Our social responsibilities
By xpyre
Can you feel it? Surely you feel it, too. Tensions rising, the news from the north predictably bleak amidst the onslaught of happy-happy news on the mainstream media. You must feel it, too - there is hardly anyone in Malaysia who doesn’t, I’m willing to bet. Feel what?
Well, feel the descent into chaos.
The government propaganda isn’t working anymore - if it ever has, that is. On the one hand, Big Brother’s tried to paint a picture of amicable unity amongst all the races. In the same breath they issue dire warnings against people who are, purportedly, trying to destroy this fabric of unity. Hindraf has no doubt contributed to this tension, because what I felt was civil society against the government has been turned into an issue about Indians versus the government. This is probably the worst way to paint the Bersih rally - and it will no doubt be tarred by the same brush.
There have been many arguments online for and against Hindraf’s mobilization of Indians under racial and religious terms. Well, in my view, there’s only one Catholic way to look at it. Aquinas would say that to commit a sin to engender a greater good is morally abhorrent. Down that road is the proverbial “end justifying the means” argument that I think many would like to avoid. That encapsulates, I think, the two sides of the arguments.
On the one hand, people don’t support the rally which highlights the plight of Indians/Hindus because the rally was held under the auspices of race and religion (with strongly worded memos, no less). On the other hand, people have been pleading for understanding, saying the purpose of the rally - never mind the auspices under which that rally was organized - was necessary to highlight issues that have gone unnoticed.
Which is right and which is wrong? I suppose history will judge, and I am personally ambivalent about Hindraf - if not about the rally itself. Maybe if Chinese and Malay Malaysians had stood by Indians when Big Brother came to destroy their temples, Indians could have been convinced to seek redress through a larger, more appropriate forum. By more appropriate I mean, of course, a multi-racial, multi-religious vehicle like the Bersih coalition. You see, while I’d like to be quick to condemn the targets Hindraf have set their sights on, I can’t help but ask myself: what have I done for my Hindu brothers and sisters, lately?
See, while it’s safe to sit behind a computer screen and talk about it, and while it’s safe to sit on our couches and support the rally from the comfort of our homes, what seems to escape everyone is that Hindraf - and more particularly, the plight of poverty-stricken Indians - is a common social responsibility. If anything, Hindraf itself highlights the way in which most of us think: if it’s an Indian problem, let the Indians deal with it. If it’s a Malay problem, let the Malays deal with it. If it’s a Chinese problem, let the Chinese deal with it.
So before a Chinese “Hindraf” or a Malay “Hindraf” takes to the streets, I’m wondering what we should do. I’m out of ideas. What are yours?
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