This Ramadhan has been an eventful month in Malaysia. In a pretty negative way. This post is a little something inspired by a lot of disturbing news recently in Malaysia, namely what appeared in today's headline in FMT, the now infamous canteen issue where concerns over children's health somehow snowballed into a racist issue.
Every Malaysian wants to see their country progress, and our children growing up in a happy and healthy environment. But instead of working together, some people are tearing each other apart over issues that can be easily resolved, if we only practiced the patience and humility which all religion teaches.
Few days ago, this young girl living down my street was running around on the road by herself looking for her kitten. She had lost another kitten few months ago, and I asked why she doesn't have a cage. She said coz' her mother cannot afford it. So I took her to the pet store nearby and bought her one, and she was so happy. It didn't matter to me that she was a Malay, and I don't know why it should. She's just a child that shouldn't be on the road by herself looking for a kitten because it's dangerous. Yet to some people, the welfare of children seems less important than than upholding the 'superiority' of their race or religion. And through their thoughtless actions, they create a generation of children that learn that it's ok to hate people who are different from them.
I appreciate the Indian family on the next street that helps walk my dog when I'm away. And I have no problem when my Muslim colleague in Indonesia performs her prayers in my presense when we share the room. Isn't that the way it should be? Why assume all people of another race are dangerous or get so easily offended?
There is no pride in what I'm sharing. I'm not an exceptionally great person. I'm just doing what I think everyone should normally be doing, but it doesn't seem to be the case. All I can hope for is that the little girl and all children in this country grow up knowing that people of all races and religion can enjoy living together and we can enjoy authentic nasi lemak, char kuey teow and roti canai on the same day if we wanted to. Even though that last part is probably not very good for your health, but we can!
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1 red comments:
Thank you for writing this. I saw your link posted on FMT and I'm glad that I checked it out. Malaysia needs more people like yourself to show the people around you that race and religion is NEVER a reason to hate and despise others. The little girl, who you helped out, will grow up rejecting all the false notions of racism taught to her by some archaic mindsets in society and hopefully continue to teach the people around her about rejecting racism.
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