Active Minority

I was quite astonished to learn how some of the government systems around most of Asia ‘in-spite-of corruption levels’ would still be favorable to the Asian society in general, not only because Asians have a more chilled out and calm nature than any other part of the world, but their governments tend to give them a break when it comes to taxes and public utilities in general, as well as the easy accessibility to those utilities, and applying the proper fees on aspects that would develop the infrastructure of the country, especially when it comes to specific factors of the public utilities system and road conditions in general, and where they apply small entrance fees and encourage the public to use the ‘efficient’ public transportation systems creating a routine that actually saves money in terms of spending on transportation, and transfer all that tax money to the greater good, even if it was as small as an efficient public transportation system.

But where I come from, one of the most irritating issues people go through is government taxes, and even though most countries complain about the tax systems done by their governments, based on unfair factors that satisfies the rich and dams the poor for even being poor, forgetting that ‘originally’ taxes were created for governments to provide proper ‘public services’ with the word ‘proper’ and ‘service’ being in question in many countries of the Arab region but where you can still find fine examples to learn from neighboring countries where their citizens are usually given ‘frequent’ maintained public utilities in general, such as roads, bridges, parks, and all sorts of libraries, research and entertainment centers to be used responsibly by the public to both develop and prosper in the hopes of giving back to the community, which actually happens one way or another in some parts of that world!

Cracked streets filled with holes and open-wide water drainage traps that makes you think you’re in a war-zone ‘sometimes it actually is’ or you might even think there was frequent minor earthquakes running through our streets and unless no one is hurt we’ll just become skillful in avoiding those traps and putting more lives in danger while we’re at it ‘and by the way!’ sorry we can’t provide you with a sidewalk to avoid those traps, and “God-forbid” if someone gets electrified in the process ‘we’ll just blame FATE’ and drink a carefully selected cup of Arabic coffee, because “God-forbid” if someone breaks the cultural traditions of drinking this coffee to reconcile the lost souls of those victims and remind people of the cultural bonds we need to follow!

In other parts of the world, citizens do not complain about having easy accessibility to utilities, and we do not expect them to! Simply because their government’s at-the-least provides the proper infrastructure for those citizens to develop as well as having access to public utilities that can enrich their lives positively (and for those who don’t know what public utilities are “its not public toilets”) and not forgetting the positive attitude that goes without saying. Even without mentioning the usual complains of tax payers in U.S and E.U countries on ‘education systems’ or ‘government welfare support’ which are subjects that need ‘light years’ for Arab societies to realize or even do something about it since that tax money is always going to be the main income for ‘governmental survival’ as well as its effects on how those governments ‘want’ their public to be ‘made’, since we’re that attached to the systems they and their followers created to control each aspect of their communities lives, and since they made sure that ‘money culture or the lack of it’ is the main irritating theme of those communities social lives, and where governments take no procedures to maintain or sustaining a single reform act due to the personal interests of highly effective and supported corrupt top officials creating government mentalities that are a reflection of their own interests and leaving the question of ‘who to blame’ without a specific answer or even an interest to answer it, since its ‘culturally shameful’ to expose top officials to protect their honor, when it is actually to protect secrets that might not be in favor of other top officials, so we leave it to FATE.

The need to build a respectable taxation system that would satisfy all parties involved is ‘essential’ and since we have ‘moved on’ from the fact that Arab governments are ‘not interested’ in financial and social reform and since ‘the money temptations’ are understood and appreciated socially and culturally and where ‘lacking money’ is the government excuse to everything, and the only solution they know how to solve it is by ‘tightening belts on bellies’ while the public government representatives in those parliaments get rich, because that same belt can’t fit on their fat bellies, and where a simple diet would be the end of their survival.

Sadly, governments in the Arab world made sure ‘not educate’ people about those taxes which we ‘willingly’ pay and ask for no return, and is only provided as a ‘compulsory system’ that every adult has to follow, and where ‘weak’ social security systems are interested only in financing their sister companies, facilitated by those ‘compulsory taxes’ on peoples rightful earnings, it is illegal to actually ask about the legality of some of the many taxes that do not make sense and will probably subject you to some jail time as an act of threat against home-land security or the constitution, and where all sorts of physical and mental abuse will be practiced against you, just because you refused to be dealt with like sheep.

All those governments combined, are experts in copying political management techniques from other foreign governments, without taking in consideration the cultural and social factors on their people when you ‘import’ financial solutions especially from the same people who created the worse global financial crisis in the world, otherwise some governments are experts in willingly taking orders in the shape of political reform techniques, making it impossible for those governments to become able to practice financial reform in their systems even if they wanted to.

Simple financial solutions can be created by those governments by just following and understanding the social cultures of their people and not by using it against them, and fighting against the well to be free, I find it hypocritical to the highest levels that most of those governments claim to be modern moderate Islamic states, and practice the exact opposite, even when it comes to financial reform, knowing that simple Islamic financial practices such as ‘Zakat’ would actually result in solving a lot of problems that are a direct effect on the social lives of most needing communities, without the need to effect ‘governmental earnings’ but actually building a unique bond between its rich and poor, in the hopes of creating harmony in a community without the financial effects on social life or social reform. (Read: more about Zakat financial equality system)

In order for those governments to survive in the future, not only it is required from them to be ‘smart’ which is another tax we will have to pay for later on! But the attitude of those governments will have to be changed towards becoming a true public servant, instead of slaying-off their people and their-selves in return.