What do we value most for our future?

We all have our individual value system through which we evaluate our options and make our decisions.

How we value something determines the decision we make in relation to it. From how we want to spend our evening, curled up in front of the TV or meeting friends for dinner, to career choices,  higher pay and less satisfactory job or lower paying but passion-related, we more often than not decide based on how much or how little value we have attributed to the choices.

Having said that, does it then make no sense when we have scandals involving millions and billions of ringgit, instead of hunting down the culprits and bringing swift justice, we see a father sentenced to jail for stealing clothes worth RM2,000 to pay for his children’s school transport fee?

How is it that we are sentencing people who are in need for petty crimes while we allow traffickers, corrupt officials, rapists and abusers off the hook either completely or with nothing more than a slap on the wrist?

Clearly it is not the magnitude or gravity of the offence that is in play here. So what could it be? Is it that we place more worth on certain people or types of people than others?

A desperate father who needs to provide for his family when everything is becoming more expensive but wages remain stagnant is worth lesser in the eyes of society compared with a wealthy businessman scamming and bribing his way to prominence.

There is no clear-cut way in which we attribute value, but I do think that much of it depends on how we feel about that certain thing, person, etc, or how it makes us feel.

Just as there is no clear-cut way in placing value, recognising value attributes in others can also be murky.

It is often easier to recognise the attributes we value in people we like than in those we dislike.

It is also sometimes easier for us to accept or even ignore attributes we do not like in people we have placed a higher value compared with those we do not value as much.

Let’s take Malaysian politics as an example of this.

When Barisan Nasional politicians threaten to sue news outlets, we cry bloody murder and often ridicule them.

But when politicians from the other side sue and win cases against news outlets, we grumble silently and move on.

Why?

Is it because when BN politicians sue or shut down media outlets, they do so to outfits we do not deem as trustworthy, hence of lower value to us or is it because we do not like the politicians, hence we condemn their actions?

And do we actually support or agree with the stance and actions of politicians from the other side of the divide no matter what they do at this point in time or do we keep quiet or close an eye because we have a greater challenge ahead?

For those of us who are following the presidential campaigning in the United States, the action of some Black Lives Matters activists to protest against Democratic presidential candidates, particularly Bernie Sanders, instead of going after the Republicans do not make much sense.

“Why protest against the one candidate who has your back?” I asked in reference to Sanders.

Should they not value him and support his run for president because he has been a vocal advocate of civil rights and is running on the platform of economic reform and racial justice?

"Your 'progressive' is not enough. We need more," was Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors’s reply to Sanders.

It was not that Sanders’s efforts were not valued, it was that they recognised his value to their cause, and knew for things to really change, Sanders should take a more direct stance on racial injustice (in this case, the way black people are treated in the American justice system).

True enough, the strategy worked and Sanders has since been talking about the issue more.

Using this line of thinking, would it not serve Malaysia better if we hold politicians that we place high value accountable for their actions, and challenge them when they say or do something that contradicts the very platform they campaigned for our trust and votes?

Because as Malaysians we need to ask ourselves what is it that we value most: anyone but the current regime? The party/politicians we support in the seat of power or a just and equal government that respects its people’s autonomy, rights and freedom? – August 23, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.