Why are we such a ‘touchy’ nation?
Ace Emerson, The Ant Daily
It seems as though we are becoming a “touchy” nation. Every little thing these days is blown into an issue. In fact it quickly becomes a sensitive matter.
This country, in which we are fortunate enough to inhibit, was once a harmonious nation where every race intermingled with one another regardless of spiritual faith and cultural beliefs. It was once truly a beautiful paradise cherished by all its inhabitants.
However, as decades pass, part of the country is now struggling with unity. The people are becoming more paranoid, untrusting of anybody, selfish, and extremely sensitive – always eager to fight for, what they believe to be, their own ideals.
Everything these days seems to point back to “haram” or forbidden. Everything seems to be about race and/or religion.
You say “this” is wrong, “that” is wrong; everything seems to be a touchy subject in today’s Malaysia.
Malaysia is no longer the united nation that was once the envy of the world. Harmony is just dangling on the dormant surface waiting for the bough to break.
The land once known to be a multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-racial, and multi-lingual haven is cracking with hatred which got the entire nation walking on eggshells.
Malaysia is in actual fact, a country of migrants. In the peninsula, the majority of the Malay-speaking people come from neighbouring countries like Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand. The Chinese from China, the Indians from India, etc.
For the islands of Borneo, the majority are made up of the people who have been living there for generations. Then came the migrants from nearby countries such as the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia and Brunei.
Yet the Malays seem to have claimed the country, calling everyone else “pendatang”, tossing the agreement on which the foundation of this young dynamic nation was built on out the window along with the people they don’t like and decide to brand “pendatang.”
Tolerance, empathy, and the spirit of “Muhibbah” or brotherhood have slowly dissipated over the years, just as our belief in the government had waned.
Today, the people of Malaysia sits on two sides. On one side the Malay of Muslim faith and the other the rest of the people.
It’s sad to see that we are perhaps more race-conscious today as compared to decades ago. During my father’s time (in the 1960s) the issue of race or religion rarely cropped up.
Today, however, name a day when race and religion are not brought up. Distinctions in race, differences in religion, somebody doesn’t like the way you look, somebody says something that you don’t like are topics of the day. Everybody is hypersensitive.
We live in a place where free expression and religion often conflict in practice, and free speech is frequently trampled in the name of defending religious sensibilities – whether by means of self-censorship or legislations.
