The Malaysian Insight

THE smiles seem happier and genuine this National Day. Thousands waving little flags happily, singing happily, smiling happily. Everyone is happy.

Well, not quite.

There a number of politicians who are unhappy. So are their supporters. Not just in the rump Barisan Nasional (BN) but also in government. 

The BN chaps lost a government they have held since Merdeka and Malaysia’s formation in 1963. The ones in government do not see things going their way, or that they are not part of the executive.

But politicians are a dime a dozen. Their happiness is almost always at the expense of the man in the street. Now that is the happiness that marks a country. And Malaysia is generally a happy country now.

Yet, there are those who are unhappy. The Temiars for example. Their home – the jungles in Kelantan – are being turned into plantations on lands sold by the state government. 

Is that fair? Would anyone else in Malaysia stand for this kind of destruction of one’s home? Or can the state get away with it because it controls land and water resources under the Federal Constitution?

After all, are the Temiars not equal to the rest of us? Or are they children of a lesser god? And have no right to their own happiness except the happiness mandated by the government of the day?

For that matter, consider the two alleged lesbians caught with a dildo in a car in Terengganu weeks ago. They have been found guilty and are sentenced to caning that has now been postponed to Monday.

It that fair? Actually, is it even an offence under any law? Carrying a concealed weapon? Illicit sexual intercourse? Were there four witnesses?

How about a group of cross-dressing dancers who make a living dancing in bars? Yes, there are are state laws that bar such dressing but do we need fashion police in this country?

Is that what Malaysians voted for on May?

See, justice not only needs to be done, it must be seen to be done throughout Malaysia. For the Temiars, for the two alleged lesbians and for the cross-dressing dancers. 

We have not changed much in Malaysia since May 9 except throwing out the old BN government and putting in a Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya. Governments in the states seem adrift and averse from change.

Fact is, so are we. We need to change our mindsets and empathise with those who have been marginalised, shunned and generally ignored.

Yes, not all of us can and should be happy. But we must try. And Malaysians must empathise with those who are not as privileged as the rest of us waving flags today and for the next 16 days or so.

The Temiars are fighting for their home. The alleged lesbians are fighting for their right not to be arrested for carrying a sex toy. The dancers just want to express themselves as they see fit.

Who are we to say they cannot do so? Who are we to wipe the smiles off their faces?

We need to do better. We need to be the change that makes Malaysia a better home for all and not think it is just the work of the government. It isn’t. 

It is only us who can make all of us smile, just as most did on May 9. – August 31, 2018.

* Jahabar Sadiq runs The Malaysian Insight.