“Oh, East is east and West is west, and never the twain shall meet.”
So wrote Rudyard Kipling in 1889. I have always considered Kipling’s view in this poem to be unduly dogmatic and uncompromising … that was until recently. In the last few months the different attitude regarding ethnic relation in Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia has driven me to re-appraise this drastic opinion of Kipling. It looks like we are living in two countries with different cultures.
Peninsular Malaysia at the moment gives a very passable impression of the land of racial bigots and religious fanatics. Hold on a minute, you might say, those extreme and unreligious views are held only by a small vociferous minority.
“Those are just stupid opinions of stupid people. Just ignore them, don’t keep on writing about them,” said John
I am sorry, John. I beg to defer. These views maybe stupid but they are by no means harmless. To say that you are going to chop off the heads of people whom you considered as having insulted your religion; to ask for the banishment of citizens who have contributed richly to the development of the nation; to talk about shedding blood to defend a made up threat to your race and religion; those are scary talks.
It gets scarier still when a few have been so bought over by this exhortations that they actually went through some military trainings and fought in what appears to be a sectarian war between religious factions in a distant land. The only consolation we have is that these deluded young fanatics are carrying out their threats of killings in a distant land and against people not related to us.
It gets scary when good decent people are cowed into silence in the face of the gross misrepresentation of their race and religion. Perhaps they have good reason to remain silent because it appears that the beheading threat was directed to four Muslim politicians who had proposed to limit the powers of Mais (the Selangor Islamic Religious Council) and Jais (Selangor Islamic Religious Department) in view of their refusal to return the 321 copies of Malay and Iban language bibles seized from the Bible Society of Malaysia’s (BSM) office on January 2.
It gets absolutely scary when the Prime Minster and the president of the ruling party urged its party’s members to emulate the bravery of the militants of the extreme group ISIL (The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant), a group which is considered by many as terrorists, in their fight to “defend” Islam and the Malay race. Wait a minute, who is attacking the national religion and the majority race of our country?
It is this kind of irresponsible statement that emboldens such miscreants as the extreme rights groups, pseudo academics and religious teachers to up the ante in their demands and to increase their threats to the other communities.
It is chilling to note that at this very moment the police are warning that local militants are adopting ISIL philosophy in their fight for an Islamic state. The police has been monitoring them.
“The militant members whom we have interrogated are salafi jihadists,” Datuk Ayob Khan, assistant director of the counter terrorism division of the Special Branch, was quoted as saying.
Ayob warned that local militants are not only taking to ISIL’s teachings but are also being trained locally in combative skills. At the moment they are putting their training to use in a distant land. The fear is that one day they may end up using them against our own people here.
Ah, such depressing thoughts on the western front. When Sarawak and Sabah agreed to form the Federation of Malaysia with Malaya it was on the condition that the new nation would be multiracial, multi-religious and multicultural. We envisioned a new nation living a celebration of unity in diversity. We remain true to this aspiration. Can we say the same thing of the present political leaders of the erstwhile Malaya?
The leaders of Sarawak (from both sides of the political divide) and led by the Chief Minister are steadfast in their cause. The Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem vehemently stated on several occasions we are free to use the term Allah in reference to the Almighty; that there will be no seizure of any holy book; Hudud law is not going to be applied in Sarawak. He said, “I am not going to tell you how to practise your religion.” He further declares that racial and religious bigotry will not be tolerated here.
So here in East Malaysia we have a different culture and mindset. We remain true to the agreement of the founding fathers. In west Malaysia, the leaders, in spite of the armoury of laws available, choose to be silent and impotent in face of the onslaught of extremism. So it is one country, two cultures and as Kipling said, “East is east, West is west …”
I understand that the power-that-be is not keen on the terms West and East Malaysia. However, I cannot think of a more fitting description for the two parts of our country.
In ending let us remind ourselves and our compatriots from across the sea the wordings of the old anthem of Sarawak.
Fair Land Sarawak
We will never cease to honour thee
and with our loyal sons
Defend your liberty
From your high forest hills,
Down to the open sea
May freedom ever reign
Men live in unity
Proudly our flag flies high
above our country strong and free
Long may our people live
in peace and harmony
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