City Dweller Stuck In The Middle of Nowhere... [MCKK Class of 94 Website]
by Rafizi Ramli

London is cold - not only weather wise, but the city sometimes gives you this scary feeling that it is coldly watching you. You walk, you see, you smell - London lacks the spiritual content some people need in their life. London is definitely a far cry from the closed knit and traditional community of Kemaman which I come from. By sheer co-incidence, I am here in London - feeling out of place by the day whilst Jita is Paka, a place I so dearly call home.

Paka is not exactly my home town, it is bordering Kerteh which is the northernmost part of Kemaman. Kerteh and Paka have seen a rapid industrialization program since the discovery of petroleum almost thirty years ago. This industrialization sometimes gives a superficial image that the local towns have benefited greatly though not much has trickled to the common people since 1974. Billions of ringgit later, the laymen of Kerteh and Paka are not much better off than their parents a generation ago. Therefore it is not incorrect or treacherous to say that while physically the surrounding area has improved tremendously, little has changed as far as the living standard is concerned.

Some of you might begin to wonder - what this has got anything to do with Jita being stuck in Kerteh? Fear not people, this is not my attempt at popularising the state or indirectly helping the PAS government generates extra revenue from tourism to improve the near 'nazak' state exchequer. The standard of living in Paka is hugely different from what Jita; the self-professed city bred (city brat?) is used to; such that the superficial physical modernity will never make Jita feel at home. For someone who once claimed the world was under his feet to demonstrate how well traveled he was, starting a working life in a place like Paka might not be his idea of a yuppie life!

First - there is a lack of posh places to hang out. Paka and the surrounding area only has small warongs operated by locals to cater for these 'city breds' who are unlikely to cook; since their maids do the job so excellently at home. I cannot recall any quality cinemas around - which prompted Jita to travel to Kuantan for his entertainment needs. Of course it was such a disdain to me that he has to travel all the way to Kuantan and bypass Cukai town for something as trivial as checking his mails; but the fact remains that Jita finds any place in Terengganu too small by his standard. When I was at home last Christmas and managed to spend some time with him, he kept lamenting McDonald's absence in Terengganu - having to settle for A&W to satisfy his 'city bred's craving for fast food.

I was bemused for it is my dream to remain in that community, to see it flourished harmoniously. McDonald's is certainly not a key indicator of an economic status of any place - let alone if local food fares much better than the capitalist manufactured low quality junk. Why have McDonald's when the people can barely afford it; it will only separate the 'haves' from the 'have nots'? Call me an anti capitalist or a socialist - but if you grow up in places like Kemaman and try to understand what others have to go through to make ends meets; many will share my sentiments.

It is for this reason that I think Jita will learn greatly from this place. In order to understand the people, you must be apart of the people - not just pretending to understand them or professing your sympathy by doing some patronising charity work; but actually understand their concerns. See things from their eyes. Gandhi knew this very well and it is not a miracle that Gandhi became one of the greatest inspirators of all time - he knew his people's sufferings because he was one of them. If the people walk with a pair of cheap 'chappal', he walked bare-footed.

Jita and many of you out there represent a new generation of Malay Malaysians. They are highly educated, come from a middle class background and it is fair to say that they live comfortably thus far. But the comfort hardly inspires this generation to understand the psyche of its people which in general is still left behind - education and economic wise. They become very detached from their own people and Bangsar means more to them than Baling or Ulu Jabor. Instead of creating a caring middle class which will help channel more voluntary assistance to the lower income group, the middle class is more interested at climbing the class ladder; leaving the economically deprived group even further behind. The chasm is as great as ever. What a sad predicament the society finds itself in now - Tun Razak will turn in his grave lamenting this.

I was once involved in a charity project where overseas undergraduates; most of them were from the upper class families (including some well known politicians and dynasties - it was a Who's Who of Malaysia) spent a week with under privilege kids. The program intends to inculcate a sense of purpose to these kids by providing them a role model; hopefully to guide them through to university. I watched these people laughed and cried, often professing their concern for the kids. But I always wonder - whether it was only a surreal way to preempt the sense of guilt of not doing anything worthwhile during the summer holidays. Most of the time I concluded that it was only sympathy which fades away when the hype and 'happenings' of the city overwhelmed many of them. At the end of the day, I wonder how many of them actually understand the trial and tribulations of the 'have nots' to even come close to where they (the 'haves') were ten years ago? Do they ever try to comprehend the complex these kids have to go through?

I was lucky to have discarded that complex a long time ago - thanks to Malay College which ironically practise meritocracy without bias; but not many kids in Malaysia have the opportunity to enter Malay College.

A lot of the program participants often condemned me for not joining them as a facilitator. I often quietly smirked at them - I don't need to be a facilitator to understand the kids or profess my sympathy, I was from their ranks a long time ago. I pray that I will never forget - and I pray that more and more young people choose to get involved with social work.

Jita has shown eagerness in the past in this and I hope he will utilise this opportunity to understand the people- for you cannot do this when you are confined to the high rise office blocks in Putrajaya. For all its inadequacies and backwater image, Paka might not be a bad place at all for Jita and others - I suppose it's a perfect place for reflection.