It is time we admit that our previous generation was a "get rich or die trying" generation, not a moral generation

It is time we admit that our previous generation was a "get rich or die trying" generation, not a moral generation


18 Mar 2025 • 9:00 AM MYT


TheRealNehruism
Writer. Seeker. Teacher

Image credit: SCMP


A friend of mine just showed me an excerpt from the book he is writing about the late Ananda Krishnan, and after reading his glowing tribute to Ananda, i couldn't help but blurt out : “Nobody cares about how good or wonderful or charitable Ananda is - we just want to know how he made his money in a corrupt country like ours - nobody admires Ananda, we all just envy him - none of us want to be like him, we just want the things he has - don't tell us how to be good like him, tell us how to be rich like him.”


After I blurted it out, I found it to be such a relief, that I am sharing it with you, in the hopes that if you say it out loud, you will find some relief in your heart and mind too.


I think it is about time that we all just stop this pretense about how the previous generation were such a wonderful and talented and hardworking and generous and good people, who spent the life to develop Malaysia for the next generation.


At this stage, it should be more than self-evident to us that the previous generation was nothing of this sort.


That 5 out of 6 of our living prime ministers are currently being investigated by the authorities for all sorts of shenanigans, especially corruption, should clearly and undoubtedly tell us that our previous generation was not at all an ethical or a moral generation, but a "get rich or die trying" generation that left no stones unturned in their quest to make money and get ahead of everybody.


If this is how they spent their life, why would anyone be interested in their opinion about how to be good or happy?


Rather, if there is anything these old timers can teach us, it is about how to make a bus load of money in a corrupt third world country where other person is likely corrupt.


That is the only subject that these old geezers are an expert in.


If we keep pretending otherwise, we are just going dumb ourselves down, to the point that we might actually become irreversibly foolish or delusional.