A guilty America does not mean an innocent Russia or China

 

From Edward Hong

Recently, I made the fateful decision to venture into the wasteland that is Facebook. More specifically, the comments section on a news article.

The article was a news report published by FMT on the tragedy in Bucha, Ukraine. I should have known what to expect, but what I saw was certainly an eye-opener.

While a handful of comments did express sympathy for the victims, an overwhelming majority of Malaysian netizens seemed intent on espousing their beliefs as to who they thought was responsible.

Half of these comments claimed that it was Ukraine that was responsible for the murder of its own citizens, while others derided “mainstream media” as being US puppets.

It is clear that many have been swayed by the Kremlin’s denials and conspiracy theories, while others were influenced by Chinese narratives on the war in Ukraine.

At the very core, I believe this scepticism towards the mainstream narrative can be traced to a prevalent anti-American and anti-Western stance among Malaysians.

To be perfectly fair, this distrust towards America and its allies is not completely unfounded. For all its bluster about being a bastion of freedom, the US has been rather hypocritical historically.

Pretending that the US is completely honest about its intentions would be foolish, and a healthy scepticism is never a bad thing.

The same goes for other Western nations, the same countries which often forget that their wealth came at the expense of the colonies they exploited.

However, there is something that far too many Malaysians seem to forget as they crow about how Russia is justified in attacking Ukraine, or how Taiwan similarly ought to be under Chinese rule.

Ready? Here goes: Just because the US is guilty of terrible deeds does not let anti-American regimes like Russia and China off the hook.

Just because US intervention has left the Middle East in a state of chaos does not mean Russia has the right to force its will upon the Ukrainian people.

The same goes for China’s actions over the past decade or so. To see so many fellow Malaysian Chinese making excuses for the Chinese government is discouraging.

“But what about the US?” is the usual response to any criticism of Russian or Chinese excesses. To that, I say, “The US should be held accountable, but so should any state that commits an atrocity.”

All individuals, groups and states should rightfully be held accountable for whatever misdeeds they may have perpetrated.

It seems that some Malaysians rush to hold the Americans and their allies accountable for their crimes, which is reasonable enough.

But when regimes such as Russia and China commit a similar misdeed, these same Malaysians go all out to make excuses for these regimes.

Two wrongs don’t make a right. If you truly want a just world, hold everyone equally accountable for their actions.

If you are going to condemn American imperialism but excuse Russian or Chinese imperialism, you are not interested in justice. You simply want to win points for your “team”.

Any and all acts of imperialism should be condemned, regardless of which superpower is responsible for these acts.

The term “bias” gets thrown around a lot in these problematic comments, where people seem to have the idea that regimes such as Russia and China are victims of big, bad America.

Opposition to the American agenda should not come at the cost of swallowing narratives provided by anti-American regimes without question or doubt.

There is a certain irony in decrying Reuters and the Associated Press as biased sources of information, while believing everything that comes from Russian and Chinese state media.

To censor and suppress media outlets that do not repeat the government-sanctioned narrative is not the action of a government with nothing to hide.

Yet, it is not the US, but China and Russia which give state media a free rein while suppressing independent news sources and persecuting journalists who dare question the authorities.

I can only suspect that cognitive dissonance is at play here, with people convincing themselves that the news is wrong because it challenges their worldview.

The stretches in logic displayed by some of these commenters are remarkable; if mental gymnastics was an Olympic sport, I am happy to say Malaysia will walk away with some golds.

What America did in Iraq is wrong. What Israel is doing in Palestine is wrong. And what Russia is doing in Ukraine is wrong, too. China’s plans for Taiwan are immoral, too. Those are all compatible statements.

To the commenters responsible for this letter, I would like to ask a genuine question which I hope you can answer with absolute objectivity.

Listen to the arguments made by Japanese ultranationalists regarding Imperial Japan’s actions in East and Southeast Asia during World War II.

This group often busies itself with denying Japan’s responsibility for its military’s brutality, blaming the victims or claiming the Allies fabricated evidence of Japanese war crimes.

Does listening to this make you upset? Good. Any person with a conscience would be repulsed by the blatant attempts at twisting the truth.

Now, how exactly are you different from these ultranationalists when you deliberately ignore evidence uncovered by international observers and believe denials from the likely suspects?

The dead of Bucha deserve better than to be the subject of lies that Malaysians are way too eager to spread.

Either hold everyone to the same standard or don’t hold any standard at all. To excuse or ignore a crime is nothing short of moral depravity. We have to be better than that. - FMT

Edward Hong is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.