MAY 6 — What is it about politics that can turn humans into monsters? Especially during election season.  Okay, I know there’s no love lost between opposing camps when it comes down to battling for every vote from a (sometimes very fickle and fussy) populace. It’s the time when the public gets wooed with everything thrown into their bucket. Well, almost everything. It used to be just (plain) cash, but now I hear there are offers of Mercedes Benz C200 being bandied around. That’s indeed upping the ante a notch. Though if I were the type to sell my soul for a vote, I would take cold hard cash anytime. A car is only a car. What’s the use of a Merc if I don’t have the cash to pay for its petrol? By the way I am still quite baffled by what actually qualifies as ‘buying votes’.

I am sorry but I get rather cynical  when ‘suddenly’ all sorts of development projects worth billions of ringgit are immediately signed, sealed and delivered to remote villages, faraway highlands and lowlands all over Malaysia. Oh yes, I know, I should be glad, at least every 5 years. There is this season of ‘suddenly’, where new roads, schools, community halls, airports, Wi-Fi services, and all manner of social amenities are generously dished out for the ‘common good.’  It’s great, but shouldn’t this be the norm instead of once every 5 years?

Anyway, for (selfish, little) me, is it too much to ask just for everyone to keep public toilets clean and usable? And how about some proper planning before ‘donating’ ridiculously outsized (and no doubt not cheap), heavy rubbish bins that’s so hard for the poor trash collector to reach into to retrieve all my household garbage? It’s bad enough he’s got to put up with stink and maggots the whole day, no one sees how back-breaking it must be for him to try to get to that last plastic bag that lies right at the deep bottom of the bin. But who cares anyway. He’s (probably) ‘just’ another migrant worker. He should be thankful he can eat bread-n-margarine (butter is too expensive) in beautiful Malaysia.

Of course, we Malaysians got bigger things to worry about, like corruption, injustice, traitors and enemies of the nation. Every now and then, we get all uptight about financial scandals, mismanagement of funds, suspicious donations (of the multi-billion ringgit kind), dubious business deals involving public (ie yours and my) money. Somehow the noise gets extra loud in the ‘suddenly’ season of election campaigning. I have a confession though, nowadays, I am not sure anymore what is ‘fake’ and what is truth. It doesn’t help that everything — even an opinion — can be ‘suddenly’ (there’s that word again) fake, and subject to criminal investigation.  Of course I stand for justice, truth, righteousness and good governance. But wait a minute, shouldn’t this be the norm instead of just ‘now and then’, or ‘suddenly’ once every 5 years?

Hey, I am ‘anak Malaysia’, of course I love my country. Which Malaysian, no matter what our political inclinations, doesn’t? We are all patriotic folks. So how is it that ‘suddenly’, we aren’t on the same page of love when it comes to electing a government? Heck, we can’t be civil to each other anymore. It upsets me how human decency and respect seems to have flown out of the window altogether in the course of this ‘suddenly’ season. How is it we can bad-mouth or curse another human being, a fellow Malaysian, no less, simply because we don’t like his/her politics? How infantile can we get, throwing paint on or cutting out people’s faces on billboards? ... seriously, isn’t that  typical ‘Ah Long’ gangster behaviour? Whatever’s happened that we can be so out-of-control of our emotions we physically push down people we disagree with? What kind of people are we when in the name of so-called ritual or religion we ‘step on’ another human being — even if it’s only a paper drawing of that person — and deliberately wish him/her ill? Have we grown so intolerant that we ‘crucify’ a person who dares to testify about the goodness and the greatness of her God as a dangerous religious fanatic out to destroy other people’s faith?

We seem to have confused ideas about what is truly evil. Is the person who siphons off tax-payers’ money in public office more ‘evil’ than the rude one who calls my race ‘pendatang’ who should ‘go home’? How about the individual who can video-tape a child being bullied, but is not bothered enough to lodge a police report? Is the one recording the incident ‘less evil’ than the perpetrator of violence? Why is ‘whatsapping’ messages of hate acceptable but not the act of murder?  Suffice to say in our own eyes, we are the only ones right, all others against ie not like/for us are wrong — so ‘they’ are evil —  they must be overthrown, destroyed, discredited, howsoever whatsoever.  Consciously or unconsciously, we justify our pet beliefs, out of which come our responses and defences. Jesus puts His finger right on our human hearts when He admonishes, "And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye.. Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3-4)

It’s sad to see Malaysians driven apart by our own design. We are our own worst enemies because we forget we are fighting for the same things really at the end of the day. It’s a pity if we choose to poison this land with hate instead of perfuming it with love, if instead of being peace-makers, we stir up violence, whether by word or deed — against each other. We can get so hung up on politics and politicians, we miss the heart of it all — we — the ordinary rakyat — fail to be the Malaysian we are supposed to be to all other Malaysians.

I wonder, is it just now only  ‘suddenly’ we have become less than humane humans to one another, or  horror of horrors, deep inside, we have all along been like that — espousing equality with our mouths but actually our hearts are still secretly harbouring resentment, pride and bitterness against those ‘not like’ us. (I think the term is hypocrite). Are we content to just get by holding ‘muhibbah’ open houses every festival and call that unity?  I hope not, because that’s not the Malaysia I dream of, and want to be part of. Why are we surprised and oh-so-pleased when a Chinese boy helps a Malay pak-cik or an Indian "Ama” across a busy road?  Shouldn’t that be the expected norm in a multi-racial (supposedly) harmonious nation?

I can never be a Bumiputera in this land, I am not an Indian, I can only be a Chinese, but my heart’s prayer is that I will be the most Malaysian Chinese I can be to the Orang Asli/anak negeri whom I meet in church, to my Melayu mak-cik neighbour, to my Indian newspaper-vendor, to the Indonesian maids who come by to clean the house, to the Nepali guard who waves at me every morning, as I drive past.

I don’t need politicians who promise heaven and earth once every 5 years, but I do need God to remind me, how easily I can turn into a monster who spews poison that stinks up everything around me, instead of being one of the many different flowers He has planted in this field called Malaysia, exuding a perfume that beautifies and makes fragrant my little corner of this land. I don’t need an election to teach me about human decency, mutual respect and just plain manners — shouldn’t that be the norm for everyday living?

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.