Adib's passing: Time to mourn for a Malaysian hero

The Holy Quran privileges life over all else. The murder of a single man or a woman is akin to killing the entire humanity, the Quran affirms. To prevent an untoward outburst of violence, at the individual and collective levels, all hands must be on deck to produce reasonable and civic-minded leaders across the partisan divides.

The death of Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim at the National Heart Centre (IJN) last night does warrant the utmost sympathy of all Malaysians. Indeed, all Malaysians without fail.

It is important to value Adib for his sake and for the truth.

After all, this is a life, not merely cut short by the maddening crowd gathered at Seafield in Subang Jaya, but literally the first fatality after the mass riot of May 13, 1969.

When Adib arrived at the scene, reports affirmed that he was dragged out of a fire department vehicle.

The focus on the masses, rather than the racial riots on May 13, would be key, since the causes of the violent happenstance nearly 50 years ago, was never truly specified.

One should never fall prey to the belief that it was due to race alone. Economic frustrations that come from unequal distribution of wealth could well be the main catalyst.

Come what may, this is where the immediate recollection of the memory of the victim deserves one's attention now before it is sullied by countless extremists who stand ready to proclaim his death as a "racial event", even though the circumstances surrounding it were purely criminal.

First and foremost, how and why did Adib and his colleagues drive towards burning automobiles to douse the fire? The obvious answer would, of course, be their collective sense of duty. This was the right thing to do. Adib was the first to want to get it right, which was why he was at the front.

But granted that the crowd was mostly of Indian ethnicity, as the incident was indeed near a Hindu temple after all – what gave Adib the courage to go in with his fellow firefighters?

Now, the next obvious answer, one which many extremists will dispute, was Adib's sense of security, that Malaysia is a safe country. Since they were trained firefighting professionals, they went in to put out the fire. The fact that Adib and his colleagues could exercise their duties courageously implies that Malaysia can look beyond race. The last thing anyone wants to do – which Umno and PAS or any other extremists certainly can – is to drag the issue of race back in, even as the nation mourns the passing of a brave young man.

Now one must remember Adib and his team members went in to put out the flames because it has been taken for granted that ethnic violence is a thing of the past in Malaysia.

As indeed it is, since Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has referred to it as a criminal land dispute. Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has further affirmed that all those criminal brigands would be judged and convicted by the rule of law.

Just as Adib had sadly passed on, there must be due credit given to Malays, Indians and Chinese, including the doctors and nurses in IJN, who tried to save him too. The media has the responsibility to accentuate the attempts of all races to save Adib, but failed.

When Berjaya Group heard of the land dispute, for example, the first instinct of Vincent Tan was to raise the sufficient fund of RM15 million to resolve the squabble. Tan 's daughter is married to a Malay too. That's how far Malaysia has come too; much as the focus should be on the causes of Adib's death.

During events like this, no one should politicize it as a racial incident. A criminal act of vandalism, one that is only tangentially connected to the land in dispute, has led to an extremely negative blotch on Malaysia.

One hopes that all the legations and embassies in Malaysia would provide the right brief to their respective mission heads. This includes news channels, social media users and Twitterati.

All lives do end. But when they do, Prophet Muhammad also affirmed that they will be in a state of awakeness. Of coming face to face with their hitherto own fragile existence. Malaysia should hold a wake on behalf of Adib. Even fly the flag, Jalur Gemilang, at half mast across all the country, to remind children and adults alike, of the fragility of our multicultural and multiracial peace. 

And the enabling cause of the death was criminal, not cultural. In this light, all politicians have the responsibility to get it right for Malaysia and the next generation. May the soul of Adib rest in eternal peace. Al Fatihah. 

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RAIS HUSSIN is a supreme council member of Bersatu. He also heads its policy and strategy bureau. - Mkini