The BolehJokes Opinion: Learn from history

Referring to the article in The Star whereby the Prime Minister said “Learn from history” really raised a few questions in my mind.

1) If we are really learning from history, then why are we still being termed as “Malays” and “Non-Malays”?
Haven’t we learned anything from World War 2 whereby hatred policy created by the then Nazi Dictator, Adolf Hitler, causes so much grievances that there are no accurate amount of measurement to the losses incurred. When can we ever move forward as one under the category of “Bangsa Malaysia”. Why do we still allow extremist to continuously incite the issue of Malay Supremacy and causes more unease to the others who for so many years have felt belittled including myself. We were born into this country not of our choice, but God. We are God given rights as Malaysian. Do you know that Patriotism was at an all time low before the March 8 election? All this was because most people do not install any hope into this country. Ask them about what they feel about the country and they would turn away stating the fact that they don’t care and that their wish is to leave this country for good one day. Why do certain politicians still lack behind time and carry on with their narrow minded policies? Our talents are running away which is a massive loss to the country and racism will only lead to destruction which is well proven. Are we really learning from history yet? I bet no.

2) If we are really learning from history, then why do draconian laws like ISA and Sedition still exist?
Democracy exists when people can no longer accept dictatorship. During the time of dictatorship, people can be beheaded or incarcerated for speaking against the Government which is termed as “treason”. Basically, the dictator can determine your life and death. As long as he or she wants you to be dead, there’s no chance for you to live. Imagine your life is in some brutal man’s hand. The people have no choice or whatsoever but to pledge their loyalty only because they fear the Government. Is this governing system fair? This is no different from slavery. As human progressed on, they believe in fair system and started to abolish tyranny. They believe in freedom of speech. They believe in freedom of choice. In short, they believe in democracy where they can make a difference in the country and that the Government should fear them instead because they can make a change whenever they wish to. With laws like ISA and Sedition, we are going back to dictatorship / tyranny. You fear the Government. The only difference was, with ISA and Sedition, it is not death penalty. Honestly, nobody dares to say much before the 8th March Election. Suddenly, many people started to find their voices around right after the election only to be stopped by ISA and Sedition Act. There were talks about monitoring blogs and so forth. Is this how we want to progress on? Are we learning anything from history? Again, a big “no”.

3) If we are really learning from history and believe that corruption and decay can cause civilizations to suffer and stop the country from progressing further, then why can’t every politician declare their assets, practice open tender and have open policy on Petronas? What do we have to hide?
History has taught us that the greed of a man can lead to the demise of a nation. Take King Louis XVI for example. His hedonism lifestyle with his queen led to the demise of France because he was spending taxpayers’ money lavishly. As for us, we have many cronies who are exactly like King Louis XVI taking taxpayers’ money for granted. We could have been so much better without cronyism. The cronies earn easy money from the people and living lavish lifestyle, while the people are suffering. Close door policies will only breed more cronyism. It is a known fact. So are we really learning from history? No.

4) If we are really learning from history, then why make a certain religion as official religion of the country?
History has taught us that civil wars and major conflicts can happen in a country because of religion. During the time of Queen Mary I in England, Protestants were totally wiped out by executions because Queen Mary was holding strong faith in Catholic. That was humanity at an all time low. No religion encourages violence especially Islam, Christian, Buddhist and Hindu. Religion should never be made as an official symbol of the country as it is a very personal thing and thus it is very sensitive. Why do we have to relate a personal believe or preference to a country? Imagine if I were to say Malaysia is an official Manchester United Football Club Supporters country because majority supports Manchester United in EPL. Does it feel right? We move forward as a nation, not as what we preach in. So are we really learning from history? A bigger “no” as not only we are not doing that, many other countries as well.

5) More importantly if we are really learning from history to avoid all the wrongs, then why are we repeating all these mistakes?

TCJ