On Thursday last week, I attended
Engineering Economics lecture which is in Pocket C. It was a 2-hours lecture
which I dread the most. Before Economics, I was in Highway Engineering lecture,
from 8.00 to 10.00 AM.
Sitting at the back row, (I am
always a backbencher) I slept for one hour and a half inside the cold lecture
theatre. I woke up 30 minutes before the end of the class when lecturer
announced that there will be an adjunct lecture by Professor Emiritus Dato’
Khoo Kay Kim titled “Hubungan Etnik- Dulu, Kini dan Masa Hadapan”.
It is a sensitive topic.
The whole floor was reduced to
silence. My lecturer made a joke about the motto of UMNO which in some way
resembles that of the adjunct lecture title; “Dulu, Kini dan Selamanya”.
Ethnic relations in Malaysia is
being described as “fragile” by our current PM and he further explain it by
“fragile and brittle, and may break if pushed a little hard”. True it seems, it
was the first thing I agree with him in all this 3 years tenure as PM.
Extremism, branding of Islam as a
religion that cultivates terrorism, syarie dispute cases involving Muslims and
non-Muslims, demolition of Hindu temples, Chinese temples and mosque
flourishing without control. The latest involving the curricula syllabus of
“Ethnic Relations” book used in public universities in Malaysia. Does
that seem familiar to you? All those happenings above crack the fragile ethnic
relations in Malaysia.
However, I beg to differ on a
point expressed by many Western journalists. It is extremism that leads to
violence, not religion. Religion is often being used as a tool of politics and
political parties in Malaysia are either religion-based or racial-based.
There might be two political
parties in Malaysia that claim to be the defender of Islam as well there might
be two or more political parties that claim to be the defender of their own
race. I see, too two political parties that claim to be multi-racial.
The two politic parties that
claim to be the defender of Islam might fight and boo each other off in
Parliament, but they speak the same political language. Islam. The two or more
political parties that claim to be the defender of their own race submit to
order using “we must tolerate and live in harmony” to justify their actions and
words. The other two which claim to be multiracial doesn’t get enough support
and their strong and bright arguments are barely heard in the mainstream
newspaper controlled by either political parties or GLCs.
I am a Buddhist in my birth
certificate, but I profess all the religions that exist in the world. I believe
in Taoism, I believe in Hinduism, I submit to the one and the only one God, I
believe in reincarnation, I believe in God’s son, I believe in Horus (Jewish
God) and I even believe in animism. I quote from Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), I
quote from Tao Te Ching, I quote from Jesus, I quote from Gautama Buddha, and
I’ve seen all the three forms of Hindu God in temples.
How diverse religion may be, all hold the same basic universal principles; LOVE, RESPECT and JUSTICE.
Put these 3 principles to practice in our everyday life.
And we don’t even have to read until the last page, holy book of every religion to learn that 3 basic principles.
06:19PM, 11th Feb 2007
