I AM down and in a dark mood. In these last few months my senses have been assaulted by depressing news – of the tragedies affecting our national carrier; of our borders being breached by pirates and kidnappers; and of late, our eyes are offended by the horrific images of murders of the innocents perpetrated by demons masquerading as religious people.
Still we seek solace in the belief that these are the rumblings of distant thunders of foul deeds far removed from our cosy city. (My apologies to the Sabahans: Lahad Datu is as far away from Kuching as Kuala Lumpur.)
These may be specific events and to quote the favourite phrase of the authorities, “isolated and unprecedented”, however, on top of them there is a miasma that is threatening to spread over our rainbow nation. This is the rise of a sinister culture. It is as if some people have uncorked the bottle that houses the evil genie of intolerance, racism and bigotry. That is what really gets me down.
“You are being overly dramatic,” said a friend.
Really? In the last year or so emerging into the open are groups that blatantly expound racist and bigoted positions. At first they appeared to be just making outlandish racist statements. But emboldened by the tacit support (in one case, overt) by leading politicians, their antics and proclamations are no longer mere posturing. They seem to be laying the ground for serious action.
One such group has taken to labelling a good part of the Malaysian population, people who for generations have helped to build this country, as “foreign immigrants” and that they were brought in by the British to weaken the Malays. According to the president of Isma (a Malay supremacist group), “The British were in cahoots with the Chinese to oppress and bully the Malays,” and adding that this was a mistake by the Malays, which needs to be rectified. I dread to think of what he means by “to be rectified”.
Five years ago, I wrote about the evil genie that haunted eastern Europe.
“Ahmed stood in a daze: horror, grief and bewilderment written on his face. He was holding the mangled body of his seven-year-old daughter and staring at what used to be his house, his home. It had been reduced to a pile of rubble and under it were the rest of his family.
“Stjepan looked at the young man. He was a mere boy of barely 18, but there was nothing boyish about his steely look and there was nothing innocuous about the M16 rifle he had in his hands.
“‘Get out!’ he screamed, ‘This is my home, my country. Get out!’
“This was the boy whom Stjepan’s wife helped to deliver into the world and whom he watched growing up from a baby to a strapping young man. The small village in the mountains of the former Yugoslavia was a very close knit community.
“Ahmed and his neighbours were the victims of a car bomb which ripped his Shi’ite village apart and took with it a few dozen lives. Stjepan was at the wrong end of racial strife, which reared its ugly head at the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.”
That was then and fast forward to 2014, the situation is even more grim. Man is plumbing the nadir of inhumanity and depravity. The bottom is still not in sight. Whatever are the complex political and historical reasons behind this madness, at the bottom of it all is the fact that there are people who just cannot accept the idea of sharing this world with others equally. They seek to deny and exclude all whom they consider do not belong to their race, religion, or sect. Such manic acts are driven by the pernicious evil genie who goes by the name of racism, sectarianism, bigotry, fanaticism, etc.
At that time I was naive enough to believe that such a thing could not happen here in peaceful Malaysia. But the evil genie is particularly insidious and tenacious. Once it worms its way into the psyche, it can negate all rational thoughts and suck out all the milk of human kindness. Its seed, if planted, can transform people into a mindless herd. It may start small but once it is out of the bottle, it could grow into an uncontrollable ogre, devouring all and sundry.
So far the pictures and the news of the impact of the evil genie are to be found only in the international pages, but for how long?
I suppose you can appreciate it if I say that I am depressed by such thoughts. It is at such moments that inspirational films can be such a pick-me-up. Someone sent me a link to a film and watching it I could almost hear the voices of Simon and Garfunkel in the air:
When darkness comes
And pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
The ‘bridge’ is a short (very short) film made by the incomparable and quintessential Malaysian, the late Yasmin Ahmad. ‘Tan Hong Ming In Love’ candidly depicted the then seven-year-old Tan Hong Ming professing his love for schoolmate Umi Qazrina. They were oblivious to the fact that one is Chinese and the other Malay
This short one and half minute film ended with the message: “Our children are colour blind, why can’t we keep them that way.” I would add, “What have we done to our children, to their innocence and noble spirit?”
Someone has released the evil genie but I believe we can roll him back to the place where he belongs. Malaysia is fortunate that it is guided by all the major religions. Each one of them professes to teach peace, compassion and forgiveness. Surely, we are not short of divine teachings.
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