Moving from a sense of hopelessness to…
August 2, 2007
What’s my hope for this Merdeka get-together that’s being planned?
In the organising team e-group discussions, Farida put it very succintly when she said that fellowship at the get-together was all well and good but what, she asked, happens thereafter?
Indeed, what then?
Do we have good food, moving speeches, putting faces to cybernames, camaraderie amongst the like-minded, sing songs, make stirring pledges, and then go home, pat ourselves on our backs and say a silent prayer for Bangsa Malaysia?
I think the efforts of our forefathers in laying the foundations of this nation deserve better.
In those e-group discussions, I shared with the others that my personal goal in organising this event was to encourage citizens to come out and be seen and heard and that I hoped that every attendee would emerge from this Merdeka celebration a leader in his own right.
This is what I hope for.
Fear and a sense of hopelessness often comes from thinking that you are alone in standing for what is right and just.
God willing, we will soon discover, not in cyberspace, but in the real world, that there are far more of us who aspire to a fair and just Malaysia then there are those who aspire to keep us divided.
Yet the real world rarely hears the voice of that silent majority.
Discovering each other this Merdeka must give us reason for hope and the strength and conviction to lay our fears to rest.
Lay to rest the fear to act and speak up against the wrong and the injustices that occur before us.
Lay to rest the fear to care.
Lay to rest the fear to claim back the country and the way of life our forefathers left for us.
This is my first hope.
If truly we see a Bangsa Malaysia as being ‘one nation, one people’, then we have to start being just that.
One nation, one people.
But it cannot start and end at this Merdeka get-together.
We must take it beyond.
To our families, our friends, our co-workers. To everyone we know.
We must let it be known that ours is an aspiration of love and caring for all.
We exclude no-one, not even those who would have us remain a divided nation.
We must all lead in this aspiration of Bangsa Malaysia.
We must all become leaders of this hope of one nation, one people.
This is my second hope for this coming event.
Many have already written in to say that they would like to be part of this event.
I hope that many more will in the days to come.
I know that we share the same hopes.
I know we can move beyond merely hoping.
August 2, 2007 at 9:59 pm
We are paralysed with fear to stand up and claim our rights. The problem we have is the division we have created in our mind. We think that only political parties figure in our quest for a just and transparent government.
We forget that without us – Bangsa Malaysia- the rakyat, the political parties are nothing. Our solution has been to raise a few more opposition candidates to challenge the BN. What this has achieved I leave it to individual evaluation.
We have NEVER thought of having a rakyat meeting the representatives and engaging in discussion to address issues. The People’s Parliament is the closest I have seen such an initiative. Even than there is a sense at times that we want to ‘threaten’ the representative -if you do not perform/agree with us we will dump you. This ‘you are with me or against me’ attitude is what the BN practices. In order to right something requires a differant solution not the recycling of old and worn out practices.
Why put our trust solely in political parties? Perhaps standing up and being counted for what you stand for is tough. Until we take the step to reclaim our rights no one will do it for us. NO POLITICAL PARTY is going to do it for us from either spectrum of the political divide.
Stand up and be counted this Merdeka. Hidup Malaysia.
Avtaran, I know you and I will walk the same journey.
God bless, my friend.
August 2, 2007 at 10:24 pm
not to be a party pooper, but i believe that for a long time now, those from Sarawak and Sabah have argued (quite reasonably) that 31st August is not Malaysia’s true independence day, but 16th September.
although i’m from the peninsular myself, i can see the merit of their arguments and think that we should indeed celebrate “Malaysia Day” on 16/9 rather than “Malaya’s Independence” on 31/8.
August 2, 2007 at 10:28 pm
I will to my part for the nation by coming out with a series of Get Voters Poster.
Please feel free to us them in your blogs or email them to your friends and families to get them to vote for a better tomorrow.
http://wattahack.blogspot.com/2007/08/get-voters-poster-i.html
August 3, 2007 at 12:20 am
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Haris,
Wouldn’t it be nice for people to MARCH to the “intented destination” from different directions – say from about a few miles away?
There is something about marching which is synonymous with patriotism. Perhaps that’s what the founding fathers did or something close to it.
Just a passing thought.
.
August 3, 2007 at 8:51 am
Hi Osaya,
I think for some time there has been unhappiness in Sabah and Sarawak about how things are. If we work it out, for these two states, their 50th year of independence is 2013.
There has to be consensus and goodwill in planning and executing of intent. Force will only bury resentment and after a while that graveyard of hurt and disappointment, resentment and betrayal will heap up into a volcano that cannot but one day explode.
God help us! This nation is so divided on so many issues! The least of this is the spatial separation between peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak.
Sabah and Sarawak, we hear you. You are our brothers and sisters. Let us help you heal. Come join us on a special date that signifies oneness and newness.
Anyone out there?
August 3, 2007 at 8:57 am
There was this interview of Zaid Ibrahim in today’s Sun, which got me thinking. He had mentioned how his teachers of years gone by crossed the racial and cultural barrier to help a Malay kid, him.
Now what is so unusual about that? I have had Malay friends and strangers reach out to help me and vice versa.
Is it that the core assumptions of life in Malaysia has been moulded into thinking only Malay will help Malay, Chinese the Chinese and Indians Indians? Therefore, everything revolves around that?
They glorify and speak about the May 13 instances when Malay helped non-Malay or the non-Malay helped the Malay, like as if these are celbratory instances. I would say that these should be the human norms tht we should take for granted and that the exceptions should be all those times when racism and bigotry gets the better of the decision to extend a hand.
This Bangsa Malaysia Merdeka theme should not be loked upon as the exception. That should be the norm. Something Malaysians take for granted and where we can come together accept each other for who we are and be proud of it too and yet not trying to out do one another as to who we might represent. Like, let not the chinese woman be wearing a Cheong Sam and let not an Indian woman wear a saree. Just let not our dressing identify who we might be. Wear the stuff you normally wear. Of course my mum would be out of sync wearing pants suit…She’d be better off in her saree.
There are other symbols of control exerted on all of us. We should shun it and shove it into the faces of those who thrust it on us so long as it is not illegal.
Simple example. Recently the Sultan of Selangor stated he was no quitter after the Malaysian football team’s debacle at the Asian Cup tournament. The media decided that was a positive statement from him just to make him look good. And we are supposed to buy it. With no respect to His Royal Highness, for whom I have my deepest respect, there is another view to taking his position vis a vis the Malaysian Football Association. He is being a hanger on! Of course we, the citizens would not tell him that the Emperor wears no clothes!
You see the media decides on the view and the perspective and if you are not discerning enough that view sticks. Obviously all the blogs attempt to provide a different view. The assumption being that you recognise the mainsteam view in the first place and that this now gives the alternative view. I think what is needed is to name and shame the views posited on us by the mainstream and take them on a one to one.
Ah…I’m rambling again!!!
August 3, 2007 at 9:09 am
I simply puke this morning when I read what the PM said about bangsa Malaysia and that we are evolving into one, but I see it simply the opposite, we are more polarized than we were back in the 50s 60s and 70s. How could we be one race when the ruling party keep harping along racial lines?
Coupled with his SIL statement that Anwar is a traitor and that NEP is something close to the Malays. I really wondered why? For all good intent, the NEP was to redistribute wealth to the poor irregardless of race, color and creed. Yet the dear SIL of his chose to single our a race while the father in law talks about Bangsa Malaysia.
But let not these statement hurt or derail us from what we intend to do. We walk as ONE RACE, ONE NATION. Haris and the rest who have championed the cause so tirelessly, we march together.
August 3, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Haris,
You know well enough how I feel about this upcoming gathering. Especially when it was announced recently that there should NOT be other events commemorating M-Day unless organised/sanctioned by the powers that be.
BUM07 in May was a start. The momentum is gaining ground for like-minded Malaysians. Merdeka is not a one day event, whether its 31st August or 16th September, because its essence should be within us all the time.
Flying the J.G. or displaying gargantuan images of it or doing convoys round the nation are reflective of the superficiality which exist within the mindsets of politicians.
AAB’s declaration of Bangsa Malaysia Merdeka and KJ’s continued support for the NEP are obvious examples of contradictions. Both were self-gratifying to say the least.
Set the date, place and time, bro. I’ll be attending.
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oA,
But will your idea be practical under the current circumstances? RPK’s gathering was canceled because of ’security’ reasons. All it takes is for ’some’ to get over-enthusiastic along the way and the ‘procession’ may not arrive at the ‘intended’ destination (if you get my drift).
Let’s stick to winning hearts and minds rather than having a show of patriotic bravado.
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Paul Warren,
It’s the Sultan Of Pahang, not Selangor. And yes, I think he should step down as well. Even if it’s considered politically incorrect to say so.
August 3, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Haris,
I have been reading your posts. This is the first time I’m putting in my comments.
First and foremost. I am a Malaysian. It is not important whether I am a Malay, Chinese or Indian and I love my country.
I didn’t feel as much as I miss my home country when I was oversea for project assignment. In fact, I took a bus home from Singapore during the last election just to vote. Before that, I had never voted before.
I read with sadness about the issues about the wrong doings of our government. Is there any truth in it?
Lastly, I want to do something for my country. I am not interested in politics, I am not interested in public debate. I want to know an odinary person like me do to support you?
Thank you
Chong
August 4, 2007 at 7:59 am
[...] Moving from a sense of hopelessness to… [image] What’s my hope for this Merdeka get-together that’s being planned? In the organising team e-group […] [...]
August 6, 2007 at 4:48 am
My Inspiration :
“If you think you are rich,there are many people richer than you….
If you think you are clever,there are many people cleverer than you….
But if you are honest, then you are amongst the few….
And in this instance it is best to be amongst the few…” Tunku Abdul Rahman – MERDEKA !