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Saturday, July 19, 2014

MH17 not a curse or lesson, but test of resolve


COMMENT In the wee hours July 18, Malaysia woke up to the shocking news that Malaysia Airlines' MH17 flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur had been shot down by ground to air missiles in a conflict-torn Eastern Ukraine territory, close to the Russian border.

As the news sunk in, questions like "why is MAS so unlucky?", "is it a curse?", "I should never fly with MAS again", "Malaysia is doomed" inevitably filtered in.

Many of us were busy looking for signs behind these unfortunate tragedies- MH370 including- maybe someone above us is trying to tell us something, to covey a message?

Given how religiously righteous many Malaysians think of themselves despite their cultural and religious interpretation, theories have been abundant as to why God chose to "punish" those on the flight or Malaysians on the flight.

But the ironic fact remains that, if God indeed chose to punish, the people feeling the pain at this moment are family members, frequent flyers, and every one of us having enough sense to realize that regardless of race, religion or creed, the same fate can befell any of us.

No, MH17 is neither a curse or a lesson, and it is imperative that Malaysians from all walks of life do not believe this to be a curse or a lesson.

If we do, we are once again depending on escapism in an effort to justify a terrible tragedy, that quite honestly, had been beyond our comprehension or prediction.

Nobody expected this to happen, and it is terrible wake-up call for the world to start paying attention to conflict zones, and start comprehending that if a region in the world is unsafe, we are all equally, as global citizens, stand to be affected by it.

Security our topmost priority

Just because we live in a conflict free zone, in our comfortable homes, does not mean we are immune to seemingly never-ending conflicts, be it in Gaza or Ukraine.

This is especially true for Malaysians. For decades, we had grown in a relatively peaceful, and "secure" environment. Security had been our utmost priority, and often security came before passion, tension, or even life choices.

We were okay with settling for second best in this country as long as our rice bowl was taken care of, and we were able to drive comfortable cars and live in comfortable homes.

But MH17, if anything, reflects once again how fragile our lives were, just like the rest of the world.

We grew up in schools being taught that we didn't have natural disasters to contend with, so we are somewhat a blessed nation, that we are special compared with other countries. No, we are not. We are as flawed and as gifted as other nations in the world.

Our lives are also fragile, even though we are supposedly immune to natural tragedies. This is a fact of our human existence. So, where do we move on from here?

We fly tomorrow. We live tomorrow. We go to the airports again tomorrow. Not to be disrespectful to those on MH17, but to prove our resolve as a nation.

Tapping into oneself comes first

Similarly, we should also not be wavered by the international community's, or some people's sudden contempt for  Malaysia, or avoidance of all things associated with our country.

What others think of us is nowhere near as important as what we think of ourselves. We need to add that resolve as part of our national identity, as part of an unwavering stubbornness that will make us unique.

In my travels, I had been often amazed by India, and especially its financial capital, Mumbai. Over the years, this city and the nation had been hit by numerous bomb blasts.

More often than not, the people travelling or trains or at the airports where these act of terror takes place have nothing to do with the conflicts that are happening elsewhere.

Thousands of lives are lost, especially the standout being the horrific shooting spree in Mumbai several years ago that left a bitter memory for the international community.

But without worrying about declining tourism or image, Indians dragged themselves out of bed the very next day and got back on the trains and commuters and planes. Life goes on.

Ask anyone who has travelled to this part of the world and they will tell you that the resolve of this nation of billions is one of its most outstanding factors.

It has weathered so much, but the people refuse to succumb to fear. They refuse to settle for second best or merely being alive.

Diversity nothing to crow about 

Our differences and our diversity are here to stay. It would be impossible to remove that and claim we are all one.

Most countries in today's modern world are already as diversified as we are. It is nothing to boast about anymore, the decades which we have spent emphasising this point needs to be relegated to history.

It's time we add some steel to our identity as a community, as a society. We need to stop defining ourselves "because" of certain reasons, but instead start defining ourselves "despite" our shortcomings.

We are not perfect, we are humans, but we can standout with a common Malaysian trait.

Talk about common Malaysian traits and we often say of ourselves, we are bad drivers, we are lazy, some of us are greedy, we want money.

But above all that- we need tell ourselves that we can be perfect together despite our imperfections. Maybe then, we won't be settling for second best anymore.

Maybe then, we will stop following trends and start inventing, and creating our own. With originality comes pioneering, and this one identity we have longed for but yet to attain for decades.

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