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| Sunday, 13 January 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Some dreams come true by FACTOTUM Sirens blow. The motorcade passes on. There are pilot cars full of armed guards. The rearguard is equally impressive. Sandwiched in the middle hidden away by tinted glass is a lone figure being whisked away at high speed to avert snipers and other possible assailants. On inquiry we are told that the occupant of the high-powered continental limousine is a popularly elected-representative of the people who only the other day was seen being mobbed by a milling crowd at the marketplace. The voter is perplexed and angry at what seems to be a vulgar ostentation and rues the day that the law makers became a law unto themselves and arrogated for them sometimes as many as a three figure contingent to provide security for themselves and their families. The voter dreamt of the day when such cavalcades at his expense would be relegated to limbo. And now we have it from the Captain of the team in Cabinet and many more in waiting that each servant of the people will have to settle for just one vehicle and the practice of having a fleet in a pool to draw from for nuclear family and sundry friends is to be dispensed with. A dream come true. Then, all that jazz above official residences, again, at public expense which entails regular refurbishing to satisfy newly acquired tastes of these humble servers is to be done away with. Only the needy among the reps who do not own dwellings in the big city will be found accommodation and that hopefully to suit the purse of the tax payer. Many a voter dreamt of times when the politico would at least attempt to maintain some credibility by settling down to the high risk and demanding job of managing the country's affairs within the means of the poor payer eliminating waste and corruption. This breed if they are able to keep the new pledges will surely earn the respect of the people and the need to lead a cocooned life will be obviated. Then there is much hope that the economy in ruins will be rebuilt in double quick time by the efficient managers voted in by huge preferential votes. The voter watches the scene with circumspect and hope that the bricks of the ruins will be put in place one by one. Predictions of a high growth need time to bear fruition. The voter dreams of the time when we will replace Singapore and Dubai as the gateway to the vast markets in neighbouring India and Pakistan. The current tense situation that has taken hold in those countries especially in border areas we are told is quite conducive for us to cash in. After all, business interests supersede other considerations in these difficult times of world recession and high handed intrusions into others' domains as in the US and our own airport. Was it not the Korean War that brought in huge profits for our natural rubber in the early 1950s? A little skirmish here and a small scale war there have their own benefits for others in the periphery, however macabre that may sound. The dream of bread at cut prices and flour at pre-milling rates is still distant but some fuel at slashed prices if one has the resources to go in for new cylinders is now there for the asking to ignite those gas rings that guzzle the costly Shell product. Some dreams have come true for many while a few sulk over the limits under the new dispensation. |
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