Our tolerating nature is our weakness

In Malaysia, we take pride in our tolerating nature. With our differences in faiths, beliefs, culture, lifestyles and political views, we believe our ability to tolerate one another helps us to coexist.

Many believe the cause of most of the troubles we have today in our country is lack of tolerance. All is well with us in this melting pot until there is a difference of opinions or ideas which creates arguments, confrontations or disagreements, resulting in us becoming defensive of our own opinions and ideas.

The people who believe that tolerance is a sign of integrity and strength also believe that problems arise and destroy relationships between individuals and among members of society when there is a lack of effort to understand and accept our differences.

I, however, do not think tolerance is a strength. I believe tolerance can be a problem depending on how it is applied.

In Malaysia, tolerance, as we practice it, far strengthens our lives as Malaysians. In our country, tolerance is a weakness. It is where certain groups of society are expected to give in and tolerate bad behaviour.

Giving in to bad behaviour

In February 2019, my theatre production Sex in Georgetown City was forced to shut down after a successful opening night due to protests and police reports by Muslim NGOs and political parties who made the accusation that my play could lead to an increase in free sex, baby-dumping, drug abuse and other immoral activities.

Even after clarifying the nature of the play, making several visits to the police station, replacing the word "sex" in the title to "love" and even inviting them to watch the show for themselves, these groups continued to threaten to protest, blaming the theatre performance for offending the sensitivities of Muslims in Malaysia.

Due to the protests of less than 80 people in front of the performing arts centre on our opening night, I was “advised” by the police (who by the way previewed the entire show and found nothing offensive in the performance) to pull the brakes on the sold-out production and reschedule it after a couple of months under a different title.

According to the police, they could not guarantee the safety of the public (audience, actors, crew and staff of the performing arts centre) if I chose to disregard their “advice” and continue with the remaining shows.

While my actors and production crew were forced to tolerate the protesters (never mind that we did not commit any wrongdoings) the groups who were protesting freely in front of the performing arts centre whilst vandalising our front of house posters and displays were left untouched.

Why do you think the police who are responsible for maintaining public order and safety, enforcing the law and preventing criminal activity ended up “advising” me to shut down my show when they could have “advised” the protestors who were assembling without a permit to disperse or risk arrest?

Like I said, in Malaysia we are often made to tolerate bad behaviour.

Dong Zong and the cancelled conference

On Friday, Dong Jiao Zong was forced to call off its conference on Jawi lessons in vernacular schools after police secured a court injunction on the grounds that there will be a breach of the peace and public order may be affected by allowing the meeting to take place.

Dong Zong was merely trying to organise a peaceful conference which encouraged open dialogues among the community members to publicly respond to the introduction of Jawi script for Year Four pupils. Instead, they were made to give in to the demands of groups instigating racial conflict.

In the words of Zaid Ibrahim in his opinion piece on the cancelled Dong Zong conference: “Those who threatened violence and sought to instigate riots had won the day.”

Dong Zong members

I suppose in Malaysia, those who follow rules never win. Only those who threaten our peace with protests and violence and have no respect for the rights of others will be given victory by the authorities who are too weak to maintain true public order, safety and peace.

Why should we tolerate this nonsense?

Our tolerance should have limits. It is good to be respectful of others - to a point. We should have standards for what we will or will not tolerate. Tolerating bad behaviour only means that we are permitting bad behaviour when we shouldn’t.

Gandhi once said, “Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.” In order to become a progressive society, we must stop giving in to people who have no respect for the rights of others. We must also stop tolerating those who are unable to carry out their duties without slaughtering those who are innocent, while justifying their actions in the name of public order and peace.

If we fail to stand up for ourselves, if we continue to tolerate those who do not deserve our respect, we will forever be stepped on.

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FA ABDUL is a passionate storyteller, a media trainer, an aspiring playwright, a director, a struggling producer, a photographer, an expert Facebooker, a lazy blogger, a part-time queen and a full-time vainpot. - Mkini