Question
It is now more than 50 years since independence. For how long do the Malays expect to be treated as special and different from the other citizens?
Answer
For as long as the Chinese and Indians prefer to be identified with their countries of origins. For as long as they want to keep their home languages and their schools.
---
This was taken from Tun Mahathir's blog entry today in which he was supposed to present a talk in Melbourne. Nevertheless, for my personal use today, I will only apply the mentioned paragraph.
Does it not make sense to you?
It made perfect sense to me. It's kinda like a two-edge sword kinda response. The spoon-fed analogy for Malay's rights does not fit in this context. It's not about developing a 'weaker' group of people, nor about preserving rights of the owner of the land, nor even about equality among all. Although I wish to say it's about a win-win situation for everyone, but presenting it without context will make it as worthless as a 18 karat diamond ring without a girl to propose to.
Context.
No I will not share you with one. I have my own context. As it developed from my childhood, raised in a modern Malay community by not-so-Malay-ish parents and later moved to a relatively more conservative environment, reached puberty in the Malay-intensive high school, developed intellectual properties in progressively mixed cultural atmosphere, and later in a more foreign land with more foreign surroundings, and so on. Those are my own context.
It is difficult to share context. Lets leave it at that.
Why did I called it a two-edge sword?
Because if both opposing ends push to defend themselves, winning will mean death for the other. Hence, war can never stop, unless someone wins, which the outcome will not be good for half of the community, and then their children will then grow up promising vengence - as all good movies like to tell us.
However, if one of them actually loosen their grip slowly, giving confidence to the person at the opposing end to do the same, the sword will sooner or later drop and the only thing left between the two is just empty space, full of great potential to be filled with great things, like hugs or potentially bad things too. But to the very least, no blood is shed. Don't we all like that?
Let me attempt to approach this in a way I'm more familiar with.
Sustainability.
You cannot be sustainable with you alone, nor with your own race, community, country, or whatever group you like to be associated in. Sustainability can only be achieved when everyone understands the same language. And by language, I don't mean the thing that come out from your mouth that seems to be transmitting some information to the intended parties. Language, as I wish to intend its meaning in the previous paragraph, is where all of us can understand all of us, without the use of words, body gestures, or even inactivities.
We don't have to learn other people's language to be a good companion. You don't have to learn other people's culture to respect whatever their believes are. All we need to know is that as long you understand their existence, they will, with God bless, understand you as well. Sustainability is possible when everyone understands each other.
That's the ultimate key. If only you understand what understand is in this context, which again only applies to my own.
Your great great grandchildren can only enjoy driving a nice Toyota by the beautiful seaside motorway if we start the effort to understand everyone else. Whatever your choice you made today will impact them in so many ways - and lets hope its a positive impact. I wish to elaborate further on this but my intellectual output for today has reached its daily limit.
Nevertheless, let me leave you with this: Don't do anything for yourself, your family or even your loved ones. Instead, do it for humanity, period - then therefore yourself, your family and your loved ones will naturally be in good care.
And God. Yes, God. Do it for God.
0 comments:
Post a Comment