business and don’t like to disturb other people but I really need to get something off my chest. I don’t know who to talk to, so I think I shall write to you all and hope you all can help me.

Firstly, let me introduce myself. I’m Ah Fook. I’m just a technician in a factory making plastic bags. I live not too far away from you, YB, just a shabbier side of town but within your constituency. Do I still call you YB now that parliament is dissolved? Anyway, this is addressed to all of you candidates, not just YB.

I saw you three at the market this morning and wanted to ask you all what to tell my son. But then I pai-seh, so many people around, how to ask although this is probably the only time I see any one of you in flesh and blood. I don’t want to kacau you about the smelly drains near my house or the uncollected rubbish piled up around the bend turning into my row of terraced houses because I hear that is not your job. You have bigger things on your plates, like making laws and forming policies for the nation.

But what I want to ask is very personal and a small thing, so I didn’t ask.

Furthermore, my wife who was with me in the market said she was low on cash, again. So, we cut our shopping trip short. These days, RM100 can’t get you very far.

She even compared shopping here to shopping in Singapore which we visited for her niece’s wedding last week. She said dollar for dollar, things are so cheap there. I told her, cannot compare la, Sing dollar is much stronger, three times stronger than the ringgit. That was when I got into trouble. She started scolding me for not moving to Singapore 20 years ago to work in a factory there, together with her brother.

Imagine, better education for our children, more money for the same effort, she said. I said, cannot compare la. So competitive in Singapore, so stressful, our children cannot handle. And cannot own a house or car there.

She said that her brother and wife got HDB and who needs a car when public transport is so efficient in Singapore? And her nephews and nieces can enter local universities, get scholarships and good jobs.

Aiyoh, how to argue with her?

Anyway, back to what I really want to ask you.

My son is 17. He’s a good boy, although he spends too much time on his smartphone. He just went for his driving test. He came home very sad because he failed. He said he did everything he was supposed to do but still failed. He strongly believed it was because we didn’t pay “extra”. His friends’ parents paid and got through.

So now we have to pay another round for the test. My wife said to just pay the “extra”, else he may fail again and then we have to pay again for the test! But isn’t bribery wrong, my son asked me. I also don’t know what to tell him.

I want to ask you, what do I tell him? Do I pay and tell him that’s how things work in this country or should we just try our luck and hope he gets a good examiner?

My son is a good boy. He doesn’t want to emigrate like what most children plan to do. But what kind of values will he be learning if he continues to stay here? Should I ignore his desire to stay here and pack him off to Singapore?

I myself don’t like Singapore but if he can have a better future there, why not? Of course, the wife will be very happy.

But we must have done something right because he told me when he turns 21, he wants to be a polling agent in the general election. He wants to contribute. So, maybe in the next election, he may even be helping you campaign, ah YB? Provided you’re still going to be standing la.

Anyway, hope to hear from you all. And may the better candidate win.

Thank you.
Ah Fook

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