We can only hope our rulers become enlightened
Published: Jan 22, 2014 11:38 PM | Updated: Jan 23, 2014 3:11 AM
YOURSAY ‘Should we be a little more extreme in our 'moderateness'?’
'If only we were less easily offended'
Hold AWAM Accountable: When we the people choose to be mindless, we allow other parties to tell us what we are thinking and feeling.
This has given rise to Malaysia's “culture of offendedness” (to use the title of ex-navy commander S Thayaparan's book) which allows dangerous people to masquerade as champions of our purportedly hurt feelings to stir up shit.
On the other hand, not enough people are offended about important things, such as deaths in custody, abuse of power, sexual violence, massive corruption, falling roofs, lying leaders, etc. Shame!
Kuala Bear: What is a Malaysian? I think being Malaysian is a sum of many things, a totality of distinct parts. In it, a Chinese celebrates his or her ‘Chinese-ness’ without offending or intruding into the other races. Likewise for the Malays or Indians.
It's like a botanical garden. Flowers of different colours and scents bloom alongside one another. Together they make a great spectacle. What we have now is a ‘super race’ that claims to be Malay, but is made up of Indians, Indonesians, and what have you. They control the reins of power and manipulate the rakyat for their own agenda.
Race, religion, royalty... anything that can further their agenda of plundering the wealth of this country goes. What do they care? When this country goes down they can fly off to any country of their choice with their billions of ringgit. In fact, the inner circle is multiracial. They all have something in common. Race, religion and righteousness are not among them.
Mirror Mirror On the Wall: If indeed, there is a silent moderate majority, how can we have our moderate views heard and implemented? Is our very moderation our own undoing? Unfortunately, I may be right. Moderation and moderate views never get the attention that should be given. Should we be a little more extreme in our 'moderateness'?
1braincell: The source of all unreasonableness, arrogance, excess and stupidity is when we exalt a single person above ourselves and allow him or her to create an aura of immunity, impunity and infallibility. This soon transforms into a disease wherein true authority is replaced by false ‘awe-thority’.
Ultimately, a single megalomaniac, like former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, can lead an entire nation to almost irreversible ruin. Even without a tyrannical prime minister, we are saddled with nine quasi-divine figureheads whose decrees are "unquestionable".
Our only hope is that these traditional rulers become enlightened... or voluntarily abdicate!
Peacemaker: We are prevented from thinking as Malaysians merely because the BN insists, as a government policy, to refer to each ethnic group by their origins and not as Malaysians.
Unafraid: Praise God for the moderate and sensible voices at Thayaparan’s book launch. I was desperate and despondent up to this point in time, especially so when the Sabah and Sarawak voices in the cabinet are silent when they should be standing up for their own kind.
So, so disappointing and frustrating and hence the recent tirade against these cowards who have betrayed the trust of their own people. But thank God for all the courageous speakers yesterday. They give me hope again. Thank you for being Malaysians.
Swipenter: This country has been dividing and is still being divided since the fourth prime minister. Now under the cover of race and religion, everything goes. Race and religion override what is right and what is wrong. Morally and spiritually, Bolehland is almost bankrupt - if not already dead.
Toonarmy: The fourth PM (also the first non-Malay PM) took us all the way back to the Dark Ages. The fifth slept through his tenure and the sixth cheated Malaysian voters to cling on as a minority PM and quickly abdicated his position in favour of right-wing Taliban extremists after making Chinese Malaysians scapegoats for his electoral humiliation.
Anonymous_4056: All right-thinking people must reject Umno politics at all cost. It is injurious to nation-building. After all these 50-plus years of their unbroken rule, this nation is more fractious than ever. It is very, very sad indeed.
They are easily hurt and insulted and they demand total respect from others, but they themselves don't have an ounce of respect for others. The Chinese and Christians are their favourite punching bags. Simply uncivilised.
N H Gong: You don't even know the level of ignorance and stupidity everywhere. Foolish people love praise, especially sycophancy. How else do they find value in their pathetic lives? Religion, the opium of the masses. Failure to develop intellectual maturity is directly proportional to the level of failure to progress. Very obvious in daily observations in the differences among races and nations.
For the man of religion is above the animals, but the man of reason is above them all...
Ace: Well said, all the speakers during the book launch. Hopefully what you all said so bravely will inspire more Malaysians to "put their feet down" against the government's dual set of laws and selective prosecution and persecution.
Balachan cili: Ironically, we are recognised as Malaysians in any foreign country, but we are not yet considered Malaysians in our own country. As long as Umno Baru is still practising the ‘divide and rule’ policy, we, the citizens, are still going to call ourselves “orang Melayu, orang Cina, orang India, dan lain lain”.
The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.
'If only we were less easily offended'
Hold AWAM Accountable: When we the people choose to be mindless, we allow other parties to tell us what we are thinking and feeling.This has given rise to Malaysia's “culture of offendedness” (to use the title of ex-navy commander S Thayaparan's book) which allows dangerous people to masquerade as champions of our purportedly hurt feelings to stir up shit.
On the other hand, not enough people are offended about important things, such as deaths in custody, abuse of power, sexual violence, massive corruption, falling roofs, lying leaders, etc. Shame!
Kuala Bear: What is a Malaysian? I think being Malaysian is a sum of many things, a totality of distinct parts. In it, a Chinese celebrates his or her ‘Chinese-ness’ without offending or intruding into the other races. Likewise for the Malays or Indians.
It's like a botanical garden. Flowers of different colours and scents bloom alongside one another. Together they make a great spectacle. What we have now is a ‘super race’ that claims to be Malay, but is made up of Indians, Indonesians, and what have you. They control the reins of power and manipulate the rakyat for their own agenda.
Race, religion, royalty... anything that can further their agenda of plundering the wealth of this country goes. What do they care? When this country goes down they can fly off to any country of their choice with their billions of ringgit. In fact, the inner circle is multiracial. They all have something in common. Race, religion and righteousness are not among them.
Mirror Mirror On the Wall: If indeed, there is a silent moderate majority, how can we have our moderate views heard and implemented? Is our very moderation our own undoing? Unfortunately, I may be right. Moderation and moderate views never get the attention that should be given. Should we be a little more extreme in our 'moderateness'?
1braincell: The source of all unreasonableness, arrogance, excess and stupidity is when we exalt a single person above ourselves and allow him or her to create an aura of immunity, impunity and infallibility. This soon transforms into a disease wherein true authority is replaced by false ‘awe-thority’.
Ultimately, a single megalomaniac, like former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, can lead an entire nation to almost irreversible ruin. Even without a tyrannical prime minister, we are saddled with nine quasi-divine figureheads whose decrees are "unquestionable".
Our only hope is that these traditional rulers become enlightened... or voluntarily abdicate!
Peacemaker: We are prevented from thinking as Malaysians merely because the BN insists, as a government policy, to refer to each ethnic group by their origins and not as Malaysians.
Unafraid: Praise God for the moderate and sensible voices at Thayaparan’s book launch. I was desperate and despondent up to this point in time, especially so when the Sabah and Sarawak voices in the cabinet are silent when they should be standing up for their own kind.
So, so disappointing and frustrating and hence the recent tirade against these cowards who have betrayed the trust of their own people. But thank God for all the courageous speakers yesterday. They give me hope again. Thank you for being Malaysians.
Swipenter: This country has been dividing and is still being divided since the fourth prime minister. Now under the cover of race and religion, everything goes. Race and religion override what is right and what is wrong. Morally and spiritually, Bolehland is almost bankrupt - if not already dead.
Toonarmy: The fourth PM (also the first non-Malay PM) took us all the way back to the Dark Ages. The fifth slept through his tenure and the sixth cheated Malaysian voters to cling on as a minority PM and quickly abdicated his position in favour of right-wing Taliban extremists after making Chinese Malaysians scapegoats for his electoral humiliation.
Anonymous_4056: All right-thinking people must reject Umno politics at all cost. It is injurious to nation-building. After all these 50-plus years of their unbroken rule, this nation is more fractious than ever. It is very, very sad indeed.
They are easily hurt and insulted and they demand total respect from others, but they themselves don't have an ounce of respect for others. The Chinese and Christians are their favourite punching bags. Simply uncivilised.
N H Gong: You don't even know the level of ignorance and stupidity everywhere. Foolish people love praise, especially sycophancy. How else do they find value in their pathetic lives? Religion, the opium of the masses. Failure to develop intellectual maturity is directly proportional to the level of failure to progress. Very obvious in daily observations in the differences among races and nations.
For the man of religion is above the animals, but the man of reason is above them all...
Ace: Well said, all the speakers during the book launch. Hopefully what you all said so bravely will inspire more Malaysians to "put their feet down" against the government's dual set of laws and selective prosecution and persecution.
Balachan cili: Ironically, we are recognised as Malaysians in any foreign country, but we are not yet considered Malaysians in our own country. As long as Umno Baru is still practising the ‘divide and rule’ policy, we, the citizens, are still going to call ourselves “orang Melayu, orang Cina, orang India, dan lain lain”.
The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.
View Comments0