Where do you want to go today?

I was reading the newspaper yesterday when a piece of news caught my eyes. Apparently our government is baffled why we Malaysians love to travel abroad and are planning to implement a form asking people what they are going to do oversea. What the hell?

I always love travelling, I really do. I love to go to other people's places and get involved in their culture and lifestyle as well as see different vistas that are not readily available here in our own country. That is why most people travel don't they? Then why do they still wonder why 15 million people go abroad each year compared to the 17.5 million tourist who come here? Why is that our government still need us to fill out forms as if we are asking for their permission to go here and there.

Every day, more and more of our privacy is disturbed. First they force us to register our prepaid account though I accept that there is a good reason for it. Then they illogically suggested that we register our bloggers so that it is easy to keep track of them. What they really mean is that it would be easier for them to throw our bloggers in jails. Now they want us to tell what we are going to do abroad. What next? What colour is my underwear on Mondays? Laugh if you may but you'll never know what those people at the honourable Parlimen have in mind.

Now, let me get this straight. If you want people to sign a form, does it mean all Malaysians including all our ministers, judges, governmnent officials or just us poor citizens? I suspect the latter. They would probably make exception for the big shots for reasons of 'national security' though the destination of the particular government guy might be somewhere in Bahamas or Tahiti and he's travelling with his whole family.

Sometimes I think some of us just want to travel overseas to get a break from this country. Not because we don't have snow, not because our beach and sea is polluted, not because we don't have a Grand Canyon or a sphinx. We just want to get a break from all this hullaballoo..