Merdeka. Are We Really?
Happy Merdeka Day.
After 52 years of independence, we still have not moved from not respecting other races and religions. This year’s Merdeka Day was tarnished by an appalled act by some residences of a certain city in Malaysia. I can try to understand the frustration of the residences over the plan to build a Hindu Temple within the vicinity of their homes. But, does that justify their actions? I seriously do not think so, especially the Hindus are not the party to blame in this issue. The Hindus in the area has as much rights as their Muslim neighbours for a place of worship. That is one fact that no one could deny.
But, it is the authority that has the power to decide where and the places of worship can and cannot be built. Of course this is a delicate matter, but an intelligent authority would definitely be able to handle this matter swiftly without this turned into a racial issue. I honestly have no solution because I have no access to population data of the area. And I certainly cannot use the data provided by the media because the numbers are contradicting. Some media says that Hindus’ population is only less then 10%, some says it is more than a third. The truthfulness of the data can only be answered by the local authority. They should know it at the back of their head.
I’m not going to argue whether the temple should be built or not because that is not my job. But I do feel that the super-insensitive act by the residences few days ago is sickening. How could people who claimed to be well-educated do something like that?
I also feel disgusted by Pakatan Rakyat leaders’ statement that kept on blaming UMNO as the party behind the demonstration. Don’t they see what is happening? It does not matter who was behind it because that would not solve the problem. They failed to see that this issue has become quite deep and needs quick solution. Instead, they chose to blame other people. Granted, let us just say UMNO was indeed behind it. Does that solve the problem? No.
From the way I see it, the authority has two choices. Either go back to the grass root and explain why the construction of the temple was approved or they could halt the plan altogether. Both options have its own repercussion and as a government, it is impossible to keep everyone happy. But the most important thing is, go and resolve the issue and stop blaming other people. Regardless it was your fault or not, wouldn’t it be better if you actually became part of the solution?
In the mean time, whoever that was in the demonstration the other day, shame on you! There was nothing Islamic about what you did. Shame on you!
After 52 years of independence, we still have not moved from not respecting other races and religions. This year’s Merdeka Day was tarnished by an appalled act by some residences of a certain city in Malaysia. I can try to understand the frustration of the residences over the plan to build a Hindu Temple within the vicinity of their homes. But, does that justify their actions? I seriously do not think so, especially the Hindus are not the party to blame in this issue. The Hindus in the area has as much rights as their Muslim neighbours for a place of worship. That is one fact that no one could deny.
But, it is the authority that has the power to decide where and the places of worship can and cannot be built. Of course this is a delicate matter, but an intelligent authority would definitely be able to handle this matter swiftly without this turned into a racial issue. I honestly have no solution because I have no access to population data of the area. And I certainly cannot use the data provided by the media because the numbers are contradicting. Some media says that Hindus’ population is only less then 10%, some says it is more than a third. The truthfulness of the data can only be answered by the local authority. They should know it at the back of their head.
I’m not going to argue whether the temple should be built or not because that is not my job. But I do feel that the super-insensitive act by the residences few days ago is sickening. How could people who claimed to be well-educated do something like that?
I also feel disgusted by Pakatan Rakyat leaders’ statement that kept on blaming UMNO as the party behind the demonstration. Don’t they see what is happening? It does not matter who was behind it because that would not solve the problem. They failed to see that this issue has become quite deep and needs quick solution. Instead, they chose to blame other people. Granted, let us just say UMNO was indeed behind it. Does that solve the problem? No.
From the way I see it, the authority has two choices. Either go back to the grass root and explain why the construction of the temple was approved or they could halt the plan altogether. Both options have its own repercussion and as a government, it is impossible to keep everyone happy. But the most important thing is, go and resolve the issue and stop blaming other people. Regardless it was your fault or not, wouldn’t it be better if you actually became part of the solution?
In the mean time, whoever that was in the demonstration the other day, shame on you! There was nothing Islamic about what you did. Shame on you!
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