THE TABLE IS BIGGER THAN THE GUN

It is our hope as human beings that somehow in our fractured, tortured and mixed up world the negotiating table will eventually prove to be more potent and successful than instruments of destruction and violence.

Of all the extraordinary images we have been shown these past days was the enormous table at which a retired president and a supreme leader had sat facing each other.

When they got off the table after three and a half hours, the two families of two ladies had their prayers over one hundred and forty days answered.

No doubt not every problem has been resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. Problems and issues remain. But the path ahead may have subtly turned the corner and sitting down at the table may have become more possible and worthwhile than before.

When human beings sit down to talk, there is hope that some form of accommodation if not hard solution to serious disagreements and differences may be arrived at.

Across that giant table in Pyongyang, sworn enemies were able to talk to each other face to face. Of course that was preceded by a lot of behind the scene sitting and talking. (In my mind, I could “see” numerous tables of various sizes leading to the one big table.) The task must have been enormous and tireless. A lot of effort and initiative was expended before the one success was accomplished.

One small step courageously taken could yield benefits of great value. One small bomb could shatter limbs and rob human beings of ambition, dreams, life.

Talking is better than shooting.

In Pyongyang, West Bank, Jerusalem, Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching…

 

I AM AGAINST DETENTION WITHOUT TRIAL

The power to take away a human person’s freedom, to forcibly separate a person from loved ones and home, to keep him or her away from his or her caregivers and ready medical care, to keep him or her from  business, livelihood, and gainful employment so that he or she can pay his or her bills and service his or her loans, to keep him or her from society at large and the company he or she wishes and elects to keep, to shut him or her away for years on end without having to prove his or her guilt in a publicly-conducted court of justice- this kind of arbitrary power over any human person irrespective of age, gender, class, ethnic origin or creed is excessive, immoral and unconscionable.

For this reason, the Internal Security Act (ISA) needs to be abolished and such an arbitrary instrument of near absolute power must never remain in the hands of any government professing any political persuasion, creed or manifesto.

Any such power vested in any select group of individuals, regardless of any profession of good intentions, is a temptation that inevitably and invariably leads to abuse and self-serving lines of action. No spouse, parent, teacher, boss, community, family,  clan, police, army, religious or government chief should ever be entrusted with such sweeping powers over other human beings.

The ISA which legalises detention without trial does violence against a whole host of human rights.

Much can be said for reform of the judicial system in any country and much can and should be done to reform our country’s judicial system. But justice in a court of law is intended to guarantee an opportunity for an accused person to defend himself or herself and tell his or her own side of the story. This guarantee is removed by the ISA.

Human society cannot speak about security at family, community or national level if fundamental civil liberties are removed from the equation. The history of human civilizations is strewn with the disasterous consequences of arbitrary, heavy-handed acts against humanity. Human history teaches again and again that the end does not justify the means.

Mere human beings no matter how smart, sincere or well-meaning should not assume God’s role and usurp God’s throne.

 

I CANNOT BE NEUTRAL ABOUT ISSUES OF MORALITY

As a Christian, I cannot keep to my seat, or shut my mouth and stay neutral over issues of morality.

So I emerge today from my several months of silence and non-involvement to say that what transpired yesterday is immoral, unacceptable and unconscionable.

Why was a witness being held for questioning for ten hours and only released at 3.45am?  What kind of case is it and what is the urgency of the case in question that the witness had to be deprived of sleep and forcibly kept awake till 3.45am?  Was the nation deemed to be in grave danger had the witness in question been sent home at a respectable time and asked to report again for questioning the next morning? The nation could endure long years of waiting over so many other much longer pending cases involving so much more public money and have much greater weight in public interest but this particular case could not wait for the next morning when the witness in question would have been fresher and better rested? What kind of interrogation was he subjected to on the fateful night without end? Why was it that a witness had to be isolated from his lawyer and forced to be in the sole company of officers with no other neutral person/s present? Because he was in the sole company of officers who were interrogating him, how would his side of the story be ever told? And how would, why should the officers in question be trusted when they tell the nation what actually transpired during that fateful night the witness lost his life? There were no other witness/es present so how would these officers in question clear their own involvement or clear their own names in this sad story?

Isn’t it true that a medical doctor should carry out the examination of a patient of the opposite sex in the presence of at least one other person? This is a wise procedure so that should any allegation of wrongful conduct be raised against him or her, the doctor would have some neutral testimony to defend him or her.

There have been too many instances of contravention against natural justice in this country involving the agencies and instruments of state. There have been too many victims. The neutrality of these instruments of state is questionable.

I CANNOT REMAIN NEUTRAL ABOUT ISSUES OF MORALITY.

This is not about partisan politics. I expect my friends from both sides of the parliamentary divide to speak up. I expect to hear from all political parties and all who hold public office at all levels to speak up. I want especially to hear from Maximus Ongkili, Bernard Dompok, Lee Hwa Beng, Loh Seng Kok who publicly profess the Christian Faith to speak up.

I expect the churches and the church leadership to speak up including those I know personally such as Hwa Yung, Ng Moon Hing and many others.

Of course all of the above persons should state their own views and even fault my manner of speaking or reasoning. But silence is not an option. Leaders do not have the option of keeping their opinion to themselves. They must lend their voices to voices which have been silenced.

A young life has been lost on the very eve of his wedding. Siblings, parents, colleagues and a fiance are in inconsolable grief. WHY SO? WHO WILL BE NEXT?

 

THE PARABLE OF THE RAIN TREE – a personal experience

 

While some watch birds, I have always preferred trees myself. The best break I ever have always involves sitting where my eyes can behold the wonders of trees, unfailingly and truly a sight for my tired eyes, mind and heart.

Coming from Taiping, my favourite tree is the raintree, tall and sprawling. At the Taiping Lake Gardens, the branches of the raintree majestically bend down towards the water forming a manificent canopy of green archways over the road. You haven’t been to Taiping without cycling or driving under those archways, a singular sublime experience to cherish for a very long time.

As a matter of fact, raintrees do last a long time. In Taiping, they were there long before I was born and no doubt will be there long after my time on this earth.

What better symbol therefore for the status of Perak democracy than the humble raintree!

Derogatory talk therefore of the extraordinary session of the Perak State Assembly convened on Tuesday 3 March 2009 at 10.20am under the raintree across the road from the Perak State Secretariat Building is completely misplaced, shortsighted and shallow.

Barred from their normal home by the FRU, the State Assembly conducted its session under the raintree. As I walked towards it, I was recognised by some drivers/bodyguards and given access finding myself suddenly no more than thirteen feet from the Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) and just five feet from the Speaker of the Assembly surrounded by full-suited state assemblymen. The business was conducted in an orderly, solemn manner and even the large crowd forming the outer circle quickly caught the mood and followed the proceedings in a reverent and respectful manner. For an outdoor environment, this was no small achievement.

Elsewhere this proceeding may have been much maligned and pronounced illegal but being there I saw nothing that was in any way discrediting to the august assembly.

In fact, this was very much a people’s parliament. As the rakyat, common people had access to the State Assembly proceedings. They came from all walks of life, dressed properly but without having to don formal (and expensive) clothes. As many who wanted to observe the proceedings had access to it. Despite the absence of the usual forbidding uniformed security personnel, neither myself nor the countless others sensed a security threat. The agenda was to the point and understandable to those present.

If this was not exemplary of what democracy should be, what is? It was people-friendly, accessible, pro-rakyat, responsible, responsive, orderly but welcoming. A kind of going home to the kampung or home-town feeling. Before my eyes, a grassroot state assembly session was taking place.

It was an intensely uplifting reinvigorating experience for me; a lesson in grassroot democracy. In one extraordinary moment, we see that democracy is by the people, of the people and for the people. Its symbolism is full of meaning, encouraging much imagination and dreams. YES WE CAN!

For all these weeks, the people could see only blockages, their wishes denied at every stage. By-elections for the three seats deemed to have fallen vacant with the presigned resignation letters; “No!” says the elections commission. Dissolution of the state assembly to pave the way for fresh elections; “No!” says the Ruler. Extraordinary session of the State Assembly; “No!” says the High Court. Entry into the State Assembly Hall; “No!” says the Federal Reserve Unit.

We saw only the negative, prevent-at-all cost strategy of the “new government”. Conscious or not, the message which comes out to the people is completely straightforward and unmistakable: “We just want to form the government without having to face elections by the people or having to prove our majority status by facing the state assembly; our claims to legitmacy is sufficient proof.”

Among its virtues, the humble raintree is resilient, durable, weather-hardened, withstanding years upon years of abuse of every kind. Without dedicated care or favour, it survives on its own. Left on its own, it thrives and grows. Human intervention and interference on the raintree is for human convenience not necessarily for the sake of the raintree.

After fifty-one years of independence, we Malaysians are now on a daily basis clearly seeing the strong arm of interested parties dismantling the pillars of democracy and the blatant attempts at bringing about the alchemy of the separation of powers. The signs are ominous and the times are very worrisome.

If not under the raintree, with all its comforting symbols of peace, hope, persistence, perseverance and durability, where else should I take my stand? Where else may I find shelter from the ruthless elements?

 

  

  

 

“INSPIRATIONS” FROM PERAK

“BLESSED” ARE THOSE IN PERAK WITH BACKACHE for they will find relief in Pahang.

“BLESSED” ARE THOSE WHO GO MISSING for they shall return with more of what they desire for themselves.

“BLESSED” ARE THOSE WHO BELONG TO TWO PARTIES for one or the other will surely be in power.

“BLESSED” ARE THOSE WHO SIGN A PLEDGE OF LOYALTY TO ONE MB for they shall get a chance to pledge their loyalty to a second MB.

“BLESSED” ARE THOSE WHO TAKE AND KEEP PEOPLE INCOMMUNICADO for theirs shall be four more assemblymen.

“BLESSED” ARE YOU WHO DO NOT WISH TO FACE AN ELECTION for it is so much safer and convenient to win the vote of just one person than to have to go after the votes of thousands of others.

“BLESSED” ARE THOSE WHO DENY AND AVOID ELECTIONS for the government shall be theirs.

“BLESSED” ARE THOSE IN PERAK for unto them hast been given two MBs to serve their every need.

 “BLESSED” ARE YOU WHO BY YOUR DECREE CREATED A VACANCY for all the people will now know you a lot better.

“BLESSED” ARE YOU WHO STRIVE TO BE FIRST (HOWEVER AND WHATEVER IT TAKES) for your term of office shall surely be filled with the just rewards of your deeds.

But,

MOST BLESSED ARE YOU WHO HAVE LOST TO HIJACKERS AND THIEVES WHAT THE PEOPLE HAD CONFERRED ON YOU for you shall be returned to office with a two-thirds majority!

 

 

 

THE PALESTINIAN TRAGEDY: ONE CHRISTIAN’S RESPONSE

I am a Christian. As such my response is one Christian’s response to the Palestinian tragedy. I speak for myself.  I have asked no one or group permission to speak. I represent no one or group but myself.

My birth year coincides with the UN resolution which brought statehood status to Israel which unfortunately also contributed to much of the problems faced by the Palestinian people. Hence, my personal interest and concern for the Palestinian people has been over a long period of time beginning as soon as I became educationally of age.

First and foremost, the current situation in Palestine is a humanitarian tragedy with many lives lost and families separated and properties damaged and serious threats of fearful diseases. The Gaza strip is experiencing a colossal complex humanitarian emergency which requires immediate and continuing large-scale humanitarian response. Such a humanitarian response should and must be supported by all regardless of ethnic, religious or political persuasions. Humanitarian response supersedes   any  and every  loyalty we human beings may have. There are many Christians in Palestine. But I would have responded (in speech and deed) even if there were only Muslims in Palestine. Regardless of ethnic origin, religious creed or nationality, as human beings we must respond to the sufferings of other human beings.

The Palestinian tragedy encompasses tragedies of various categories and combinations.

Humanitarian tragedies have human causes. We should be wary of blaming humanitarian tragedies merely on nature or the devil. We human beings are often to blame for the tragedies which plaque other human beings. A mixture of arbitrariness and injustice and arrogance and a good measure of ignorance combine to bring about human tragedy.

Let me illustrate with the declaration of war on Iraq. George W. Bush citing (unproven) WMD and Iraqi complicity with Al Qaeda’s attacks on USA launched a war on Iraq ending his speech with “And may God bless America”. As a Christian I was appalled and incensed by such narrow self-serving partisanship. You are about to visit a country with the state of the art weaponry and wreak havoc and calamity on its people and all you could think of is your own country? God should only bless your people but not the people you are about to bomb?

God is brought into the picture. God is on America’s side. America is blessing the rest of the world by carrying out God’s agenda. According to some sources, the American president had even claimed that God had spoken to him about invading Iraq and Afghanistan. Bringing God into unethical, unwise, and unfair decisions is religious blasphemy (not religious truth).  As a Christian I don’t want any leader of any nation to hijack my religion and force God Almighty into his particular smallness of heart and mind. You want to make war do so in your own name and take responsibility for it yourself. Don’t drag God into the equation to justify your own human decision.

Israel without American backing would not have been able to do what they have been doing to the Palestinian people over so many generations.  I am appalled as a believer in Jesus Christ at the fact that in giving undying support to Israel, America has the backing of so many American Christian churches and people. 

I believe that many human tragedies including the Palestinian tragedy have arisen through a combination of misplaced patriotism on the one hand and mistaken religious theology on the other hand. These are deadly combinations resulting in untold hardship and misery to countless human beings.

Misplaced patriotism is the cause of wars throughout human history. It gives rise to chauvinistic arrogance and irrationality. Other people commit wrong not us. It is these other people and nations who do bad things not us. Blame the other person or people and take no responsibility for yourself or your nation.  I can do no wrong and the other person can do no right.

Unquestioning Christian support for Israel is the result of weak bible knowledge resulting in bad theology.  For me as a Christian the “new Israel” expounded in the New Testament of the Holy Bible is not synonymous with the political Israeli state of today. Israeli membership with the United Nations isn’t the same thing as the aspiration and intention of biblical prophecy.  To believe that the belligerences of the Israeli state today is somehow sanctioned by the God of both Old & New Testaments of the Holy Bible is simply bad theology and does not represent Christian Faith and Truth. As a Christian I owe the present Israeli state no allegiance of automatic support. Like all other nations, the Israeli as well as the Palestinian states must accept their own responsibilities for whatever wrongs they have humanly committed. The good which any nation commits is to be credited in the same way as any wrong they commit is to be summarily condemned. Let no nation claim biblical status and act against the very values and principles which God commands of every human being.

Lest it should be said that as a Christian in Malaysia my views on the Palestinian issue is influenced by an Islamic-centric view, let me quote an American Christian source. In 2002, a letter was addressed to the US President from over 40 evangelical Christian leaders. (I apologize for its length but it is only fair to quote them in full.) In it, the evangelical Christian leaders wrote:

“Dear Mr. President,

We write as American evangelical Christians concerned for the well-being of all the children of Abraham in the Middle East – Christian, Jewish and Muslim. We urge you to employ an even-handed policy toward Israeli and Palestinian leadership so that this bloody conflict will come to a speedy close and both peoples can live without fear and in a spirit of Shalom/Salaam.

An even-handed U.S. policy towards Israelis and Palestinians does not give a blank check to either side, nor does it bless violence by either side. An even-handed policy affirms the valid interests of Israelis and Palestinians: both states free, economically viable and secure, with normal relations between Israel and all its Arab neighbors. We commend your stated support for a Palestinian state with 1967 borders, and encourage you to move boldly forward so that the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for their own state may be realized.

We abhor and condemn the suicide bombings of the last 22 months and the failure of the Palestinian Authority in the first year of the intifada to stop the violence against Israeli citizens. We grieve over the loss of life, particularly among children, and the suffering by Israelis and Palestinians. The longer the bloodletting continues, the more difficult it will be for both sides to reconcile with each other.

We urge you to provide the leadership necessary for peacemaking in the Middle East by vigorously opposing injustice, including the continued unlawful and degrading Israeli settlement movement. The theft of Palestinian land and the destruction of Palestinian homes and fields is surely one of the major causes of the strife that has resulted in terrorism and the loss of so many Israeli and Palestinian lives. The continued Israeli military occupation that daily humiliates ordinary Palestinians is also having disastrous effects on the Israeli soul.

Mr. President, the American evangelical community is not a monolithic bloc in full and firm support of present Israeli policy. Significant numbers of American evangelicals reject the way some have distorted biblical passages as their rationale for uncritical support for every policy and action of the Israeli government instead of judging all actions – of both Israelis and Palestinians – on the basis of biblical standards of justice. The great Hebrew prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, declared in the Old Testament that God calls all nations and all people to do justice one to another, and to protect the oppressed, the alien, the fatherless and the widow.”

(Among the signatories of this letter were such recognizable names as Richard J. Mouw, Tim Dearborn, Ronald J. Sider, Leighton Ford, Steve Hayner, Luci N. Shaw, Richard Stearns, Peter Kuzmic, David Neff, Philip Yancey, a few of whom I know personally.)

The role of religious belief in the affairs of state is a given but this being the case, leaders of nations as well as religions (Christian and Muslim) must do their homework and ensure that their knowledge of their respective Holy Scriptures and the theologies based thereon must be more sound and accurate. Otherwise, their “religious” conclusions and pronouncements can only sow discord and incite divisions and inspire unending conflicts. (Chauvinistic stance and rhetoric can only make matters worse and postpone further the day of liberation. I believe that a chauvinistic stance hurts more than it benefits the Palestinian cause in the same way that a chauvinistic Israeli stance hurts even the legitimate Israeli case.)

Let us pledge our support to alleviate the undue sufferings of all human beings in West Asia. Let us pray for peace not war. Let us strive for solutions beyond our rhetoric.

(An address given at the recent C.O.M.P.L.E.T.E. (COALITION OF MALAYSIAN NGOS AGAINST PERSECUTION OF PALESTINIANS) on January 18, 2009 in Kuala Lumpur)

 

 

ONLY GOD KNOWS

When we human beings come to the limits of our finite minds and admit to our own deficient capabilities and abilities, we say, “Only God knows”.

 

In the face of some mind-boggling and heart-chilling happenings, it is hard to think of a more accurate expression than this to describe the superlative crimes which have been committed for whatever reason.

 

In fact, as a human being with all my limitations and shortcomings, I fail to even begin to understand let alone come to terms with the headlines which stare at me these days: the Mumbai attacks and the sentencing of a person to 18 years imprisonment which rewakens us to the crimes committed against a domestic worker years ago.

 

To say, “Only God knows” is of course to acknowledge that God is the Final Judge in everything and in all human affairs. Ultimately it is God’s judgment which counts for absolute truth. Some who were found by human institutions of justice to be guilty may in fact and truth be known to God to be innocent and some who have been found innocent by these same human institutions of justice in God’s eyes may be guilty. The ultimate truth is with God.

 

So are the motives and reasons why human beings such as we are do what they do. This as well as the human reasoning that comes with human actions deemed necessary.

 

What failings of a domestic worker deserve a hot iron on her back and breasts and hot water on her legs? And what will it profit an employer to resort to such sadistic weapons as hot water and hot iron? What can drive a human being to perform such horrific acts upon another human being? What motive or reason could cause an educated professionally-employable human being to throw all cautions and control to the wind so as to do something which will exile her to eighteen years of incarceration and worse still plunge her entire family into helpless anguish?

 

In this particular case the accused is publicly proclaimed by her lawyers to be a staunch Christian. If so, and if the court’s judgement is on target, this will send a chill in the leadership of Christian churches throughout the country and raise the question of the real quality and effectiveness of our religious activities and where we might have failed in nurturing the flock.

 

But the Christian Church along with the whole adult population of the country will need to reflect long and hard about how we treat our employees at home and at work. Subordinates including those from abroad are human beings with God-endowed dignity and self-worth. There is no way that atrocities performed on any human being can ever be justified or sanctioned by any cultural or religious creed or community.

 

As for the Mumbai attacks, the regularity of such seeming sporadic war on ordinary civilians does not make us get used to the sheer monstrosity of such casual destruction of human lives. Again many questions can and must be raised concerning how any political or religious cause or objective could be furthered by the taking of human lives. Can any end be justified by such means?   

 

In Malaysia, some famous or infamous cases await completion or their day (or years) in court. Some have gone to the extent of swearing their innocence outside of the court system. As always, motives and why some people do what they do against other human beings are at the core of these matters.

 

On all of the above, I end as I had begun: God has the final say in all this.     

 

Jesus said, “Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.” (Luke 12.3)

 

 

 

SLEEPLESS IN MALAYSIA

It was an honour to join many other concerned Malaysians to greet RPK and show support for him when he arrived at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court in the morning of October 6. As he alighted from the unmarked and heavily tinted police van, it was good to see the man who through his writings have been voicing the concerns of many Malaysians and to be satisfied that despite the gross injustice mounted against him, he was reasonably healthy and composed.

But seeing him, I had three concerns which weighed heavily on me through the entire day and night. So, being unable to shake off this heaviness and not succeeding in my attempts to sleep, I sit instead to write this, commencing at 1.20 and finishing at 3.35AM, still SLEEPLESS IN MALAYSIA.

 

MY FIRST CONCERN arose from my observation (a visual image) of a husband and wife, a couple, forcibly separated from each other by the infernal Internal Security Act effected by the decree of just one man who had no need to justify or argue or defend the reason why RPK should be detained without trial. By the mere act of affixing his signature on the detention order, a Malaysian family was separated from their father, and a Malaysian wife was separated from her husband. This separation was graphically enacted by Marina the brave wife, with the rest of their sympathisers, on one side, and RPK the detained husband on the other side of the line formed by the police (who were performing their duty).  

 

My SECOND CONCERN arose from the irony of the situation being enacted at the PJ Sessions Court on the morning of October 6. All of us Malaysians who have joined our voices against the wicked ISA have always been saying that if the authorities had any issues to take against anyone, the proper thing to do would be to proffer charges against him or her and try him or her in court.

 

RPK was charged with committing sedition at the PJ Sessions Court on May 6 at which time the trial date was set for October 6. (The sedition charges are in relation to a statutory declaration he had made implying that certain individuals of high standing were present at the scene of the killing of a Mongolian woman.)   

 

So there we were on the morning of October 6 at the PJ Sessions Court for the start of this sedition trial. But the air was thick with Malaysian irony. Because on September 12, RPK was arrested under the ISA and on September 22 the order for his two-year detention without trial was signed which saw his despatch to the detention camp in Kamunting (in my hometown of Taiping). So on the morning of October 6 we who were present witnessed the merging of two legal opposites involving the one and the same person: RPK the ISA detainee without trial was brought to court so that the RPK who was being charged with sedition could be tried in court where he would have the chance to defend himself.

 

I want all Malaysians to think and chew over this. This cruel paradox which renders those of us with conscience SLEEPLESS IN MALAYSIA while those who were responsible for all ISA detainees’ immoral detention are seamlessly sleeping through the nights (as well as the days).

 

MY THIRD CONCERN which so consumes my never resting mind is the fact that in effect the person who was to stand trial on October 6 was detained under the vicious ISA twenty-four days before he was to appear in court. Again I want all Malaysians to think and chew over this fact and sleepless we should all be. Think of the injustice of it all.

 

Let me put it in relevant graphic easy-to-understand way. Your young son or daughter is forcibly removed from home and freedom and then twenty-four days later after sleeping in the most uncomfortable room he or she has ever experienced in all of life and feeding on the most unsavoury meals ever compared to mother’s cooking, he or she is brought under heavy guard to sit for his or her SPM or STPM or University exams. Do you think your son or daughter will do well under the circumstances? Do you think this would be fair to your dear one for such an important test?

 

So it is with RPK. Forcibly removed from home, from loved ones and subjected thoroughly to all kinds of interrogation, without freedom of when and where to sleep and what to eat. Removed from his own dining room. Removed from free access to his lawyers, not being able to pick his own time when he could consult with his lawyers and for how long he wished to spend with them. And then, twenty-four days later, to be brought to the court to commence his defence against the charge levelled at him. 

 

Is this fair? Can this be fair? This is Malaysian justice? A grave injustice has been committed. Always a disadvantage is intentionally placed in the way of those who dare to make their voices heard. The odds are always against them. There is no fairness. The playing field is never level. 

 

How can I or any of us sleep who care about such fundamental issues of freedom? 

 

I want all Malaysian MPs to think and chew over this. HOW DID MALAYSIA COME TO THIS?  HOW CAN THOSE WHO SIT IN PARLIAMENT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS? You owe your constituents who elected you an answer. Now.

 

The truth must and shall prevail.

 

AI IS MALAYSIA’S PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1

It is clear to many Malaysians that the country is not doing well these days. Inflation is climbing, business is slowing, foreign investors are said to be looking elsewhere. The in-country political climate is not good. The outlook is bad. Many are worried.

Who is to blame? THE ANSWER IS AI.

AI is to blame for most ills. The most influential factor in Malaysian affairs-  the economy, politics, governance, environment, social relations- is AI.

It is AI’s moves, or rather non-moves, which has cast a giant shadow on our land and is clouding our very future.

AI HAS TO BE STOPPED.

But how do we stop AI? Many have tried but failed. It is easier said than done. In thesame way, many have tried giving up smoking, for example, but there have been few success stories.

AI is stubborn rather like the blow-up toy which is weighted down. You punch and strike it any number of times and each time it rebounces to its original upright position. You just can’t seem to put AI down.

Sometimes when we say we want something done, something important, critical to our own wellbeing, we fail because we are looking in the wrong places. We don’t achieve what we want because we never seem to focus on that which can help us succeed. Like the character in the children’s story book who is looking everywhere else for his spectacles except where they happen to be, where he is wearing them around his very eyes.

We blame others but not ourselves. Actually the ills of our land involves us and not just others. Because AI is something to do with us. AI is in us, in our system, in our very own bones.

AI is the twin trouble which plagues much of the human race, irrespective of nationality, creed, colour or gender. It is here in Malaysia as in the rest of the world. It is the twin cousins which causes trouble by doing nothing.  Two cousins. APATHY is the name of one, INDIFFERENCE is the name of the other. AI in short.

Together they render normally intelligent, educated, thinking, active, resourceful human beings impotent, careless, and uncaring.

Apathy is a condition characterised by “lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal, lack of emotion or feeling; impassiveness”. I will let a great man help us understand indifference:

 

Two days after winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, Elie Wiesel said: “If there is one word that describes all the woes and threats that exist today, it’s indifference. You see a tragedy on television for three minutes and then comes something else and something else. How many tragedies have we had recently? Chernobyl, the earthquake in El Salvador. . . And then there are the wars and those still in jail in Communist countries. Because there are so many tragedies, a sense of helplessness sets in. People become numb. They become indifferent. Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil. The opposite of love is not hate, it’s evil. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference. Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. To be in the window and watch people being sent to concentration camps or being attacked in the street and doing nothing, that’s being dead. One should not, one cannot, one must not turn one’s back on memory. It is an exalted way of seeing one’s life in its totality. Of course, there are tragedies, but there are also ways of winning battles and overcoming despair.”

Truly great people are not infected or affected by AI – Apathy, Indifference. RPK, Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang, Syed Husin Ali to name but a few. Yet even we who are supposedly their supporters have been only too quick to fault them and blame our woes on them. Sure they may have faults but when they don’t deliver or seem to disappoint us at times, we must realise that it is not for want of effort or concern on their part. With their comrades these men fight tooth and nail for our cause. They are trying to overturn fifty years of history to bring about desirable change to our country.

They are not held back by apathy-indifference. It is not for lack of effort that they have yet to install a new government. Their efforts have brought our country very close to substantive change which we crave. They have not failed us.

It is we who have failed them. We must stamp the encroachment of AI. We must fight AI in our own selves. That is the answer to the evil of ISA, bad governance, and all the ills which the arrogance of the powers that be have dumped on this land driving so many Malaysians to misery and untold suffering.

TO FIGHT THEM, WE HAVE TO FIGHT OUR OWN SELVES AND EXORCISE  APATHY-INDIFFERENCE FROM OUR VERY BEINGS.

 

WHAT IT TAKES TO TURN THE NATIONAL AGENDA AROUND

 

The stakes are very high. It is a fight to the finish. The battles have commenced. The gap between victory or defeat is narrow.  This is not for the faint-hearted. Only the brave will endure and persist. Never before has the nation come to this point in its 51-year history when the battle to substantially change the national agenda come so close to realisation. Many now believe that the goal is at last within reach. To say that fundamental change in key national policies is now possible is no longer easily dismissable. This is no longer laughing matter.  The unthinkable is now being entertained in many minds.

 

Yet this is not about utopia and silly notions in some elusive wonderland. There is no magic wand that can be waved to bring some magical results about. To win the battle for desirable change, we need serious-minded sturdy MPs who will stand by their conscience and be ruled by ethical standards that will not be moved or dissuaded by bribery, threats and present dangers.

 

Forty such MPs to be precise are needed. Who would stand firm by their principles and say “Enough is enough!” against bad governance, unjust laws, abuse of state resources and institutions, and race-based politics. Forty good MPs, that is, backed to the hilt by millions and millions of ordinary Malaysians who will stand by them and boost their resolve.

 

This desirable change for the nation is not about dates. It is not about when it will happen. It is about how it will happen. It can and will happen when this formula is accomplished: 40 conscientised MPs + millions of conscientised ordinary Malaysians must come together and take their stand and make their stand count.

 

Politics is always about numbers. Today, the numbers have narrowed to the point where we can afford to dream that desirable change is within reach. When 40 conscientised MPs cross the parliamentary divide, or 40 conscientised MPs vote against their party whip at the next opportunity when parliament reconvenes, or when snap elections are called giving Malaysian voters an early chance to make their desire for change known- or whatever formula presents itself so that the will of the people can again be tested-  this will happen.

 

Will this ever happen or will it yet again be a case of “so near and yet so far”?

 

Just days ago, the powers that be used the Internal Security Act (ISA) to blatantly take away from under our very eyes three conscientised Malaysians who wrote, spoke and acted for desirable change. Two of them remains in detention without trial. We let this happen. So when the cross-overs, etc., don’t happen, don’t blame Anwar Ibrahim, RPK, Teresa Kok, Nik Aziz, Hadi Awang, Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, Lim Guan Eng. They didn’t let us down. They have in fact done all they could do for us. We the people let ourselves down.

 

If I don’t take my stand, who else can I , should I, might I blame?