AUG 12 — It has been a heady few days for those living in Britain, much more so those living in the suburbs of London, Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool and even Gloucester. Glued to television screens like one would while watching a live soap opera unfold, a myriad of emotions travel through those near and far from the scene of the various crimes: sadness, disbelief, anger, fear and even shame.
Concerned friends and relatives have been using various means of social networking trying to ascertain that I was indeed okay. Thankfully I live far enough from the hotbed of all the action, but the same couldn't be said about many of my other Malaysian friends who live in the London suburbs badly hit by the rioting. Ealing, Enfield, Walthamstow, Clapham and even Croydon, a mostly non-descript town on the commuter belt towards Brighton, has seen the worst of the senseless criminal attacks in recent days.
I have yet to hear of any of my Malaysian friends being hurt or having had their property damaged in the rioting, but we have all by now heard about the young Malaysian student, 20-year-old Asyraf Haziq (quoted in some media as Asyraf Raziq), who was mugged as he sat dazed and bloodied after being attacked by rioters as he was travelling on his bike to meet friends for iftar. His ordeal was captured on video by a disbelieving bystander, and it was uploaded onto YouTube. It has since become one of the more iconic and disturbing images of the riots, and seen by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, worldwide.
At the time of writing Asyraf is in hospital recovering from an operation to fix his broken jaw, but his plight did not go unnoticed by kind Brits who were shocked and appalled at what they saw. Jamie Cowen set up a website almost immediately after the media managed to identify the victim, expressing his shame and distress at the images and urging members of the public to come up with ideas to do something nice for Asyraf.
Having spoken to various people, Jamie has since managed to set up a JustGiving donation page for those interested in contributing to the cause. Sony PlayStation have contributed a PlayStation Portable to replace the one stolen by the thugs as seen in the video, and Big Fish Bikes have offered him a folding bike to replace the one he was forced off at knifepoint by the mob. At last glance, there was also an offer from Spanish dental surgeons to provide him free dental treatment, and on the donation page funds are pouring in from not only in the UK, but also in Europe.
The kindness and collective shame felt by the British community expressed in their notes to Asyraf provides a welcome antidote to the ugliness during what has been a tumultuous few days for all around the country. "I hope this goes some way in restoring your faith in humanity (and Londoners)" said one note accompanying a donation. "Please don't lose faith in the British people — we're not all bad", said another. It warms your cockles, it really does. You can even sense the collective shame when even certain newspapers known for taking a rather strong anti-immigrant stance are running front pages and headlines featuring non-white Britons as voices of sanity and sense in a time of turmoil.
The riots in London over last weekend, and across the country in the following days, have indeed shocked many. Coupled with it are some snide, sarcastic comments from Libya and Iran telling David Cameron how to run his country. It wasn't long before I spotted comments in the Malaysian media about how the Bersih march would have escalated to this level of violence had it been allowed to proceed as initially planned. I find this quite distasteful on the one hand, because it equated those who marched on July 9 — be it for or against Bersih — to opportunistic, criminal looters seen on the streets of London, Manchester and Birmingham in recent days. Surely that is an insult to many, if not all, who were out and about on that day. On another level, I think there is a need to carefully delineate what constitutes a protest, a demonstration and a riot, and how they differ in both form and intention.
Collectively, they are all mass crowd gatherings and yes, when not well managed, there is a tendency for such gatherings to get violent, especially when emotions are highly charged. This is not unique to just protesters; I've seen enough fighting at football games to know. But there is a need to clearly differentiate protests and demonstrations with a set purpose or agenda, and mindless rioting with intent to cause criminal damage and commit theft and robbery. Because it is the latter, and not the former, that we have seen around London and the UK in recent days.
Yes, there was a small protest at the police shooting of 29-year-old Mark Duggan in Tottenham last week, but their agenda was clear: they were demanding dialogue and explanation for the shooting from the police. The ensuing violence may have been started by those on that initial protest, but the agenda that was brought forward was very quickly lost. Sky News and BBC News carried interviews yesterday with the looters and those in the streets milling about waiting for an opportunity to strike, and nowhere in their narratives were the death of Mark Duggan or police actions mentioned. Rather, they seemed to be railing against the lack of jobs, opportunities or structure for them, self-identifying themselves as a forgotten underclass.
But is it just poverty? One of the first looters being charged at the courts yesterday — caught driving away in a car with more than £5,000 (RM25,000) worth of stolen items — was a private-educated teenager, who lived in rather affluent surroundings. She, for one, cannot claim to be part of the "disenfranchised poor". Others charged include an 11-year old boy, and a teaching assistant.
More and more it looks to me like most of the rioting in the days that followed the violence in Tottenham on Saturday was opportunistic and blatant theft. As one tweeter said, kids in the Middle East take to the streets for freedom, kids in Britain take to the streets to loot a 42-inch flat screen. There was no protest here — people were not carrying banners demanding justice for Mark Duggan. They were carrying Ugg boots and designer clothes they have just nicked from the shop they broke into.
And Britain is no stranger to protests. Only a few months ago we saw thousands take to the streets of London in protest of increased university fees, and in late June strikers showed their anger at pension cuts. The difference? While the student protest especially did escalate into violence, there was no looting of shops or mindless thuggery by the mobs.
Also clear is in how the public responded to these two events. The student protest against university fee increases divided opinion across the country and even in Parliament, some in support of the action and the cause, others against. The recent riots, however, have only resulted in widespread shame, disgust and anger.
As Britain regroups, answers are being sought as to what really caused the rioting and the looting. There is a need to sift through the symptoms and find the root cause. Is it anger at the government for recent cuts? Is it because teenagers really have nothing to do? Or is it something born out of a culture of consumerism, excess and self-inflated egos believing they are entitled to things without having to work for it? Is this an affliction of developed nations, and if so, what can we begin to learn as a developing country to make sure that when we, indeed, grow up, we won't repeat their mistakes. Let's not wait for society to be broken before we start to fix it.
I leave you with this as an afterthought, almost: many Malaysians have been warmed by the kind thoughts shown and donations made to one of our own, Asyraf, as he recovers from his injuries. The next time a guest of our country — be it a foreign student, or a foreign worker, especially from fellow Asian countries — meets with a strife, will we also be able to show equally strong character in helping them out?
Addendum: In addition to the JustGiving page, Malaysians in London and the UK are also collecting funds for students who have been affected by the riots. You can find out more from: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124270331001841. Also, if you know of other Malaysians affected by the recent riots, please ask them to contact the Malaysian Students Department or the Malaysian High Commission. They can't help those they don't know are affected.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. 
The Malaysian Insider :: Food
KUALA LUMPUR, 12 Ogos — Rakyat Malaysia berpandangan bahawa hubungan etnik di negara telah mengalami kemerosotan berbanding situasi lima tahun lalu, demikian menurut hasil kajian terbaru kendalian Merdeka Center hari ini.
KUALA LUMPUR, 12 Ogos — PAS akan mengunjungi Gereja Methodist Damansara Utama pada 16 Ogos ini manakala kunjungan ke Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (Jais) ditunda ke tarikh yang akan ditetapkan kemudian.