It happened many times before, year in year out, it is the same story. Ladies and Gentleman, it is that time of the year when the police awakes from their slumber, carried their potbellied sorry er... asses to give their ever popular annual discount on the summonses faithfully accumulated by die-hard traffic offenders. The main stream paper will create an aura of urgency that the force means business this time around and does a countdown on the deadline. The papers would be flashing pictures of never ending queue of offenders trying desperately, waiting from the wee hours of the morning, to clear their debt with the police. The law abiding citizens would look at this and gleefully think, "Serves them right!" Like an anti-climax and a wet blanket, the dead line would come and there would an extension to the date. And the police would say, "This time we mean business. Read my lips, no more second chance, we will get you."
Did I forget to mention about the antics and records of sorts done by the offenders? The papers would shamelessly show some guy bragging how many summonses he had accumulated over the year and how much he paid whilst proudly posing with his long winding bill in front of him. Like this this guy who had to pay for 270 summonses! Hey, breaking the law makes you, maybe not so rich but indeed famous (or is it infamous)!
With the motor vehicle accidents rates in Malaysia being scarily high, the police is just preparing more material for the papers to write on to meet up their dwindling sales. First, there would be a bad bus accident. Then the surviving victims would say the bus driver was driving recklessly and went astray. The authorities would come in later to say that they would look into the matter, no stone would be left unturned. A few days later, the nation would be shell-shocked that the killer had so many outstanding summonses that he would not even be fit to ride a bullock cart. We would all brood in talk shows over radio and be appalled on how such an animal with such a blemished record could be allowed to hold the steering wheels and prowl meekly on our roads. Hue and cries would be raised and everybody would suggest ingenious ways to nip the problem in the bud; the howl reaching a crescendo, plateau and fizzle out as rapid as it sparked and life as we know it would go on like nothing happened.... Obladi Oblada...
And do not let me start about the international flight by night undercover individuals who manifest and disappear as slithery as KGB or Moussad and and vanish right under our eyes like Julie's biscuits (Now you see it and now you don't!). And we are not talking of smooth talking suave debonair of Ian Fleming's Iron Curtain hero who could break your heart with his dimpled teethy smile. I am talking about our menace in the backyard, the illegal immigrants. Like mushrooms after a tropical rain, they have been flourishing under the noses of the authorities as colonies in most suburbs over the years. Occasionally, the immigration officers (probably under a new chief - the new broom) would suddenly awake from their Sleeping Beauty slumber to put things in order. They would realize that the scale of the problem was too hard to handle. Ingeniously, they would offer amnesty period in the spirit of Ramadhan or 'penduduk serumpun' (natives of the same stock). After that period, the colonies would be Ghost Towns just to be haunted by new shipment all over again. And they all will come in new names and spanking new passports, thanks to corrupt officers in their motherland! And our officers? Pulling the blankets to make themselves more comfortable.
It is all a big joke but sadly no one is laughing because the joke is on us.
P.S. I see, now I understand why Indonesian patients seems aloof when their names are called by the clinic nurses. There is only so many names they can remember!
Did I forget to mention about the antics and records of sorts done by the offenders? The papers would shamelessly show some guy bragging how many summonses he had accumulated over the year and how much he paid whilst proudly posing with his long winding bill in front of him. Like this this guy who had to pay for 270 summonses! Hey, breaking the law makes you, maybe not so rich but indeed famous (or is it infamous)!
With the motor vehicle accidents rates in Malaysia being scarily high, the police is just preparing more material for the papers to write on to meet up their dwindling sales. First, there would be a bad bus accident. Then the surviving victims would say the bus driver was driving recklessly and went astray. The authorities would come in later to say that they would look into the matter, no stone would be left unturned. A few days later, the nation would be shell-shocked that the killer had so many outstanding summonses that he would not even be fit to ride a bullock cart. We would all brood in talk shows over radio and be appalled on how such an animal with such a blemished record could be allowed to hold the steering wheels and prowl meekly on our roads. Hue and cries would be raised and everybody would suggest ingenious ways to nip the problem in the bud; the howl reaching a crescendo, plateau and fizzle out as rapid as it sparked and life as we know it would go on like nothing happened.... Obladi Oblada...And do not let me start about the international flight by night undercover individuals who manifest and disappear as slithery as KGB or Moussad and and vanish right under our eyes like Julie's biscuits (Now you see it and now you don't!). And we are not talking of smooth talking suave debonair of Ian Fleming's Iron Curtain hero who could break your heart with his dimpled teethy smile. I am talking about our menace in the backyard, the illegal immigrants. Like mushrooms after a tropical rain, they have been flourishing under the noses of the authorities as colonies in most suburbs over the years. Occasionally, the immigration officers (probably under a new chief - the new broom) would suddenly awake from their Sleeping Beauty slumber to put things in order. They would realize that the scale of the problem was too hard to handle. Ingeniously, they would offer amnesty period in the spirit of Ramadhan or 'penduduk serumpun' (natives of the same stock). After that period, the colonies would be Ghost Towns just to be haunted by new shipment all over again. And they all will come in new names and spanking new passports, thanks to corrupt officers in their motherland! And our officers? Pulling the blankets to make themselves more comfortable.
It is all a big joke but sadly no one is laughing because the joke is on us.
P.S. I see, now I understand why Indonesian patients seems aloof when their names are called by the clinic nurses. There is only so many names they can remember!
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