It’s only symbolic

We tend to get too uptight too easily. We should relax a bit and not take life too seriously. It is good that people resort to symbolism rather than carry guns and bombs. I mean, burning Qur’ans, burning flags, keris-kissing, stepping on photographs, dragging cow heads and pig heads, etc., hurt no one. No symbolic act hurts anyone for that matter.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Before that, I just want to inform you not to send any more money meant for Nurul Izzah Anwar’s election fund to the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) bank account in London. The Committee is not too happy about it and is concerned that MCLM may suffer the same fate as Suaram.

So far, slightly over RM1,100 has come in from four people and that money will be redirected to the Ahli Parlimen Lembah Pantai account. But let that be all. No more please.

With regards to the plan to set up a Pakatan Rakyat election fund, if you can remember, I mentioned that I was going to speak to a lawyer to set up a Board of Trustees to handle this. Unfortunately, probably after they saw what happened to Suaram, no one dares get involved.

I had planned to get about 3-5 professionals such as lawyers and accountants to set up a Board of Trustees and then open a bank account where you can send your donations to -- to be called the Pakatan Rakyat Election Fund. Of course, for purposes of transparency and accountability -- what we are asking Barisan Nasional and Umno to do -- we would have to publicise who these people are so that members of the public will know that their donations will not be abused or misused.

No one dares lend his/her name to this exercise, though. If their names are kept confidential and can remain a secret, they have no problems getting involved. But if their names are going to be made public, then they would rather not get involved. However, for purposes of transparency and accountability, we cannot keep the names of the Board of Trustees a secret. Or else how will the donors know that their donations are safe?

Well, I did try. I thought if we could raise some money for Pakatan Rakyat this would help in the election effort. I suppose most would rather secretly donate in cash with no records to link it back to them. Hence, if you still wish to donate anything, then go seek out your favourite political party or wakil rakyat yourself and just give them cash.

Now, today I want to talk about Malaysians getting very upset with symbolism. I am, of course, referring to the recent Merdeka celebration where one girl stepped on the photograph of Malaysia’s Prime Minister and the young chap who took off his pants to ‘show his naked bum’ to the Prime Minister while the enthusiastic crowd cheered them on and applauded.

Actually, the Prime Minister should step in and direct the police to drop this case. Why arrest, handcuff and charge these kids? They did not actually (physically) step on anyone’s face. What they did is an act of symbolism and we should not get upset with symbolic acts. Tolerating acts of symbolism would be a demonstration of maturity and surely Malaysians are matured enough to allow acts of symbolism without getting upset about them.

Look at some of the photographs below. Umno Youth has done the keris-kissing ritual many times. I am sure the Chinese view this as merely a symbolic act and not something that they should get upset about. I am confident that the Chinese are cool with this keris-kissing ritual and would not vote opposition just because of this.

Then there was the cow head protest in front of the Selangor State Secretariat building. Again, the Indians/Hindus are able to accept this as merely a symbolic act and not something to lose any sleep over. I am sure the Indians/Hindus just laughed it off and never gave it a second thought.

If you can see below that, many Muslims all over the world have done the United States flag-burning protest. The government allowed it. These flag-burning protestors were not shot with tear gas or arrested. Everyone took it as merely a symbolic act. Even America did not get upset or send a protest note to these governments.

Then we had the pig’s head protest in front of a mosque in France, which you can see below. Two pigs' heads were placed in front of the mosque, not in the mosque, so no harm done. This was just like the cow head protest in front of the Selangor State Secretariat building, a mere symbolic act, which the Malaysian government did not consider a serious act.

Then there were the Qur’an burning and Qur’an in the toilet protests. Again, this was only a symbolic act and no harm done. These people were just exercising their right to protest and their right to freedom of expression. After all, the Qur’an is just a book like any other book, so why get upset?

As a matured society, we should allow freedom of expression and freedom to protest. We should not get upset with symbolic acts. I mean, if Muslims drag cow heads, non-Muslims can always drag pig heads. If Christians burn Qur’ans and put them in toilets, Muslims can always do the same with Bibles.

We should actually treat all this light-heartedly. Just laugh it off. Maybe you can also do the same in a tit-for-tat move. No one who is matured is going to get angry. They might even enjoy it and regard it as fun.

We tend to get too uptight too easily. We should relax a bit and not take life too seriously. It is good that people resort to symbolism rather than carry guns and bombs. I mean, burning Qur’ans, burning flags, keris-kissing, stepping on photographs, dragging cow heads and pig heads, etc., hurt no one. No symbolic act hurts anyone for that matter.