Blowing in the bittered winds..........
November 25th 2007 went down in the history as another black chapter in the nationhood of Malaysia. An estimated 20,000 Malaysian Indians rallied in downtown Kuala Lumpur to highlight the economic inequalities suffered by the community. Previously on November 3rd, 2007, a massive number of Malaysians also rallied in downtown Kuala Lumpur demanding the government to be more transparent in fighting corruptions and protecting the integrity of our judicial system. All major newspapers in the world published the event and the reputation of Malaysia as a fair and progressive nation was dented.
As usual, these massive outburst of public frustrations and anxieties, were, confronted with tear gas and chemically laced water canons. I do not believe it is appropriate to participate in street rallies. But there is a need to respect the people's choice of freedom of expressions, and if they chose to go to the street, their voices should not be drown with water canon and tear gas. It really pains me to see the Al Jajeera's video clip showing riot police raining water canon and tear gas on fellow Malaysians who merely want to voice out their frustrations in a peaceful manner. Perhaps it would be proper for the police to clear the street ahead to allow the rally to proceed peacefully. The voices of the people must be allowed to be expressed peacefully and in a orderly manner. Using hard approach to confront a peaceful rally will only result in emotional and confrontational retaliations.
Do we have the maturity and decency to expect, respect, and manage freedom of expressions and legitimate rights of all Malaysians ?
As a Malaysian, I do felt very sad to see so many Malaysians resorting to go the street to voice their grievances and attempt to demonstrate the people's power. Are there no other channels where these people can seek redress for their grievances ? It breaks our hearts to see demands of legitimate rights being arrogantly and quickly racialized, communalized, and sensitized with threats of racial riots and violences. Are Malaysians really that immature, immoral, and indecent to have satiations and tendencies for violences ? The way things are, it does seemed to me that, more and more unhappy Malaysians are now resorting to go to the street to seek global attention because the existing system is no longer perceived to be conducive to basic democratic fair play.
No right minded people will resorted to street demonstration if they are happy with the current status. We have been in euphoric state of self denial moods for too long. We projected the nation as a progressive, fair, and moderate nation in the world. But, if Malaysia is such a claimed model of envious state, why are there still so many people resorting to massive outbursts of grievances ? Sure, we can always go on the record to claim that these people who participate in the rallies are trouble makers with ulterior motives. But, are there really so many trouble makers out there with nothing better to do but to seek global bad publicities for Malaysia ? We can't go on perpetually hearing without listening and conveniently blamed people with grievances as trouble makers.
Malaysians as whole, must now dig deep into our conscience and morality, to de-skin and criminalize unjust rent seeking attitudes based on religion, race, and culture. Malaysians must not decadently and immorally intruding into and deprive the rights and privileges of others.
No insensitivity intended, but I once heard a joke that goes like this "If it is a Malay problem, then it is a National problem. If it is a Chinese problem, then it is a Racial problem. If it is an Indian problem, then there is No problem...." This blessed land belongs to all Malaysians, and every Malaysian must be accorded the same rights and privileges irregardless of race, religion, and culture. As it is, I do honestly believed that our present system is suffering from fatigue in over indulgence in the politicking of racializing rights and privileges without due regards to the nation's economic productivity and competitiveness. Let us all not be so narrow minded wanting to be communal champions but end up as a sinful soul in the eyes of God, and pariahs in the eyes of the world. Let's not parasiting the future of our children and let them inherit a bankrupt nation.
Sad to note that, whatever domestic problems we had, it always conveniently boiled down to the issues of race, religion, and racial rights. We seemed to be very good at articulating our grievances against others and conveniently blamed other for our own shortcomings. We can fool some people all the times, all people some of the times, but will we be able to fool all the people all the times ? For a start, it is about time now, we place our palms on the left side of our chests to feel the beats of our hearts pumping in unison longing for decency, and open our eyes wide to see humanity with fair eyes.
Let's not be a unconsciously incompetent jaguh kampung waving the sword at each other, the world is our stage. Wake up Malaysia ! Wake up Malaysians !
As usual, these massive outburst of public frustrations and anxieties, were, confronted with tear gas and chemically laced water canons. I do not believe it is appropriate to participate in street rallies. But there is a need to respect the people's choice of freedom of expressions, and if they chose to go to the street, their voices should not be drown with water canon and tear gas. It really pains me to see the Al Jajeera's video clip showing riot police raining water canon and tear gas on fellow Malaysians who merely want to voice out their frustrations in a peaceful manner. Perhaps it would be proper for the police to clear the street ahead to allow the rally to proceed peacefully. The voices of the people must be allowed to be expressed peacefully and in a orderly manner. Using hard approach to confront a peaceful rally will only result in emotional and confrontational retaliations.
Do we have the maturity and decency to expect, respect, and manage freedom of expressions and legitimate rights of all Malaysians ?
As a Malaysian, I do felt very sad to see so many Malaysians resorting to go the street to voice their grievances and attempt to demonstrate the people's power. Are there no other channels where these people can seek redress for their grievances ? It breaks our hearts to see demands of legitimate rights being arrogantly and quickly racialized, communalized, and sensitized with threats of racial riots and violences. Are Malaysians really that immature, immoral, and indecent to have satiations and tendencies for violences ? The way things are, it does seemed to me that, more and more unhappy Malaysians are now resorting to go to the street to seek global attention because the existing system is no longer perceived to be conducive to basic democratic fair play.
No right minded people will resorted to street demonstration if they are happy with the current status. We have been in euphoric state of self denial moods for too long. We projected the nation as a progressive, fair, and moderate nation in the world. But, if Malaysia is such a claimed model of envious state, why are there still so many people resorting to massive outbursts of grievances ? Sure, we can always go on the record to claim that these people who participate in the rallies are trouble makers with ulterior motives. But, are there really so many trouble makers out there with nothing better to do but to seek global bad publicities for Malaysia ? We can't go on perpetually hearing without listening and conveniently blamed people with grievances as trouble makers.
Malaysians as whole, must now dig deep into our conscience and morality, to de-skin and criminalize unjust rent seeking attitudes based on religion, race, and culture. Malaysians must not decadently and immorally intruding into and deprive the rights and privileges of others.
No insensitivity intended, but I once heard a joke that goes like this "If it is a Malay problem, then it is a National problem. If it is a Chinese problem, then it is a Racial problem. If it is an Indian problem, then there is No problem...." This blessed land belongs to all Malaysians, and every Malaysian must be accorded the same rights and privileges irregardless of race, religion, and culture. As it is, I do honestly believed that our present system is suffering from fatigue in over indulgence in the politicking of racializing rights and privileges without due regards to the nation's economic productivity and competitiveness. Let us all not be so narrow minded wanting to be communal champions but end up as a sinful soul in the eyes of God, and pariahs in the eyes of the world. Let's not parasiting the future of our children and let them inherit a bankrupt nation.
Sad to note that, whatever domestic problems we had, it always conveniently boiled down to the issues of race, religion, and racial rights. We seemed to be very good at articulating our grievances against others and conveniently blamed other for our own shortcomings. We can fool some people all the times, all people some of the times, but will we be able to fool all the people all the times ? For a start, it is about time now, we place our palms on the left side of our chests to feel the beats of our hearts pumping in unison longing for decency, and open our eyes wide to see humanity with fair eyes.
Let's not be a unconsciously incompetent jaguh kampung waving the sword at each other, the world is our stage. Wake up Malaysia ! Wake up Malaysians !
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