Jul 8, 2009

A wake-up call



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As the world watched in horror at the deadly unrest in the capital of China’s Xinjiang region which left more than 150 people dead, it has brought back the memories of the nightmarish nights of the May 13th 1969 racial riots which we all prayed that it will never happen again here in Malaysia.

If we take a hard look at the mayhem in the Xinjiang unrest, we will notice that there are some similarities to the 1969 riots: it is an ethnic clash, many innocent people were killed, properties were damaged and people lived in fear. While the unrest in Xinjiang is apparently due to oppression of the Uighurs by the Chinese government, the 1969 riots here is due to the highly charged political environment caused by the politicians.

Even today, the peace and harmony of our diversified society lie in the hands of the politicians. I sincerely hope the current turmoil in the world will make our politicians realize that no matter what political differences there are, it will be a folly for them to stir racial hatreds among the people, for we cannot afford to have a repeat of the 1969 incident. We need to let this diversity in ethnicity of our country be a major strength and not a hindrance to peace and prosperity for all.

Today, the world is bombarded with so many protests and unrest, political or otherwise, that one can only quivers and shivers if this ‘trend’ is spread worldwide and which we have already started to witness: from Iran to Thailand and from Honduras to Philippines. It will be most destructive to the country’s economy if this is allowed to continue and not quelled. The protests in Thailand by the red and yellow shirted supporters recently which have caused a huge lost in tourism revenue demonstrated the economic destructive nature of a political unrest.

Although we live in a multi-racial society and more often than not, while some dimwit politicians seemed to be keen on destroying our harmony, the bondage among the people still remains strong. It is the fervent wish of every Malaysians (except the dimwit politicians) that we must remain united to propel this country forward. This country is blessed with richness in natural resources and human capital which make the economic pie big enough for all.
Whether we can make this pie bigger will depends on all of us.

3 comments:

ktteokt said...

I think our government, especially our PM, is confused as to what national unity or his ONE MALAYSIA means! On the one hand, Najis wants ONE MALAYSIA, but on the other hand, would he be brave enough to remove the barriers separating the rakyat into BUMIPUTRAS and NON BUMIPUTRAS to achieve this end?

Personally, I think this categorization of Malaysians would be a great hindrance to his ONE MALAYSIA!

cancan said...

Let us keep our fingers crossed and see how the 1Malaysia concept is going to evolve in uniting the people.

Hill isn't Broken said...

Categorization of Malaysians is formed as political weapon of their utility to grip stronger power of ruling. Divide and rule is the best formula in their political concept that is commonly considered usable in rule . Certain controversial figures were appointed into cabinet has reflected 1 Malaysia is only a beautiful slogan. Some umno leaders should be sacked in order to make the cabinet more cleaner and higher up their ruling capability and credibility. And then install more other ethnic calibers to fill the vacant. If the cabinet has changed its work team, 1 Malaysia will be possibly fulfilled.