The difference between compromise and cowardice

By admin-s On Jun 25, 2014

Unity, my friend, is overrated. Unity is a false construct, the problematic belief that all citizens should and must want the same things.

Erna Mahyuni, MMO

Let the Allah issue rest, someone said to me. “In the end, when we stand before Him, none of this will matter.”

This is a very Malaysian way of looking at things. Don’t talk about this — too sensitive. Don’t stage a play or make a film about that — too incendiary.

We step on eggshells all the time, trying not to anger that person or this person.

But let us be frank here; there only seems to be one race we seem to be very afraid of offending while there seems to be no problem kicking around cow heads or throwing Molotov cocktails at churches.

We cannot keep sweeping things under the carpet in fear of civil unrest. We cannot keep banning books and films and telling minority religions to stop “threatening” the majority faith.

The reality is that yes, there are people who are dangerous. People with guns, people with bombs, people with absolutely no qualms resorting to murder just to further a cause.

But now, more than ever, we need dialogue. We need to start talking to each other about the things that scare us the most; we have to start listening to opinions that disturb our own way of looking at things.

Most of all, Malaysians have to learn to agree to disagree. Instead what we get is schoolyard namecalling where we insult each other instead of trying to understand where the other person is coming from.

I am really getting rather tired of people saying that I am obviously sex-deprived which is why I will not shut up about current affairs. Please leave my genitalia out of the discussion. Wherever my head is, it is certainly not there.

Even more disturbingly, I keep getting asked how to “unite” East and West Malaysians. The short answer: fire and blood. Have a foreign power declare war on us and I am sure patriotic fervour will reach epic heights.

The long answer is unity, my friend, is overrated. Unity is a false construct, the problematic belief that all citizens should and must want the same things. It is very obvious that I want a secular state and it is very obvious that PAS wants an Islamic one.

All citizens should respect the law of the land and yet also have the right to object to the imposition of a second set of laws. All citizens should have access to basic rights and be able to question government directives without being thrown into detention.

The opposite of unity is not anarchy; it is the existence of choice. A state where differences are acknowledged, where we are not pigeonholed or forcibly brainwashed into obeying a government or ruler.