typical malaysians
The question posed to Parti Sosialis Malaysia, one of the main organisers of the anti-US war on Iraq gathering in Kuala Lumpur in March 2005 - why bring children to demonstrations? - by many-a-Malaysian folk, is an interesting one, though not in the least surprising. (www.socialistworld.net/eng/2005/03/21Malaysia.html)
Although PSM had only been approached by four, such a line of thinking is typical of most Malaysians.
Some would argue that these people have good intentions for they were merely concerned about the children’s welfare. It didn’t matter of course that it was a peaceful demonstration and that right to freedom of expression is enshrined in the highest law of our land – the Constitution.
It didn’t mean anything of course that it was the police who had started the riot by attacking those peaceful civilians on a pleasant Sunday morning.
It shouldn’t matter of course that mothers rather have their children with them instead of leaving them at home, especially on a Sunday, for should’nt domestic workers too be given a day off on Sunday?
And of course, it should not matter at all that this gathering was about the American war on Iraq where countless innocent people died. That it is a stand that any peace loving government on the face of this earth should be supporting.
Because at the end of the day, in this country deem ‘wonderful and plentiful’ to an uninformed potential migrant, the real question one should truly ask is: what do you really expect from a typical Malaysian?
The typical Malaysian mind is too lazy to think of grappling issues like war, environmental hazards, or the death penalty. And really, why should we even try?
We don’t have to worry about where the next meal is coming from though we can’t say for sure now that we don’t have to worry about eathquakes since the Tsunami hit some of us in December.
For most of us, the main concern in the morning is not about whether the city would be bombed or attacked by militants (which includes the military), it is about what color of clothes to wear or which designer label to flaunt, to that high-power meeting, where a politician or a minister would be attending.
It’s not really whether graduates here can find jobs or remain jobless, but how much that job pays…and oh, does it also come with a company car and housing allowance?
And of course, the best part of being Malaysians is not whether a war is breaking out in another land or whether 600 million mouths in the world are hungry but… tell me, where are the biggest, hottest, craziest sales this weekend?
Look, we are coming to our 48th birthday, and still it is evident, that we have not been able to think beyond the basic issues of race and religion. Just look at the current debates going on in the media, including independent websites like Malaysiakini, and we can quickly sum up that mentally, pyschologically, we are still a “wide-eyed primary school kid asking “why?”
We are still talking about a Bangsa Malaysia, after four decades of Independence, while the world has started genetically modyfying us, cloning us, duplicating us and eventually detroying us.
Malaysians are still at the stage of squabbling about which ethnic group is more superior and whose language is far better than the other, while some of us are being tortured, persecuted, thrown into jail, even killed for believing in an ideology, in many parts of the world today.
That for someone to ask : why bring children to demonstrations, is so highly typical of an ordinary and ‘patriotic’ Malaysian.
We should be happy that at least some of us are united in this sense. We are a Bangsa Malaysia at last when it comes to denying ourselves and others basic rights enshrined in our own constitution.
