Confronting the wicked minority – Dr Azmi Sharom

Just how big are these groups, anyway? They claim hundreds of thousands of members. Is this true or are they just blowing hot air out of their ample orifices?

Azmi Sharom, The Rakyat Times

Joseph Kurup recently bemoaned how “the silent majority” have allowed extremists to get out of hand.

Naturally, the comments that came pouring in went along the lines of how the extremists get away with things and those who oppose them do not.

This is not an unreasonable reaction, especially when there is a strong perception that some of these groups have the tacit and (sometimes) direct support of the government.

Let us not forget also that some “extremist” behaviour comes from official agencies themselves.

Thus, to some of the commentators, it would seem rather incongruous to simply blame the people of Malaysia for the state that we are in, when in fact what we are seeing here is a painful lack of leadership.

Unless, of course, this is what the powers that be actually want.

I think that this state we are in is a combination of poor leadership and also the unwillingness of people to stand up for what they believe in.

However, over the last few years, I think it is safe to say that ordinary Malaysians are getting more and more fed up and they are not staying silent any more; yet our lack of good leadership continues.

But this is not the main point of this article.

I must admit that I sometimes wonder how to react when I see something obnoxious in the press -be it a particularly odious statement from an aging ex-politician or yet another bigoted small-minded piece of obtuseness from one of those so-called NGOs.

On the one hand, by writing about them, we are giving them the oxygen of publicity.

On the other hand, such nasty people have to be countered and the wickedness of their ideas exposed.

It is indeed a conundrum.

Perhaps the answer lies in good investigative journalism; or even simply good reporting. For example, just how big are these groups, anyway?

They claim hundreds of thousands of members.

Is this true or are they just blowing hot air out of their ample orifices?

A good investigative piece would uncover whether we are talking about a bunch of “shiok sendiri” tossers or an actual cause for concern.

But even without such a tough assignment, with good reporting so much can be revealed.

When a bunch of thugs break up a peaceful demo or a group of students trying to hold a forum, why are we not told just how many of them were there?

It would not surprise me if the numbers were tiny and they were just using their abrasive ways to good effect (we, peace-loving Malaysians, are not very used to physical confrontations and are unlikely to start an actual fight – besides there is no telling on whose side the cops will be).

So, if we have to write about these bigoted types, let’s make sure it is contextualised.

In that way, we are not being delusional that our country is full of nice people, but at the same time we can see just how insignificant these characters are.