‘For a better Malaysia, move forward’

A forum on better Malaysia says we have choice to heal our wounds, and with mutual understanding, move forward .

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians have a choice to heal their wounds and move forward for a better Malaysia, according to a forum at Universiti Malaya (UM).

The forum entitled, “Moving Forward: Dream of a Better Malaysia” was organised yesterday by peace movement Global Peace Festival (GPF) Malaysia, UM and Projek Dialog and moderated by UM’s K Puniamurthy.

Panellists included Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia’s deputy director-general Azizan Baharuddin, managing editor of Projek Dialog Ahmad Fuad Rahmat, entrepreneur Maverick Foo, cultural activist Eddin Khoo and Astro Awani’s executive director Kamarul Bahrin Haron.

“We don’t have to be angry, I refuse to look at the issue of polarisation.

“The 84% turnout during the 13th general election (GE13) did not mean that the people were angry. When I went to vote, the lines were long due to the generation Y lining up,” said Kamarul.

However, Khoo disagreed: “I am angry, millions of people are angry and they have a right to be angry. We need to seriously question the issue of the rot.

“We are now seeing the effects of 15 years ago: ‘Reformasi’ now has gone beyond Anwar Ibrahim.

“We must be angry because we must demand answers from the system. Like it or not, we are an incredibly fractured and wounded society,” added Khoo.

Fuad agreed with this and said: “We are experiencing a rot. The wounds we are harbouring were created by fear mongering from the mainstream media.

However, with regard to the Chinese tsunami statement by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, Foo said that people have to understand the particular circumstances of things.

“If we want to strive for peace, we must look at the other side of things. With regard to the prime minister’s Chinese tsunami statement, although I was affected as I am Chinese, perhaps he said that because he was tired.

“He probably had not slept for seven days, if we do not sleep for even 24 hours we would start acting strangely. So sometimes we need to figure out what the other person is thinking,” he said.

Quarreling is important

Khoo however disagreed: “It was a despicable thing to say [the Chinese tsunami statement]. He said it because it was what his warlords expected for him to say.”

Khoo then stressed that in order to move forward, everyone must candidly look at the past.

“We can only move forward when we can candidly look at the past. There needs to be a lot of re-thinking for renewal.

“Also, I disagree with the notion of not quarreling. I think quarreling is important. We don’t need to kill each other, but there must be sustained quarreling,” he said.

Fuad on the other hand queried on what peace really means.

“People still consider Malaysia peaceful as long as people are not killing each other in the streets and there are no riots.

“However, if we are living under constant suspicion, what kind of peace is that?” he queried.

Concluding the forum, Foo said that people should just move forward and not dwell on the “wounds”.

“You can go on looking at the wounds, we can also fight but not everyone is a fighter.

“So we should move forward and do something about it rather than just looking at things from the sofa at home.

“And if you don’t like what you see in the media, then just switch it off, probably it can take the mind off the wounds,” he said.

Kamarul on the other hand stressed that there is no such thing as absolute freedom.

“Of course I want a better and greater Malaysia but there is no such thing as absolute freedom anywhere.

“Situations are imperfect anywhere so we should engineer a better Malaysia through our respective means,” he said.

Azizan urged for people to have mutual respect, saying: “Can we have a little bit of respect to others? Even if we hate the person, we still have to respect them.

“We can differ in opinions but we must still respect each other. The way forward is to understand and listen to each other

“It is not that I am not angry, but I’ve taken anger to a different level, after all, people are unique beings. So those tending to their wounds, just stop it,” she said.