Celebrating money-made bridges, breaking up love and goodwill made ones — Ravinder Singh

MARCH 2 — Are concrete bridges more beautiful, more valuable and more deserving of celebration than the bridges of love and goodwill in a multi-racial society built over ages? 

On the night of March 1, 2014, pressing a button the PM triggered a spectacular display of fireworks to mark the grand opening of the longest bridge in the country.

As I stood on a little hillock overlooking the bridge, the spectacular sight triggered a question in my mind: if we cherish and celebrate concrete bridges that only cost some money (be it billions) and a few years to make, why do we not cherish the bridges of love and goodwill made by peoples of different colours and creeds living together for generations upon generations?

Starting a few years back we have seen some racial and religious bigots stirring up tensions between Malaysians who have lived peacefully, respecting each other’s religions and cultures. Over these few years the troublemakers have become bolder and bolder in carrying out their nefarious activities by word and deed.

The troublemakers seem bent on breaking the bridges of love and goodwill that our forefathers had built between the peoples of various ethnicities that make up Malaysia. If we may remind ourselves, the peaceful co-existence of Malaysians had even won the praise of the world. Are these bridges of love and goodwill not a heritage that should be preserved at all costs, even if it means throwing the troublemakers into prison?

While the PM pressed the right button to trigger the spectacular fireworks display, he is pressing the wrong buttons in dealing with the racial and religious bigots. Recently he pressed the button to tell Malaysians to just ignore the troublemakers. He pressed another button to advise the media not to give publicity to the activities of the troublemakers as, according to him, they live by and wallow in publicity.

I wonder why he has not pressed the button to tell the police to throw the Penal Code at these troublemakers. The police do not need the ISA, Sedition Act, etc. to deal with these people. The Penal Code is more than adequate to deal with them. The police’s lament that without the ISA at their disposal, they are unable to deal with such troublemakers is a lame excuse. They claim to have difficulty dealing with some people as they do not have the ISA, but they do not have the same problems dealing with some others despite not having the ISA!

By not pressing that one button to direct the police to enforce the law against these troublemakers, the PM is only giving face to the troublemakers and knowingly or unknowingly, tacitly encouraging them to go on without fear of the law. Does this do any good to the country?

While concrete bridges that may be damaged by earthquakes and bombs can be repaired or rebuilt and put into use again, bridges of love and goodwill built over generations between peoples of various ethnicities living together are not that easy to rebuild, for building them is a labour of love and not a matter of money.

Why is PM Najib giving tacit approval to the nefarious activities of the troublemakers? Does he honestly believe that by ignoring them, they will stop their activities?

Does ignoring the misbehaviour of children make that misbehaviour go away? If so, then why is the discipline in our schools, where such misbehaviour is ignored, in such a deplorable state?

Schools have been following the same strategy of ignoring the discipline problems, of downplaying the rising incidence of indiscipline. The result is not for the better but for the worse.

Serious health problems do not go away by just ignoring them. Medical intervention is needed, which may even call for cutting up the body here and there.

So what makes Najib feel that ignoring the racial and religious bigots will stop them fanning hatred and destroying the bridges of love and goodwill?

Najib’s “psychological” remedy for the activities of the racial and religious bigots is like asking people to bury their heads in the sand. A psychological strategy that applies in the case of very young children throwing tantrums does not apply to adults bent on achieving certain objectives. For example, a three year old throwing tantrums because he does not get the chocolate that he is demanding can, and actually should, be ignored. By ignoring the tantrums and not giving the chocolate, the child learns that he cannot have what he wants as and when he wants it. His tantrums have no motive of causing any harm to anyone else, unlike the “tantrums” of the bigots.

In the case of adults who have turned bigots, it is totally different. They have a vision and mission of their own to achieve. If this vision and mission of theirs goes against the interests of the nation, the nation cannot ignore them.

Is it in the interests of the nation that had successfully built bridges of multiracial peace and harmony over many generations to allow these bigots to wreck them for some personal interests of their own? These bigots must be isolated from society, not ignored.     

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