JUNE 29 — Sometimes, I wonder whether some of the people in our government, including some ministers, have anything against the government, dropping a banana skin on the floor the government will trip and stumble, much to the amusement of passersby.

For example, I have no idea how a minister recently drew his inspiration to think that night-time activities were unsuited for the human race, and was prepared to get all shops and eateries to shut before the clock struck twelve.

As a matter of fact, such “nyctophobia” started to exist in the human society since time immemorial.

People became scared of darkness after sundown, worrying that sinister things would strike anytime. So, they restricted their activities and kept themselves within the safety zone.

To put thing forthright, that was a human behavior for self protection.

During hunting and agrarian eras, the wild beasts in the woods were the competitors and rivals of the human race for survival. Man were at upper hands in the day but the animals had the edge when night fell. In the day the humans took advantage of the beasts but at night, the animals launched their decisive retaliatory strikes.

So, it was good reason to stay indoors after dark.

But then, that was human behaviour millennia ago.

After we moved into the age of electricity, the day-and-night concept has since been altered. Anything that we can do in the day can now be done just as well at night, and this includes our work, entertainment and dining.

Young people particularly, love to reverse the millennia-old human quotidian routines. They are listless and exhausted in the day, and fully revitalized when night falls.

Our cities and towns today are brightly lit at night, shops operating as usual and eateries packed to the brim. This is the best manifestation of humans attempting to change their long established lifestyle.

But our minister said this would create social problems, and shops should close and people get back to their homes before midnight.

That’s weird. Are you telling me social problems could only happen at night and not in the day? And that social problems can be eliminated if people stay indoors at night?

If the ban is eventually put in force, young people will have their freedom of going out at night usurped. So, they should just stay at home, turning on their computers and lashing out at the government in full force?

Are these young people a group of people you should conveniently offend?

The ruling coalition has already lost the support of a big chunk of young voters, and it not only has no intention of winning back the hearts of this group of voters, but has steered its policies specifically against them.

This thing had gone on for several days before the PM personally announced that the night time curfew would not be imposed. However, the damage on the government’s reputation has already been done and we don’t need the opposition to do a thing to inflict more damage than the government’s own people.

In the meantime, a deputy minister fried a big wok of rice to prove that GST would have minimal impact on the livelihood of ordinary citizens.

We have no idea how tasty the fried rice was but the deputy minister cum chef garnished his masterpiece with a ring of cucumber slices.

Those witnessing the spectacle could tell that it was just a show, a very unprofessional one indeed. But then what has fried rice got to do with GST? How much fried rice should we eat in a month to offset the GST impact?

Some people used to say the rakyat are the bosses of this country but in reality the people are treated more as customers than bosses.

In fact, the politicians should throw in a little more sincerity in their services and the government should show a little more respect, not to mention the need to mark up service and product qualities.

They shouldn’t keep taking advantage of their customers, yelling at them or even chasing them out of the shop.

Otherwise, how would patronise this shop again in future?

Can’t they just look for another shop?

* This is the personal opinion of the organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.