Thursday, September 16, 2010

PEACE AND HARMONY…..A DREAM OR REALITY?

By Muralitharan Ramachandran- http://malaysianminorityindians.blogspot.com

September 16 marks another chronological mile stone to all Malaysian and the pledge given by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to protect Malaysians from the destructive acts of racism and extremism is really heartwarming. There were a series of scores from all levels of people on racism including the former premier Tun Mahathir Mohammad. The former premier’s statement which supported Perkasa the right wing of UMNO’s stance and the editorial column in UMNO’s Utusan Malaysia is rather seditious and provocative to other races in Malaysia.

Although the Prime Minister feels these people tend to be small in numbers but it is indeed an alarming situation. Keeping an eye alone is not enough and it should be ‘nipped in the bud’ to prevent it from growing any larger. There were a multitude of episodes on the crackdown of people and organizations which seemed to have sparked racial sentiments in the eyes of the government. Perkasa is still a legal body where else Hindraf an organization which raised the rights of Malaysian Indians were labeled as terrorist, illegal movement, the legal advisors were arrested using the draconian law and revoked citizenship of the chairperson. A few politicians from the opposition party and activist were also arrested using the same draconian law back in the 1980’s in the pretext of constructing racial tension. The chairman and the Patron of Perkasa is still out and crafting racial tension which could destroy the harmony of our beloved soil while the main stream media of UMNO, Utusan Malaysia writes supportive articles of the duo which is a hindrance to Malaysia.

Why is the double standard being practiced here? The law should be the same for everyone. Here again, Malaysians are against the draconian ISA act and it is called to be abolished. To show the commitment of Datuk Seri Najib’s 1 Malaysia concept the duo should be charged in an open court under the sedition act, Perkasa and Utusan Malaysia should be banned. These actions will be cheered by many peace and harmony loving Malaysians. To the question of security threat which of course will occur due to dissatisfaction by supporters, it will be definitely in a very tiny percentage which the peace keeping forces in our nation will be able to handle it amicably because majority of Malay ethnic group are also against the movement and also feels disturbed by the comments of Tun Mahathir and this proves that there will not be much of a threat to the nation.

For a start of this Memorial Day Datuk Seri Najib should show his seriousness in combating racial tension and working towards his 1 Malaysia concept.

Wishing all Malaysians A Happy Malaysia Day.