Emporium Blog

A rain dance is a type of ceremonial dance to ask for rain so that the crops are protected. There is this certain tribe who is extremely good at this rain dance. Every time they rain dance, it never fails to rain.

The tribe’s rain dance was so famous that other tribes invite them to do the dance for them. A wise man was curious and he wants to investigate the strangely effective phenomena. If it is true, then the tribe may be the answer to the world’s food production problem.  Drought would have been a thing of the past.  Everybody would be having enough to eat.

So as the story goes, the wise man asked the tribe to perform the rain dance, sure enough it rains. The wise man followed the tribe and make a record every time the rain dance was perform. The success rate was 100%. The wise man was very happy.

The wise man brought the tribe to drought hit places and asks them to do the rain dance, it rains.

The crops still die, people are still hungry. The wise man was puzzled.

The wise man was not so wise after all. Yes, the rain dance is effective. It is because they danced until the rain falls. It did not rain because of the dance.

I would say very corrupted. ACA (Anti Corruption Agency) receives 10,000 tip-offs this year according to “The Star”, the leading government controlled newspaper in Malaysia. That is one very conservative estimation, considering the restrictions placed on reporting this kind of embarrassing issues.

So what exactly makes them or us this corrupted? “Tak Cukup Makan” (not enough to eat) is the answer that comes from most of those I asked and they are being frank. High inflation that follows the recent crazy 41% fuel hike has irked all but the most corrupted ones.

Right now almost everyone is trying to find ways to earn more, in order to live their previous living standard. Cutting cost is not an option anymore. Everything is on the rise, including basic necessities such as water and electricity tariff. The chain of reaction is somewhat devastating to the economy, with traders trying to earn more by rising prices and consumers trying to spend less to save. It is a lose-lose situation where traders will sell less and consumers will buy less.

Looking at things, I would be corrupted too if given the chance. Shitty!