If a picture paints a thousand words …

We must stand up to extremism and bigotry no matter where it comes from

By P. Gunasegaram (The Star)

IF a picture is worth a thousand words, then a short video must be worth millions of words. There are two great things about videos when they are real – they say so much more than words and they don’t lie.

If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, a 10-minute video, our calculation shows, is worth 14.4 million words if we assume one second of video has 24 frames. If each page has 500 words, then there will be 288,000 pages to read!

That goes to show why no amount of words will be able to tell you fully what happened recently at two related events, and the despicable behaviour of some who clearly were way out of line in what they were doing – unless you go to YouTube and see for yourself.

The first was the grisly demonstration against the relocation of a Hindu temple in Section 23, Shah Alam, whose centrepiece was a severed and still bloody head of a cow (the cow is a sacred symbol for Hindus) which the demonstrators carried, stamped upon and spat on.

As if that were not enough to show their antagonism towards the relocation of a 150-year old Hindu temple from Section 19 to Section 23 they threatened bloodshed and the Selangor government in no uncertain terms.

On Wednesday, six men were charged with sedition in a Shah Alam Sessions Court for their involvement in this demonstration. They also face an alternative charge of deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person.

The six were also charged in a Shah Alam magistrate’s court with being members of an unlawful assembly together with another six men.

All 12 have claimed trial to the charges.

The other related event was the thuggish behaviour of some so-called residents of Section 23 when the Selangor Mentri Besar tried to hold a dialogue with them with a view to resolving the temple relocation issue.

A look at the video will be enough to convince anyone that a section of the crowd was not interested in any kind of dialogue but on creating disorder and intimidating the state government into abandoning its plan to relocate a temple to the area allocated.

While one can understand the move by the state government to defuse the tensions which were being deliberately stoked to fever pitch by selected individuals and parties, it has set a dangerous precedent because it has given in to no less than blackmail by a small section of the public.

This will only encourage more such actions by a small group in our midst who through their behaviour hold the rest of us to ransom, and whose unreasonable demands and actions threaten to destabilise a pillar on which this nation was founded – that is, the freedom of all to practise their own religion peaceably.

There are mosques in non-Muslim majority areas in Malaysia just as there are Hindu and Buddhist temples, and churches in many areas in Malaysia where Hindus, Buddhists or Christians are not in a majority. Why should Shah Alam be any different?

If one were to take this flawed argument that places of worship be located only in areas where worshippers are in a majority, then there can be no other places of worship but mosques in Malaysia because the country has a Muslim majority; and there can be no mosques in Muslim minority countries.

The more important things to consider for the temple relocation – and for that matter, any place of worship – is the logistics of having a temple in the place in terms of traffic, movement, noise and other inconveniences caused to residents.

These are the things that should be discussed in a civil, courteous and amicable manner, which will then ensure that a fair and proper solution can be found to the interests of all concerned.

The cow head demonstration was disgusting, despicable and downright distasteful – no animal, let alone a cow, should be made to suffer such indignity in death and no one should be permitted to do such ghastly things in public.

One test of maturity and civilisation of a country is how it treats its minorities, both under the law and in practice. While the countries of the world, including the United States, have made great strides in terms of fair treatment of their minorities, including blacks and Muslims, we will be taking backward steps if we allow the tyranny of the majority.

It must be understood that majority rule does not mean that the rights of minorities can be stepped upon but, instead, that the rights of minorities will be protected just as much as those of the majority. Anything less than that is nothing but oppression.

Are we going to let 50 people blackmail, threaten and cajole us into a society that becomes intolerant and hardened against the legitimate and constitutional rights of minorities?

Or are we all going to be steadfast against all such forms of extremism wherever they come from and affirm our strength as a multi-racial, multi-religious country which respects everyone’s rights to thrive alongside each other in the spirit of the formation of this nation?

Are we going to send a strong message to those who believe that the old ways of intimidation, threat and violence are over or are we going to give in to that small section of people who believe that the majority should suppress the rights of the minority and who are prepared to provoke and threaten to attain their objectives?

■ Managing editor P. Gunasegaram says let’s put down extremism and bigotry from whichever quarter it comes without fear or favour.