Sin Chew Jit Poh
13 February 2014
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There will always be nut cases in any society; those with strange, even extreme views of the world. In our country, we seem to have more than our fair share.
It is unfathomable to me that Teresa Kok’s Chinese New Year video can be seen as nothing more than a satire on the situation in Malaysia today. But to some people it is an insult to Islam and Malays.
I couldn’t see it, but then maybe it is because I do not equate the government with either the Malay ethnic group or Islam. That seems to me the only possible reason why these people can see race and religion in a video that is fundamentally nothing more than an attempt to humorously criticise the government.
So you have these nut cases killing chickens in the street, smearing the animals’ blood, stomping on politicians’ faces, threatening racial riots and offering money for people to assault a woman. Like I said; nut cases.
To have idiots spewing idiotic things is not surprising and is in fact one of those things that one has to live with if one believes in the freedom of expression. Of course in expressing yourself there are lines that need to be drawn and when you offer money in order for people to assault someone, then that line has been well and truly crossed. Maybe these loonies don’t know that; after all they are loony, but the Minister for Home Affairs must know that what happened is clearly against the law and that action should be taken.
But no, instead he says that a slap is not a threat and therefore there is no need for action to be taken. I guess it is because he is such a macho man that if people slap him he will just laugh a manly laugh and go his merry way. Who knows?
What I do know is that he has shown a total ignorance of the law as well as exhibiting a behaviour totally unfitting for a Minister. Once you are a minister, you are a minister for the whole country and not just for your party. If you can’t be responsible for the nation, including your political enemies and whoever else you may dislike, then you do not have the professionalism and the necessary principle to be a Minister.
I bet that if I gather a bunch of people and kill chickens, smear their blood, stamp on the faces of the Cabinet and offer money for anyone to slap a Barisan MP; the police will be at my door in no time. I will be charged for sedition, incitement and also probably for slaughtering animals in an undesignated place.
But we will never know because I won’t do that. I won’t do it because I am not a loony, I am civilised and I believe that you counter things you do not like with a better argument and not violence. It is such a shame that some within the government do not appear to have the same point of view as me. Like I said earlier; there will always be nut cases in any society.
1 comment:
This is what I sent to Tricia Yeoh today re her very moderate thoughtful article yesterday in SunDaily:
Well said yesterday (“Uniting ourselves”), the most positive viewpoint to take in the circumstances, and what else can Malaysians do with silence by the government as you say?
But nothing will change until voices in government or opposition speak strongly about extremism.
Cold water must be poured on such extremists by those in power. Journalists seem unable or unwilling to take this leadership role.
Rueben Dudley’s idealist plea (yesterday) for everyone to be nice to each other is almost naive.
My heart goes out to Teresa Kok (whom you don’t even seem to be able to mention by name in your article - is that censorship at work?). I watched the video, although I may have missed a few culture issues (and I don’t know the quality of the subtitles) it is very low intensity compared to the political satire in the west as I am sure you know. For her to be hauled to the police and yet ministers such as Hamidi, a brutish advocate for Malay rights, to spout whatever seditious and racially inflammatory remarks he wants behind closed doors, epitomises this country at its worst with regards to free speech.
I have long respected Najib as a moderate reformer in a deeply conservative political party. He needs to show more leadership in this area otherwise all the multi-ethnic groups giving flowers will be drowned out. It seems his reforms have stopped, and he now concentrates on economic issues.
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