What makes Anwar say that Malaysia is a mature society?

Malaysians, as Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said, are people with a third-world mentality living in a country with a first-world infrastructure.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Just because a demonstration was held over the weekend and there was no bloodshed that means Malaysia is a mature and responsible society, said Anwar Ibrahim.

That is probably one property of a mature and responsible society but that is not the only property to use in measuring a society. There are many more properties we need to consider.

It is like saying that Malaysia is an affordable place to live because the price of keropok lekor in Terengganu is still very cheap. So we will use keropok lekor as the yardstick to measure affordability. What about the price of roti canai? What about the price of cars and houses?

If we take a basket of commodities rather than just one commodity you might find that Manchester is a cheaper place to live because it costs a restaurant worker in Manchester only one year’s salary to own a BWM 3 Series and six year’s salary to own a three-bedroom house.

What car can a restaurant worker in Malaysia buy with his or her one year’s salary and can they even afford a house, never mind three-bedroom or whatever? So let us use a BMW 3 Series and a three-bedroom house against your one year’s salary as that yardstick to measure affordability.

The same goes when we measure the maturity of any society. How mature are Malaysians, putting aside the ‘no bloodshed during last weekend’s Bersih rally’ issue?

Do Malaysians drive on the emergency lane? Do Malaysians park in lots meant for the handicap? Do Malaysians throw rubbish on the road? Do Malaysians get upset when the wrong colour ang pau is given out on Chinese New Year? Do Malaysians get upset when you eat in front of them when they are fasting during Ramadan? Do Malaysians get upset when the authorities demolish a place of worship that is illegally built on someone else’s land?

These are just the smaller issues. If we start talking about the bigger issues such as Christians using Allah, Muslims going to church, Muslims leaving Islam, Muslims living together out of wedlock, etc., people would not only be upset, they would be outraged.

Then what about people who are gay, people who renounce religion and choose atheism, and people who denounce religion and call them nonsense and classify the so-called ‘holy books’ as works of fiction? Never mind which religion you believe in, you will condemn such people.

Can someone disagree with your political beliefs without being called all sorts of foul names such as traitor, turncoat, frog, etc., and without being accused of selling out, being bought off, and so on? And I have seen worse labels than that used against people who do not share your political beliefs.

Mature, responsible, tolerant, and all those other positive labels, are not what Malaysians are. It takes more than just a bloodless demonstration before Malaysians can be regarded as having reached that level. Malaysians do not care about the feelings of others. They will open their mouth and vilify others just because these others have chosen to be different.

Malaysians, as Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said, are people with a third-world mentality living in a country with a first-world infrastructure. Heck, you do not even allow PAS to uphold its Islamic beliefs without stomping on the photograph of the PAS leader just because you look down on Islam and everything associated with Islam.

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Anwar: Peaceful Bersih 4 rally proves Malaysians mature and responsible

(Malay Mail Online) – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim congratulated today Bersih 4 participants for keeping the rally over the weekend peaceful, saying the success of the event will give greater credence in calls for electoral and institutional reforms.

The PKR de facto leader also welcomed former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife’s appearance during the rally.

“This assembly proves that Malaysians are mature and responsible in exercising their rights to speak out and assemble peacefully.

“Although there were threats and obstacles from the government, the people were persistent in continuing the fight to change and against corruption and lies,” the imprisoned leader said in a statement via PKR’s communications director, Fahmi Fadzil.

The first ever overnight Bersih rally was deemed a success with tens of thousands, mostly Chinese participants showed up on the first day, with the second day, towards the end of the rally attracting about 100,000 participants, in time to countdown to Merdeka.