Behind the Chairman’s Door

Ok, so now that you have had some time to think about the first post, let’s do a quick review and move on to Part II. If you didn’t read the first post, please take a moment to read that before you start reading below, otherwise you may miss something interesting.

Yesterday’s post served as the introduction to a very difficult topic for all of us as Pakistanis, a hard inward look. What I started off with yesterday was looking at the basic problems that affect all of us, no matter what walk of life we come from or aspire to achieve. These problems provide the foundation for many of the things that I will discuss in the remainder of this series and the basis of the social ills that keep Pakistan from actually progressing beyond an “emerging Asian tiger.”

While I am sure that I hit most of the items in the last post fairly clearly, if you have any recommendations/additions, please feel free to add them in the comments section.

So let’s pick up with a natural follow through from the “No National Identity” point.

Gora Complex

This dates back, from what I am told, to the time of the British Rule of India prior to Partition. The British were colonial masters, draining the Subcontinent of its riches and resources, and relegating the Indian to the status of servants. From that point onwards, there has been a Gora Complex. The Gora Complex is that anyone that is not from Pakistan is better than us, because they are not from Pakistan. Interestingly enough, this does not extend to ex-pat Pakistanis, because they are part of the soil.

Now, the Gora Complex creates a few interesting problems in our national fabric. We don’t strive to be better, just to be accepted by the White Man. When you look at other countries around the sub-continent, everyone is working harder to surpass everyone around them.

The Gora Complex also causes us to be very suspicious of any Pakistani national that offers assistance without asking for anything in return; we immediately doubt their intentions. Whereas, when a foreigner offers to help, we will go out of our way to do the work for them, hoping that we won’t embarrass ourselves.

In Pakistan, we strive to be accepted by the rest of the world, not to surpass them.

Self-?

When you combine No National Identity with a Gora Complex, it becomes fairly easy to understand why most Pakistanis have little to no self confidence or self worth. Now, this should not be confused with professional arrogance. Demanding a salary is not the same as demanding respect, as the latter is more difficult to achieve.

When we spend all of our time watching Indian programs, wearing American clothes, pretending that we are anything but Pakistani, what self worth do we have as a nation? Want to know how we show we aren’t Pakistani… when we talk about this country like it is not ours. Most, not all, Pakistanis have resigned themselves to living the way they are forever, which is evidenced in a common Pakistani phrase: “Yeh Pakistan Hai.” (This is Pakistan). It is an excuse to explain why we don’t follow the rules, believe that we have more rights than the person next to us, feel that it is someone else’s responsibility to take care of the nation and that we, as citizens, have no responsibility to do anything to help the government make life better.

What would happen to your country if everyone behaved this way?

Talent Extortion

Since I own a company, I am regularly looking over resumés and interviews when we are looking to hire new team members. Now, let me explain a little about how we do things at emagine. When we hire someone, they are first put through a training process so that they can understand what we stand for as a company and how we do things. After that, they will usually spend a year or so under a senior consultant/analyst until they are ready to handle clients and projects independently.

In Pakistan, because the talent is so outstanding (sic), there are standard demands that come with any interview. If the candidate is an MBA, minimum salary Rs. 30,000 (US$ 500) monthly, 1000 cc car, fuel allowance, company maintained mobile phone & laptop, and medical coverage. Since most companies, including emagine, won’t be extorted into paying more for staff, companies suffer and the economy suffers. Worse yet, these same candidates don’t get the clue that they are demanding too much money and keep increasing their demands from company to company, until they are left with no possibility of a job in Pakistan.

So where do they go? And you will really love this. They move to Dubai, Singapore, the UK, anywhere. What do they do for work? Anything that will pay the bills: Accountants that could have stayed in Pakistan and worked for decent salaries move out of the country to clear tables for less money and more hardship. MBAs that could work for a decent company and a good salary move out of the country and drive taxi cabs in Dubai while being treated worse than an animal. Software engineers leave jobs in Pakistan that pay very well to move to the Middle East and make 1/3 what they were earning in Pakistan, leaving them with little to live and less to save.

If our talent would stop thinking that they deserve to be treated like Bill Gates upon graduation, the unemployment problem would come to an end. How? As people started to take jobs at lower salaries, the economy would start to grow because of the production of goods and the additional income.

Like Sheep to the Slaughter

Can I ask a serious question of all Pakistanis? I mean seriously…. Are we stupid? Don’t we have enough sense to know when people are lying to us and taking us for a ride? Why do we keep supporting and electing the same people to our government and then complain that they aren’t doing anything? Hello!!!! They didn’t do anything the last time you elected them, what makes you think this time would be different?

Now, I would like to say that this has to do with education, but even the educated ex-pats fall into this process of supporting losers. Or is it because everything that I have said so far as been dead on and we actually deserve to be the way that we are today?

Sadly, most Pakistanis make decisions based on name recognition and family backgrounds, but never make a judgment based on the character and deeds of the person before them. If that were to happen, Pakistan would change overnight. Now, I know that you would like to believe that you don’t have any other choices than what is already there. If you believe that, you aren’t stupid… that would be an under statement. Until you start giving other people chances to serve this nation, you will never know what other choices there are.

Just think of it this way, until we change this vicious cycle, we are just puppets in someone else’s nasty ego game.

No Civic Sense

Anyone coming to Pakistan for the first time would think that it is a lawless state by the way that people behave, drive and speak to others. When I first came here, I was disgusted by what I saw everyday.

We Pakistanis are a dirty people. We would rather throw something on the ground than walk 2 steps to put it in the trash. We teach our maids that the trash should not be left around the house when they leave, yet don’t tell them where the trash should go. So it ends up in either an empty lot that has been turned into a public garbage pile or tossed into the sewer system to clog it. Would it really kill us to tell the maid to put the garbage in the city dumpster outside the house instead of the sewer lines? No, but that would mean that we actually give a damn about Pakistan’s future.

Even more disgusting than the garbage problem… Pakistanis have a love for food item called Pan. It’s the leaf of a plant that is filled with different herbs, seasonings and other items. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of varieties of Pan. I hate Pan, not for what it is, but for how its eaten.

When the typical Pakistani buys a Pan from the corner vendor, they shove it into their mouth and wipe the excess that is on their fingers into their hair. Now, I am not someone that believes that excess food or stuff that comes out of food belongs in my hair, call me weird. The Pan has a reddish colored filling that once in your mouth begins to dissolve and mix with your saliva, causing you to want to spit. Rather than carrying an empty cup or bottle and spitting into that, most Pakistanis spit on the street. From cars stopped at traffic lights. From bus windows. Walking down the sidewalk. Doesn’t matter where, just spit it on the street.

Now, Pan doesn’t leave a small spot. It is more like you took an overripe stew tomato (the big ones) and tried to bounce it off the floor. Educated or uneducated… you all do it.

In Pakistan, it is fashionable to break the law and is done by everyone from the uneducated to the ex-pats. Ex-Pats!!! What is actually funnier is when these foreigners come to Pakistan & start behaving like Pakistanis, all the while calling us uncivilized.

Now, in Pakistan, when you break the law, you have 2 choices: first, pay a bribe. The bribe is usually nothing more than Rs. 100 (US $1.50), but sometimes it can be very steep if the traffic cop’s family needs something or he has to meet a quota for a higher officer. The second option is to call someone higher up in the police to get rid of the traffic cop. This is always fun because it comes after the person has tried their damnedest to convince the cop that they are someone important and when that fails and the cop wants a bribe, they call someone for help. Would it kill you to just tell the cop to write the citation? It’s not like it will affect the insurance that you don’t have on your car or the points on the license that you don’t have anyway. Yeah, I should mention that… the two core things that are required in every country in the world, are not required here: car insurance and a driver’s license. Doesn’t really matter anyway… what insurance company would pay an accident claim because you let your 9-year-old kid drive? Who would have thought that someone would step in the road?

Civic Duty

Now, this also goes to speaking about the civic duty of the people that we trust to protect us. The police of Pakistan are a dog that needs a good stiff beating. They are arrogant, drunk with power and abuse that power everyday to steal from the common man. What happened the other day in Islamabad is nothing if you hear other stories of abuse from victims of police justice. Women being raped at police stations because they came in to report a rape. People being beaten until they confess to a crime they didn’t commit. The police are dogs that need a good stiff beating so they learn how to behave.

I also want to mention my favorite tier of people in Pakistan, the bureaucrats. The dinosaurs that don’t understand anything about the job they are doing, nor have the skills to learn how to do it effectively. See most of this tier are truly the people that can’t do anything else with their lives. Government jobs are reserved for people that don’t have the drive or skills for the private sector; the ambition to succeed aboard, nor the intelligence to get higher education. Most of the people serving in the government offices are class 10 graduates and Bachelors of Arts graduates, if we get really lucky. The most crucial departments of the government are run by people that have no interest in implementing anything that the National or Provincial Assemblies pass into law because it would make their jobs more difficult. Granted, I don’t know how difficult a job is when you come to work at noon, sign 2 letters, call a couple friends and leave 2 hours later.

Sadly, it is also these two tiers that are the most corrupt in the nation. Don’t get me wrong, the politicians know now to make a fast buck too, but these tiers are in it for the long haul. Just explain to me how a lifetime government officer earning Rs. 10,000 (US$ 1,750) monthly can afford to buy a home worth over Rs. 20,000,000 after 3 years on the job? Just answer me that…

And that brings us to the end of the second part of this series. Tomorrow, I will pick up with the last points of analysis on the State of Pakistan today and then we will move on to the doing.

Again, this is an open forum and discussion for all people. If you are Pakistani and share my views, please share your comments. If you are Pakistani and think I am completely wrong, then definitely share your views. We need to realize that for Pakistan to change, we must change. For Pakistan to grow, we must grow up.

I leave you with this…

If democracy is supposed to be a reflection of the people, since it is the people that vote for their representatives, then aren’t the people who serve and cheat us just like us? And if not, why do we keep putting them into power?

Wake up Pakistan…. It’s time to build a nation.

Related posts:

1. I Don’t Wear Glasses… Rose Colored or Otherwise
2. I Don’t Wear Glasses…. Rose Colored or Otherwise - Part IV
3. An Aside on the Judicial Crisis in Pakistan
4. I Don’t Wear Glasses…. Rose Colored or Otherwise - Part III
5. Is Pakistan’s New President Up to the Job?
6. I Don’t Wear Glasses…. Rose Colored or Otherwise - Closing
7. Paul Wolfowitz Would Be Welcomed in Pakistan