By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy
Our 12th general elections loom.
I wrote about my experience as a child of the 60s last year, in August. In that same entry, I urged people to vote.
Starting a substantive conversation about our own country is like peeling back the festering scab of a pus filled wound. You either get invective, annoyance, or outright anger and frustration. Or you get an opportunity to switch on a memo recorder to playback oft repeated phrases to console oneself. Amongst the many comments I hear repeatedly; "the trouble with this country is..." or "aiyah, at least we don't have violence here. Can make some money and we have a good quality of life here. Still ok lah..."
Both have a kernel of truth.
But what is it that YOU would choose? Take a moment. Sit down. Close your eyes. What is it that you want for yourself and your loved ones?
- Do you think money is going to solve everything for you? If so, don't bother reading on.
- Do you want your kids and loved ones living in a place that supports the rule of law, justice, that's pursued as a matter of course? Rather than what is perceived now as a selective privilege.
- Do you want to feel invested in the future of this country?
- Is corruption an issue for you?
- Would you like to be able to be more vocal - in a positive way - about the issues?
- Would you like to be able to read the papers and realise that they give a balanced viewpoint, more or less? So that you can make an informed decision?
I've deliberately couched these questions in the positive rather than the negative because I believe that truth is a 2 headed coin. Let me rephrase them.
- Do you want to get rid of this government because you don't think they support the rule of law or justice?
- Do you blame the government for not making you feel like a citizen?
- Is the government at fault for not dealing with corruption?
And so on.
I would like you to realise that you can do something. That it all starts with YOU! The choice you make is whether or not to stand up and say YES. In my own small antlike way, I will do something about this; to control my own life. Ants are so tiny. But working in concert, they are truly greater than the sum of the whole.
Rather than blaming the government for everything. In other words, we get the government we deserve. WE voted for them. WE condone what they do by keeping quiet. Yes, that's exactly it. It's OUR fault for letting things get to this point. No one elses.
Now I'm NOT saying that if you go and vote for these next elections that change will be immediate. But let's say you choose not to. Haven't you just made a choice to despair? Haven't you then said "lets just lie back and have them DO IT TO ME AGAIN!" In a way, you've basically chosen a road that allows them to do the same things over and over. The trick is to realise what it is that you were put here to do. To know that your job is to do this one small thing and allow God to take His course. We're always so results oriented that before we even make a choice to do something positive we've already thought about the outcome and decided that it's not worth the effort. Who knows what the future holds? A million and one possible outcomes are available but we choose the one which is the most negative and with a Godlike certainty we choose not to act. These are probabilities. NOT certainties. No matter how small the chance, there is a chance.
A wise man once said to me, "if you keep on the same road knowing what's at the end of the road, wouldn't the destination be the same a year or two or ten from now?" Change for us means enough of us getting off our arses and doing something different. For most of us that doesn't mean turning into a militant activist. For most of us, it just means that we should stop being apathetic and do something different. Like VOTE!
By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy
50 years on and race and religion divides us more than ever.
I'm of an age when I remember a time when all my friends from my primary school used to sit at the back of the church and sing hymns together. And all of them are still good muslims, hindus, and buddhists. We were so comfortable with each other then. And many of those friends still get together today every so often and giggle about those times.
Now, I'm not advocating that all our troubles will be solved if all religions get together and worship in each other's houses of worship. Far from it. It will be a cold day in hell when something like that happens on a large scale. Oh, you'll have a few people comfortable enough with themselves to be able to do it and not worry about what other people think.
But more than that, what happened all those years ago was something we can grow from. Yes, grow from!
It wasn't tolerance. But acceptance. A huge difference. The colour of our skin, the faiths we profess all have much alike. But for some reason, in the ensuing years since Merdeka, what has been promoted are the differences. And so we promote, tolerance.
We've been preaching the gospel about tolerance to the point that that's all we have now. And what is tolerance?
One of the given meanings is "The capacity of enduring hardship or inconvenience without complaint" or "the act or capacity of enduring; endurance." And that is what we've got now. You hear about University students moving in cliques, you see people being segregated by restaurants, you hear it in our language, about race, about religion. The worst part is the people involved in all this don't even see it as being wrong. We "tolerate" each other. We're civil (mostly) to each other. But is that enough?
Oh sure, in the cities, we do mix. Allan and I have a mixed group of friends. And we love them all. And wish we had more time to spend with all of them. But I'm not certain that's the true picture of what's happening here in our country.
In a way though, the way I see it, our country is in it's adolescence. You know how the larger of God's creatures take longer to grow? It's almost like that with our country.
You see, I grew up as a 7 to 12 year old in a country that was itself "7 to 12." (Well Malaysia was 27 years old at the time but as I said, at 27, countries are large beings and at 27 still very very young.) At that age, all kids play together and they don't know the meaning of the words, race, difference, until we're taught them.
In the ensuing years, as we discovered ourselves, we travelled in paths which were perhaps not the best paths to travel on. There was an emphasis on race that was inculcated into our present twentysomethings and thirtysomethings. A heightened awareness of race and religion that had the insidious effect of segregating us.
But again, I believe that everything happens for a reason. I believe being "human" our country needs to travel through paths that it was NOT meant to take to realise the paths it was meant for. We were playing a board game yesterday and we were taunting the opposing team by saying "that's ok. you'll learn by your MISTAKES." And well, I believe that's exactly true of our country.
Marina wrote a gorgeous article about her family the other day in The Star. About how her family is truly Malaysian with all sorts of races in it. And how, even though they were all of different races, the first thing that bound them all was their love for each other. (I'm paraphrasing. If you're interested, you can click here to read the entire article.)
So people, speak up, say what you think is right, but say it in a way that people can accept, learn from and maybe, just maybe, be persuaded to your way of thinking. But MOST IMPORTANTLY, vote to let your leaders know what you want.
Register to vote. As a citizen, it's not only a right, but a duty/responsibility. After all, if you don't make use of the most fundamental right of a democracy, I don't believe you should complain. It's almost like the message you are sending to the government is "hey, it's ok to do what you're doing, and I'm leaving it in your hands." I guess what I'm trying to say is, do what you need to do. And when you do, you'll be surprised at how people will respect you for it, and maybe even emulate you. Don't worry about the naysayers who say nothing will change. It may not change for 5, 10, 20 years. But it will. Of that you can be certain. But if you truly value your citizenship, then do what you need to do now and register to vote and VOTE!
