The Cost of Being a 'Value of 1': When Dignity Trumps Data

It's been a tough time. Beyond the personal cloud of sadness and the heavy weight of an existential crisis, I’m looking at the world around me and seeing a worrying trend: The dehumanisation of the individual.

I'm thinking about those in power who seem to believe their main job is not to protect the people (melindungi rakyat) but to threaten us with fear, or label us 'useless' simply for questioning their economic narratives. When a currency like the Ringgit Malaysia is defended only with pride and arrogance, and not with actual relief for those struggling, the words are meaningless. If it's truly useful, then pay the bills, ease the burdens, and stop talking down to those whose difficulties are very real. The job of the government isn't to be a bully; it's to be a shield.

This same toxic calculus of arrogance versus human worth plays out, often even more cruelly, in the digital world.

I’ve looked for comfort and connection online, giving my time, my emotion, and my hard-earned Malaysian Ringgits to social media personalities—TikTok celebrities and artists—through gifts and subscriptions. What was the return? Nothing.

I was simply a 'value of 1' in their data set. A statistic of engagement. A small, disposable profit margin. The feeling of being used is crushing, especially when you are already feeling low and alone. It confirms a harsh truth: many content creators, driven by selfishness and what feels like narcissism, are simply building an empire on the attention and resources of people they will never truly see.

This is why I must speak out against the idea of bringing back punishment like caning (hukuman rotan), especially when it is ridiculously framed as 'love' or 'understanding.' Fear is not affection. Threats are not protection. Whether it's a government policy or an online engagement strategy, any system that seeks to control people by threatening them into blind obedience is nothing short of a return to slavery (perhambaan).

My worth—your worth—is not measured by a government's pride, or a content creator's follower count. Our value is inherent. It lies in our dignity, our right to question, and our right to be treated with respect, not fear.

Let's reject the politics of arrogance and the economics of exploitation. Let's demand to be seen as whole, struggling, invaluable human beings, not just as numbers.