The riots in the UK have prompted many to look closer at what is happening over there.
Yang penting ialah untuk memahami latar belakang socio-ekonomi di negara tersebut. Terdapat jurang pendapatan yang luas di antara golongan kaya dengan kaum miskin.
This income inequality is compounded by a sense of deprivation, racism and distrust of the police. Consumerism has heightened the sense of relative deprivation and prompted some to take short-cuts to achieve the usual, superficial trappings of youthful yearning – hence the looting of high-street shops selling merchandise much coveted by the youth.
Nina Power cuba memberi konteks untuk apa yang sedang berlaku di Britain dalam akhbar The Guardian:
One journalist wrote that he was surprised how many people in Tottenham knew of and were critical of the IPCC, but there should be nothing surprising about this. When you look at the figures for deaths in police custody (at least 333 since 1998 and not a single conviction of any police officer for any of them), then the IPCC and the courts are seen by many, quite reasonably, to be protecting the police rather than the people.
Combine understandable suspicion of and resentment towards the police based on experience and memory with high poverty and large unemployment and the reasons why people are taking to the streets become clear. (Haringey, the borough that includes Tottenham, has the fourth highest level of child poverty in London and an unemployment rate of 8.8%, double the national average, with one vacancy for every 54 seeking work in the borough.)
Those condemning the events of the past couple of nights in north London and elsewhere would do well to take a step back and consider the bigger picture: a country in which the richest 10% are now 100 times better off than the poorest, where consumerism predicated on personal debt has been pushed for years as the solution to a faltering economy, and where, according to the OECD, social mobility is worse than any other developed country.
As Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett point out in The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, phenomena usually described as “social problems” (crime, ill-health, imprisonment rates, mental illness) are far more common in unequal societies than ones with better economic distribution and less gap between the richest and the poorest. Decades of individualism, competition and state-encouraged selfishness – combined with a systematic crushing of unions and the ever-increasing criminalisation of dissent – have made Britain one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.
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fyi…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiw3wg1mgro&feature=player_embedded&w=400
…tax penalty for family with married couples is 100 pound a week…as though the government is trying to cause traditional family structure to break up
Najib commented that those took to rusuhan in UK are those that are ‘terpinggir’ (marginalised). PM’s comment brought about a great sense of Deja Vu when you think of our own’s Hindraf movement although their approach is a non-violent one, but is now subdued before any gain is achieved, as some of their ‘leaders’ betrayed the cause, leaving the poor Indians as disillusioned as ever. I am now re-reading the book ‘The Disillusioned Tamils…In Malaysian Politics’ by Ponmugam (Jan 2008). Sadly, nothing has changed in the last 3 years except that the Indian community is ‘gifted’ another ministerial position in… Read more »
Just to share this… The London Riots and How They Will be Used to the Elite’s Advantage | The Vigilant Citizen – http://vigilantcitizen.com/vigilantreport/the-london-riots-and-how-they-will-be-used-to-the-elites-advantage/ The Los Angeles riots of 1992 and the French riots of 2010 took place in very similar circumstances. While it is obvious that many rioters have absolutely no political agenda except for the […] “Violence justifies repression”. In other words, the elite needs violence (or creates the “Mess” by “Design” which was allowed to continue) to make its policies acceptable. After just a few days of rioting (which was allowed to continue), a major shift in communication… Read more »
The Elitist Group want more than financial control. With technology and political influence, they can bargain forcefully, manipulate socio-political events and transform societies in the manner to suit their higher secret agenda.
While USA is on the downswing, the inevitable effect will be global ‘tranformation’ manipulated in a series of ‘disruptions’ to force a new awareness of living in ‘greater control’ for the sake of peace and personal security for the undiscerning fools.
Bersih 2.0: Merakam Semangat Zaman/Capturing The Spirit Of The Times – An essay and short story writing competition in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Inggeris. More than RM6,000 worth of cash, books and a super cool limited edition diskopi’s bersih t-shirt “melawan atas jalan bukan hanya atas talian” to be won + a chance to get your writings published in a book to be launched this year! For those interested to capture the zeitgeist of our era through essay or short story and won those prizes please check it out the details, terms and conditions of the competition at: http://diskopi.wordpress.com You… Read more »
…The rich and poor disparity here is not anything less than in UK. The poor here are actually much poorer than the British poor. There at least they have decent social aids to help the poor. In Malaysia we got nothing, the poor are just left to rot away.
The difference between Malaysians and the British is the level of awareness thanks to a controlled media here in Malaysia….
A welfare estate is important in a place like the UK. You have to remember that the baseline needs for subsistence is higher in the UK than in Malaysia. It’s lethally cold outside here for a large part of the year, with almost no food at all growing wild here. While being paid a ‘benefit’ from the government might look good, the British poor don’t have a choice of things to spend that money on. They cannot lie around in the shade of a tree in an old pair of shorts and bare feet, eating free fruit. I had no… Read more »
this is happening because “capitalism” in Britain for too long. Power of “socialism” swings back to ensure fairer and sensible wealth distributions. This can happen to Malaysia if the rich and connected cronies swindle away the rakyat money; and the deprived folks (especially in escalating living cost condition) shall go out to create havoc to feed their stomachs and their quests for equal opportunities ! So this set an alarm clock ticking away for us to be warned ! There won’t be the tussle btwn races in Malaysia but riots caused by big income/wealth gaps among the Malaysians. Mind my… Read more »
We cannot talk about socialism because BN has linked it (effectively to the mind of ill-informed Malaysians) to communism. Even Anil dare not attempt to answer a reader’s request for the difference between the two. So most discussion ends there with dead end.
Anyway, Malaysia has the second highest Gini Coefficient of 0.492 in Asia.
http://www.nkkhoo.com/2011/08/01/why-gini-coefficient-never-appear-in-the-2010-census-result/
High Gini Coefficient means the wealth gap between rich and poor people is huge! So the problem is brewing while unemployment among the young graduates is on the rise in the Barang Naik environment.
Humayun & Larry Heng set me thinking !!!!!!!
while i syiok syiok enjoying penang street food, my conscience hits me hard in the heart. for every RM1 i spent on local street food, i shall contribute 5 sen to the needy; at least my small charitybrings good karma to the exploited capitalist world (high price houses etc) we are in.
all other self confessed Tham Chiak Kui (TCK u know who), pls wake up to do your part to improve Malaysia’s Gini Coefficient of 0.492
Not all Tham Chiak Kuis can enjoy expensive street food of the more famous Ori-Maestros, eg the obscenely pricey Char Koay Teow of Lorong Selamat. But on average, street hawker food are more affordable than plastic food of slippery cleanliness obsessed of food courts, thematic restaurants and foreign fast food chains. Support more local hawkers to generate business growth of our local food industry. On another note, why can’t the hawkers reciprocate the same for local employment instead of employing foreigners? This question is also directed to all local business owners who care to think for the long term future… Read more »
Kenapa tajuk dalam Bahasa Melayu, tapi tulisan dalam Inggeris?
Ini bukan PPSMI!
Satu lagi sebab berlakunya rusuhan dari kalangan anak muda Britain adalah kerana peluang perkejaan berkurangan ekoran austerity program Britain yang juga mengurangkan welfare seperti unemployment benefits. Yuran universiti pun naik mendadak…
Apakah Gieni Coefficient Britain? Yang kaya terus jadi kaya sementara yang miskin terus hidup melarat. Gejala ini boleh berlaku di Malaysia memandangkan kerajaan BN banyak membazir duit rakyat (juga kesan korapsi yang tinggi) serta menanggung hutang yang tinggi (% of GDP) untuk kepentingan kroni sahaja.
Yeah, made me feel a bit giddy while reading.
Dear Sir, I was a student there in the 80s, the feeling of racism and hatred among the whites to the coloured and immigrants are very obvious. As a student of asian origin I am no exception to their racist remarks. I have the opportunity to live among them in their council houses. You must understand, their tollerance towards the non whites is very thin. On one hand they need your investment but they hate you. The disparity between the white and non whites is glaring in terms of job opportunity, promotion and to some extent they which you are… Read more »
Hello! This has nothing to do with race! There are as many ‘white’ kids (and adults) looting and throwing petrol bombs as there are ‘non whites’. If you move to a foreign country and deliberately choose to live in an ethnic enclave, you are making the first rejection. I understand that living with people who are not like you may not be quite as cosy, but integration starts with you individually – not everybody else. I don’t think these kind of scenes will come to Malaysia any time soon. I suspect the police are suffering torn loyalties. I for one… Read more »
There are 2-3million illegal immigrants loitering in this country. Home Minister Hishammuddin and Prime Minister Najib are now rushing to hand out legal status to them, as 2 million of them have recently registered and granted legal migrant status allowing them to work in this country. Do we really have so many jobs for 2 million more people? The cheap abundant migrant labour will affect our children’s future job prospects, salaries will remain stagnant with greater competition for the same job prospects. The world economy is slowing down and double-dip recession is looming ahead. Recently the Bursa KL has lost… Read more »
More talented Malaysians of all races are leaving the country for better opportunities and peace of mind. Over 300,000 talented Malaysians of all races have left the country in the past four years. In lieu of this, the flawed policy of BN government has somehow replaced the loss with over 2 million illegal immigrants many of whom are more interested in seeking permanent resident status and citizenship rather than show their loyalty to this country. Most of these immigrants who are given PR status or citizenship tacitly hold dual citizenship. We are losing our finest citizens to other nations and… Read more »
the poor youths with no job prospects, lured by consumerism (envy those rich footballers’ lifestyles), started looting at all costs to meet their desires ?
if this is the root cause, i then fear for KL poorer youth !
Bcoz they may one day go robbing at Bukit Bintang to be on par with the well to do to have iPADs, PSP, Blackberrys, LV etc etc etc
We have already seen cases of some youngsters prostituting them to pay for the luxury items. No thanks to some local TV shows showcasing consumerism and latest fashion stuff to influence the young minds and ‘metrosexuals’ that are easily addicted to latest gadgets and branded goods that they cannot fford with their pocket money or meagre salary.