It is not about the government, it is about us

So we end up with a better government. And we achieve this by voting in a new government. Then what? Has society changed? Do we now live in a better society? We may now have a progressive government. But do we also now have a progressive society or are Malaysians all still backward thinking and narrow-minded and feel that apostates should be put to death and gays should be sent to jail?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Chua exposes another spin by DAP to sow hatred

(The Star) - Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has exposed yet another DAP political spin aimed at sowing hatred among Malaysians in Sabah and Sarawak and their peninsula counterparts.

A Facebook posting had the MCA president’s photograph with him supposedly saying “Sabah and Sarawak cannot compete with the peninsula”.

Next to it was a picture of Olympic bronze medallist Pandelela Rinong Pamg.

Dr Chua stressed that what he had actually said was “while MCA supports the awarding of scholarships based on meritocracy, we also support the Government’s efforts to help the socially and economically disadvantaged groups in Sabah and Sarawak”.

“What I had said is we cannot expect the people of Sarawak and Sabah to be able to compete with the people in, say, the Klang Valley.”

“The reason is that, education facilities in many places in Sabah and Sarawak are still below par as compared to those in the Klang Valley,” he said after opening the Sabah MCA convention here yesterday.

He accused DAP of being unethical and misleading, adding that it was typical of the Opposition.

Dr Chua said political parties, despite their differences, should pursue the policy that “we are one Malaysia”.

“Sabahans and Sarawakians should realise that MCA will always support any special assistance for them,” he said.

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There are two ways to get people to support you. One would be to get them to love you. The other would be to get them to hate the other person.

Getting people to love you is harder. Getting them to hate the other person is easier. Hence a hate campaign has a better chance of success than a love campaign.

Religionists do this all the time. And they have been doing it for thousands of years. I have read articles on anti-Islam sites that raise all sorts of negative issues about Prophet Muhammad, Islam, Muslims, Islamic countries and so on. Basically, it is a campaign to sow hate and to turn people into Islam-Muslim haters.

And the Muslims are not innocent either in their anti-Christian/anti-Jew campaigns.

Do you know that many Malays, meaning Muslims, cheered when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait? What is the rational in celebrating one Muslim country invading another Muslim country? Well, the rational, if you can rationalise an invasion, is as follows:

Kuwait and the many other small sheikhdoms and emirates were all once part of the great Islamic Ottoman Empire. Then, soon after the First World War, the evil Christian colonial empires from the west broke up the great Islamic Empire into smaller nations. Basically, this move was aimed at weakening Islam. Since then, the Islamic countries have been brought under the control of the Christian imperialists and all those ‘new’ nations are lackeys of the west.

And for that reason the Malays or Malaysian Muslims rejoiced when Saddam invaded Kuwait and they were very disappointed when Iraq lost the war.

The same happened during 911. Muslims all over the world danced in the streets when the New York Twin Towers was brought down. Osama Bin Ladin T-shirts were selling like hot cakes, even in Chow Kit Road in Kuala Lumpur. Even some PAS supporters were using those T-shirts during the election campaigns.

The fact that, out of about 3,000 people killed in that attack, there were around 60-70 Muslims amongst the victims seems to have escaped these people. And this did not include the 19 or so hijackers, who were also Muslims.

Hate, therefore, can cloud rational thinking. And if you can sow enough hate people are able to celebrate the killing of innocent people, even if those murdered are women and children.

In Malaysia, politics is played the same way. You have to make the voters hate the other side to get them to vote for you. Hence race and religion need to be played to the hilt because there is nothing more potent than race and religion, and a combination of both makes it a very explosive concoction indeed.

So, Barisan Nasional raises all sorts of issues against the opposition leaders while Pakatan Rakyat does the same regarding the Barisan Nasional leaders. It is no longer about policies, good governance, sustainable development, protecting the environment, ensuring that the young are prepared to face a most competitive future in a globalised and borderless world, improving the quality of life, respecting fundamental liberties, breeding a civil society, etc.

Many regard these issues as idealism. This is not the time to be idealistic. They say we need to be realistic.  And the realistic thing would be we would not be able to change anything unless we first kick out the political party in power and replace it with another political party.

When I say I do not agree with this argument there would be many who will foam at the mouth and accuse me of saying that I am asking them not to vote for Pakatan Rakyat but to keep Barisan Nasional in power instead.

What has this got to do with Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat? I am not talking about the elections. I am not talking about changing Prime Ministers. I am talking about reforms, and the reform I specifically have in mind is regarding reforming the thinking of Malaysians. It is no use changing governments or even abolishing the Constitutional Monarchy and turning Malaysia into a Republic if we ourselves have not reformed.

Let’s not talk about a revolution, which is what we are talking about here -- a revolution through the ballot box. What good is changing the government  (which is what you are talking about) if we have not changed our mentality (which is what I am talking about)?

We must first decide what type of society we want to live in. The government we choose is merely the implementers of our aspirations. They are our trustees and nominees that we send to Parliament or the State Assemblies. But do we, in the first place, have any aspirations?

There are many unresolved issues that will remain unresolved even if we change the government. And the new government cannot resolve these unresolved issues because society itself has not changed its mindset.

Okay, maybe I need to run through a few examples to help you grasp the point I am trying to make. One example would be the status of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Is this community welcome in Malaysia? Are Malaysians ready to respect the right of every citizen to live the life of his or her choice?

What about civil partnership? Can Malaysians accept two people living together as civil partners and accord them the same rights as a married couple, even if they are same-sex civil partners?

Are Malaysians ready to discard discrimination based on race, religion and gender and allow full meritocracy to prevail, even to the extent of accepting a non-Malay-non-Muslim Prime Minister?

Are Malaysians, especially Muslims, prepared to allow absolute freedom of religion, which will include the freedom not to have any religion or to embrace atheism?

This is merely the tip of the iceberg and there are so many other issues that are preventing the country from moving forward.

Can ‘grass’ be legalised? After all, you can still get it easily enough and by outlawing it you are just making the underground syndicate extremely rich -- like what happened during the Prohibition in America when by banning liquor it just allowed the gangsters to make money.

Can prostitution be legalised? You can find prostitutes on every street corner in Malaysia, even in Kota Baru, and by making it illegal, it not only helps the underworld make tons of money but it turns the Malaysian police force into a very corrupted organisation.

And the same goes for gambling and money lending. In the UK, the underworld can’t make money from gambling and money lending because it is not illegal, and neither is prostitution or grass (as long as it is for personal use and you are not trafficking).

The real problem is not the political parties. What they want is merely to get into power. The problem is whether we know what we want. And I know you are going to reply: we want an end to abuse of power and corruption.

But is this all we want? It is a good start, I know. But a corrupt-free government is about the government. That is not about us. I am asking: what does society want? What kind of society do we want to live in, not what type of government do we want?

So we end up with a better government. And we achieve this by voting in a new government. Then what? Has society changed? Do we now live in a better society? We may now have a progressive government. But do we also now have a progressive society or are Malaysians all still backward thinking and narrow-minded and feel that apostates should be put to death and gays should be sent to jail?