Thank God I don’t have children

 

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­­I never thought I would ever say this. I know this sounds abstruse, but this week, my wife and I thanked God that we are not blessed with children.

Neither of us has felt this way before. We may have, at various points in our life together, pined for the joys of having our own children, but we have never ever felt the need to be thankful that we do not have offspring.

Our country is being manipulated by unscrupulous forces. School children are being indoctrinated to show solidarity by dressing up as “freedom fighters” or “provocateurs,” depending on your point of view. My wife and I are glad that we don’t have to deal with this or have serious discussions with our own children about the geo-politics of the world.

Controversy erupted last week over a government-sponsored schools initiative after pictures and videos emerged online of school students wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh and brandishing replica guns, including some that showed the children pretending to shoot imaginary targets.

Only after a severe backlash from the citizenry, and some days after this storm exploded, the education minister released a list of dos and don’ts for schools organising events for this week-long campaign. The guideline noted that it should not be “heavily one-sided” and urged institutions to provide a fair perspective on the ongoing issue, even though the purpose of the programme was to show solidarity to Palestine. Go figure!

The minister also called for participants to avoid blaming any community or religion, such as typecasting any group of people or faith for policies and decisions made by individuals. Rather, the events should focus on humanitarian values and peace.

But all this was only announced, after we already witnessed these school children brandishing replica guns, being led by their “so-called” teachers.

It is clear that the guidelines were an afterthought, and in direct response to the terrible international publicity it received. How can a ministry, with arguably the most significant responsibility, even allow for a lapse of this nature?

In mature democracies, the calls for the minister’s resignation over this lapse of judgment would have come from multiple quarters by now. But in Malaysia, because it is a religiously charged issue, conveniently, the matter will be forgotten in a few short weeks.

In response to the backlash, strangely, the Malaysia Consultative Council of Islamic Organisations (MAPIM), an influential NGO, said that there was nothing wrong with the initiative and that “children should not be shielded from the real world.” An Umno Supreme Council member chimed in and added that the education ministry should not succumb to external pressures and must push forward with the Palestine Solidarity Week.

I wonder if MAPIM will start pushing for the teaching of “sex-education,” another “real world” problem amongst teenagers in Malaysia? Or, do these lobbyists and individuals only cherry-pick when to weigh-in on debates, according to their hidden agendas and narratives?

This week also saw an opposition member of parliament questioning if the current tourism minister was trying to promote tourism in his own special way, enticing visitors through intoxication and dancing publicly. A video of the minister bopping around with a group of people, looking tipsy, had gone viral previously.

Again, this was a racial and religiously charged question. And it elicited an equally befuddled response from the minister. He argued that his faith did not prohibit him from drinking alcohol, but for good measure, he added that it only prohibited him from marrying four times.

If this is the quality of our parliamentarians, our legislators are undoubtedly a (bad) joke.

Another laughable controversy sprung up a few days ago when the Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association (PRESMA) took umbrage with a stall owner for serving “Nasi Kandar Babi.” Apparently, it created confusion among customers, although the stall was located in a Chinese eatery already serving non-halal food. And this term made Nasi Kandar a questionable dish, creating negative implications.

These jamokes paint Malaysians as an “awfully confused” population.

There are real issues in this country facing restaurateurs. But PRESMA thinks that the “porky” version of an Indian-Muslim staple is causing the most amount of distress, and requires a massive national debate. Instead of focusing on the substantive issues that restaurant owners are facing now, like the spiralling costs of produce, and food shortages, this association wants to highlight an inconsequential and insignificant matter.

The maturity levels of our national dialogues are horrendous.

Racial and religious undertones in the country are getting out of hand. All the issues I highlight above are unequivocally based on the widening racial and religious divide in Malaysia today. And all this continues unabated while our supposed “unity” government is sitting by haplessly, presiding over continued “disunity.”

So yes, my wife and I are thankful that we do not have to deal with our own kids in the current climate. Children, who incidentally would be of mixed heritage, growing up in this damaging environment with warped narratives, and with a seemingly bleak future for multiculturalism, inclusiveness, and real unity. - FMT

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