JANUARY 7 — Malaysians need to read more, honestly. Just the other day, two very sweet (but conservative) non-Muslim friends of mine were lauding a piece so toxic I swear I went blind for a few seconds after reading it.

I was so angry that for a few seconds I just could not function. (The piece in question is here)

The writer, whose logical skills and rhetoric could easily be bested by a child playing shopkeeper, posits this: that some public figures called “moderates” are not deserving of the title.  “People like Marina, Zainah and Zaid Ibrahim may think that they are the moderate, but to the many they are the liberals and to some they are the deviants.”

There is a small grain of truth in this — I blame The Star for not being very careful about how it used the term “moderate.” Moderate used to mean someone who chose not to lean towards extreme views, whether left or right. Some would prefer to call themselves “independent” thinkers who are not partisan or particularly attached to any one ideology.

The writer (I hate saying this) is right that some of the people The Star chose to put on pedestals are really more on the liberal side. Unfortunately, being liberal is seen as a terrible moral evil in this country as are other left-leaning philosophies such as communism.

Yet, PAS and PKR when talking about their economic visions lean more towards a more socialist, big-government-playing-benevolent-parent-to-the-rakyat ideal. 

That is the problem with all these labels. Liberal. Moderate. Extremist.

What is really happening is that people, to feel better about themselves, just create boxes labelled ”The good guys: us” and “The bad guys: them.” That is why the writer of the piece I read felt so insulted. Since those filthy liberals put themselves in the good guy box, that meant he was stuck in the bad guy box. No wonder he was indignant.

File photo of officials investigating the site of a bomb attack in Kabul June 21, 2014. According to the writer, in a recent Pew survey, 28 per cent of Malaysians think suicide bombings can be justified.—Reuters pic

Malaysians are enamoured with the concept of being neutral, in the middle, not rocking the boat. Frankly, I dislike the term moderate. It conjures up the image of lukewarm soup that is neither flavourful, nor particularly nourishing.

Dear Malaysians: there is nothing wrong with having strong opinions. If you have a particularly extreme opinion, it is what it is. An opinion. Views must and should be aired freely so we can, as a society, find that point of consensus where nobody gets hurt even if not everyone is completely happy.

The problem with us is that not only are we afraid of being open with our views, once we air views we are not very good at handling dissenting views.

Living together as a community is hard. Stop pretending it isn’t, Malaysians. We have different views about what we want and we have to learn that forcing our viewpoints on each other is not right. Yet we also need to figure out that common ground, the things we can at least agree upon. 

It is natural there is dissent. It is natural that there will be a wide spectrum of views. This rosy picture of there being a silent, peaceful, moderate and mild majority of Malaysians is frankly a cute but illogical dream.

In a recent Pew survey, 28 per cent of Malaysians think suicide bombings can be justified. That is not a small number, people.  More than a quarter of supposedly peace-loving Malaysians think it’s OK to blow yourself up for a cause even if it means innocent civilians will die. Contrast that to countries who actually live in fear of said bombings and their vote? The percentage of citizens who think suicide bombing is never justified is clear in these countries: Pakistan (89 per cent), Indonesia (81 per cent), Nigeria (78 per cent), and Tunisia (77 per cent).

We do not need to be less critical about things. Far from it. Especially in times like these where it is obvious PAS is inadequate when it comes to environmental and economic stewardship and the ringgit is at its lowest since 2009.

Be more thick-skinned, Malaysians. It’s 2015 and we have to stop pretending that khalwat and porn star politicians are more important than jobs, education and the income divide.

One of these days, I’m just going to park myself in front of the Parliament building with a loaf of bread and some really good butter. So if you see a crazed woman waving a butter knife and screaming “Focus on the real issues!”, be kind and contribute some coffee for the cause.

Peaceful protests are passe. I vote for delicious, bourgeois protests with food instead.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.