The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 11 Dec 2011 04:37 PM PST DEC 12 — As a child, it was mandatory to obtain Mum and Dad's permission before I could leave the house. It was also mandatory to inform them of my whereabouts at all times. Thankfully, I was mature enough to understand that the rules were imposed in my best interests. Hence, I followed them without much resistance. Dad was, however, particularly unreasonably strict. He would go to the extent of forbidding me from participating in optional school trips and innocent outings with my cousins. There were times when I would spend days prior to the actual trip obsessing about how I would ask Dad's permission, only to know that the answer would be a strict no. I would resort to political tactics by using Mum as an ally. Sometimes it worked, but most of the time it ended up in failed negotiations and days of cold war that followed. You see, Dad is a reclusive and introvert person. He believes in traditional values based on hard work and sacrifices. He believes that one must sacrifice frivolous pursuits and individualistic wants in order to maintain harmony and achieve academic and professional success. He also believes that if you release a horse's rein, the horse will go wild and never return once it has tasted freedom. So I grew up feeling in awe and at the same time resentful of Dad. I respect and admire him for his integrity and honourable pursuits and yet I can never agree with this particular principle of his that restriction is necessary to keep a person from straying. Perhaps, that is one of the reasons why I've become fiercely independent and feel suffocated in an authoritative environment. A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to accompany a group of young American fellows on a private tour of Malacca. The tour guide was an elderly man who takes great pride in his origin as a bona fide Malaccan. He was the perfect person for the job as he was knowledgeable, passionate and eloquent in his narration. I was particularly amused by his footnotes, some of which were not entirely relevant for the purpose of that tour. You see, he avidly shared his strong condemnation of the government's destruction of historical monuments and treatment of indigenous people. He was a sympathiser when it came to the topic of corruption and he even claimed that he works closely with indigenous tribes to protect their lands. You could see that he abhors some of the government's policies and was not ashamed to express it, even before a group of foreigners. After the tour, a few of us, including the elderly gentleman, stopped at on old-fashioned coffeeshop on Jonker Street to have coffee. I brought up the subject of the Bersih 2.0 rally in the most innocent of manner and asked what he thought about it. Indeed, he got pretty heated up but to my surprise, he was extremely critical of the demonstrators. He said that he did not condone the rally at all. He agreed that dissent is necessary but definitely not Bersih 2.0's method of choice. He argued fervently that assembly of any kind in protest of the government is not the Malaysian way. National harmony must not be compromised at all costs. When asked what else could be done if all diplomatic negotiations have failed, he was unable to produce a convincing answer. When asked how a peaceful assembly can be harmful, he struggled to articulate his thoughts. His point of argument was solely from a cultural perspective. It's simply not the Malaysian way of doing things. I found the juxtaposition of his contrasting views intriguing and could only conclude that he belongs to an older generation of Malaysians who still hold on to certain traditional values that are simply too strong to let go of. There are lessons to be learned from these two stories. I grew up in a generation that places greater value and appreciation for human rights and liberty as result of economic progress and globalisation. We are no longer isolated from the rest of the world and, hence, are able to evaluate, compare and conclude for ourselves that respect for human rights and true democracy is fundamental towards progress and human evolution. Some would say that this is solely a Western concept but seriously so what? Isn't it naïve to say that we want to be as progressive as Sweden but only insofar as its economy is concerned but not its form of democracy? Isn't the very piece of garment worn by most Malaysians on a daily basis influenced by Western fashion? Besides, honestly what is the Malaysian way? Is the Malaysian culture based on corruption and abuse of power? Democracy and respect for human rights is synonymous to progress. Brutal killing as a form of entertainment in a gladiator arena is a thing in the past. Child abuse and gender discrimination are now prohibited by our laws and they were not plucked out of thin air. It would be extremely foolish of the government to believe that all Malaysians of my generation would be content with just economic progress and half-assed implementation of selected rights according to their whims and fancies. Nature would dictate that human beings will continuously fight for their own survival. Once they've succeeded in that, they will move on to fight for freedom and progress. It's called evolution and has been historically proven by the fall of great dictatorial empires. Some would argue that there are those who genuinely reject progress and it's only a selected few who impose on them the notion of progress. As true as it may be, the keyword here is choice. Dad's method of discipline was wrong. If I had in any way betrayed his trust, he would have the right to punish me, but not to restrict me from the very start. The same applies to those who want to go on a peaceful street protest. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but that choice must be presented to those who have the desire to do so. Punish those who abuse that right but not those who want to exercise that right responsibly. Evolution is part of nature and it will happen whether we want it or not. There comes a time when every child will want to grow up to become a free adult. The question is when and how. This is something the government must think about. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 11 Dec 2011 04:24 PM PST DEC 12 — Harimau Muda or the Malaysian Thomas Cup team. Nicol David or Lee Chong Wei. In a nation increasingly fractured along racial and religious lines, where unity is increasingly elusive notwithstanding 1 Malaysia, sports and its followers provide a rare glimmer of hope. A strange hush descends at 19-all in the final game of a Lin Dan-Chong Wei match up at every mamak in town, and Facebook is awash with expressions of Malaysia Boleh after Malaysia puts it across Indonesia in the SEA Games football final. Why is it that the same people who cannot see eye to eye on anything else, whether it is PPSMI, NEP or the new MRT, can capture a spirit of unity while watching a game? Why is it that while all politicians are immediately looked at and evaluated through the racial lens first, sportspeople seem to have only one race — the Malaysian race? Shebby Singh, Mohammad Hafiz Hashim or Danny Chia are truly seen as being Malaysian first. After over a year and a half and millions spent on promoting the 1 Malaysia concept, the programme is mired in acrimony with even the deputy prime minister declaring himself Malay first. It could be argued that the entire national discourse, whether on determining seat allocations for the next general election, the nature of the civil service, the "Allah" controversy, the problems attracting FDI or doing business in Malaysia is about emphasising the separateness between communities rather than promoting a notion of inclusiveness and unity. In such a situation, ordinary people in the age of new media are forced to consider racial separateness as an increasingly real factor in their lives. Which school to send one's children too, which university to aim for, what kind of jobs to apply for and who to marry all need race to be factored in, rather than any notion of Malaysianness. Unity is a transient concept that needs hard work to be achieved, is easily dissipated and is much rarer than its counterpart: disunity. Unity also needs an outlet for its expression for it to have any meaning. Malaysians may be united by their love of food, but because it is expressed individually or in communities, it is hard to use it as a symbol of unity. For a sense of national unity to be fostered, conventional wisdom has it that there needs to be a defined enemy. After all, what is the use of waving flags if there is nobody watching? How can there be real pride in the country's Armed Forces if there are no wars to be fought and no sacrifices to be made? This is precisely why sport in Malaysia — above any other endeavour — is able to deliver this sense of unity. All sport is in opposition to a defined other, thus creating a visible enemy that forces a "with us or against us" attitude among its followers. Victory is the result of hard work that makes the sportspersons involved rise above their given identities of race and religion to become proud symbols of the qualities we all aspire to. As sport invariably needs spectators, victory is a spectacle of unity for all of us to consume, whether through the waving of flags, chants of "Negaraku" or the wearing of jerseys of the national team. Even though sport therefore has this ability to bring Malaysianness to the fore, it is a transient, fleeting sense. Once the game is done, everyday bickering resumes, and the same suspicions of each other re-emerge. Because of this transience of emotion and the fact that sport from a purely economic standpoint in itself is completely unproductive, there is a tendency in Malaysia to downplay its importance. After all, no goods and services are generated from a couple of people lobbing a volleyball over a net. However, a number of nations recognise that one way to conquer this limitation of sport as an engine of unity is to invest disproportionate amounts of effort and money to uplift the standard of sports to provide citizens with many more opportunities to feel united as a nation. Witness the huge impact the mighty Chinese sporting machine has had on a sense of Chinese pride. For a small country like Malaysia, maybe the real symbols of national pride and unity are not the twin towers but its sporting icons. Maybe when there are more Malaysian world beaters in sports, there will be less calls of Malay First, Malaysian Second in politics, and 1 Malaysia will acquire meaning, even when no money is spent promoting it. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Illustration by Chris Kwok. |
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