Wednesday, May 13, 2009

thank you, father

"the man next to you is either your brother in faith, or your brother in humanity" - imam ali

it truly gladdens my heavy heart and calms my worried mind while thinking about our state of affairs as a nation and pr as our honest effort for change, particularly the antics of a certain wis-was tendency within pas bent on creating havoc, unnecessary distraction and dissension, to listen to tgna's just concluded speech and amanat on this fateful day of may the 13th on the pressing need to leave behind the racist and communalistic tendencies within us and move ahead together as a new nation.

a tendency easily spotted by the need to fall back to the group identity and asabiyah when confronted by new challenges or old ones becoming to difficult to handle without even considering wether such an attitude is right and just, or wether it is detrimental to the safety of the whole.

in other words, when the goings get tough or imagined to be tough, we shrivelled back into the comfort of our communal and parochial shells for security and self-assurance. with knees to our chins, incompetency, cowardice, even jealousy, the main pillars to this defeatist attitude and behavior, are unashamedly presented with the colors of religious zeal or cultural purity.

like it or not, we are a nation continously reminded of our separatedness, rather than our togetherness and connectedness. thanks to our race and communal based parties and politicians whom for more than 50 years hold the centre stage of our social scene, this sense of separateness seemed to define and gave meaning to our being.

the tragedy of 13th may, 1969, jolted us for a while as to the ugliness of such a course. it betrays truth and the beauty of being different, and different we are. some have learnt their lesson, but most of us have not. for 39 years after the incident, we are much the same as before it.

all this while, we have not nor dare not find closure to it. we have not face our demons conciously and willingly. we just sailed through this day year after year with the hope that it will eventually fade away from our social memory. it does not. those demons still haunt our subconcious mind, and now and then rear its ugly head with the slightest agitation or perceived threat. once again, thanks to our race and communal based political parties, politicians and 'cultural purity' heroes wannabes.

care to think differently and chart a new and more meaningful course?

the bold, courageous and simple amanat of tgna is just that. a reminder and an honest plea to all of us common malaysian to take the step to face our racist and communal demons and find closure to the dark side of our subconcious social being, and eventually, with honesty and love, take the momentum baru towards a new nation based on truth, justice, democracy, morality, religiousness, freedom, love and connectedness.

and the 13th day of may will soon be remembered, not as a day of tragedy and shame, but of rejoice and celebrations. the day that we overcame and conquered all, the fears, doubts and feebleness, as a nation worthy of note.

to my humble mind, tgna embodies what is right and beautiful about ourselves as individual human beings, and us as a nation. he is deeply rooted into our culture, values, beliefs, history and all, and yet real enough to accept and appreciate the need for growth and change, and in so doing benefits from the potentials, talents and creativity of all, either individually, and more so collectively.

he clearly fulfills the criterias set out in bold in the constitution of the one nation that successfully initiate, conceptualise, debate, fought and implement the very original idea of kepimpinan ulamak in a modern, progressive and democratic setting, i.e "...the just and pious faqih who is acquainted with the circumstances of his age, courageous, resourceful and possessed of administrative ability; and recognised and accepted as leader (rahbar) by the majority of the people..." (Article V, Constitution, Islamic Republic of Iran).

and tgna speaks the language of the common folks, without any hint of philosophical mumbo-jumbo or any need to sound authoritative to impress upon others. his is plain and simple, the language of the heart, so to speak. easy to the ears of the humblest amongst us, yet deep enough to inspire the most sophisticated.

as history and the best brains would vouch, truth and ingenuity, more often than not, lies in the plain and simple things. the manifest, as some might say, as god is.

wallahu a'lam.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Thief of Baghdad

TGNN may be all or parts of what you reckoned him to be .., in a nutshell a gigantic individual among man in every sense whose destiny can only be a paramount leader of man.

Yet, as only truth may, TGNN can also be a tired old man burdened with such heavy loads and surrounded by too many aides with vested interests whom now dictates especially his very words.

Even his son spoke of his father's circling aides with dark agendas.

He may be THAT father figure - but the nation cannot afford him.

He is still, by any account, a politician.

And has been one for too long.

Anonymous said...

Hanya nak bgth...seingat saya saudara seorang pejuang Bahasa Melayu..kenapa lebih selesa menggunakan bahasa Inggeris? Anti ppsmi agaknya saudara habib ni...

Anonymous said...

silap..ingin sy perbetulkan..penyokong ppsmi agaknyer saudara ni...

syed putra ahmad said...

memang saya akui itu dan inilah dilema saya kini. entah kenapa kata-kata dalam bahasa ibunda itu terlalu sukar keluar dalam bentuk yang saya kehendaki ketika mahu menulis.

dan memang juga, saya sedang berusaha mengatasinya kerana bagi saya, tidak akan ada kemuliaan jika kita tidak berupaya mengucapkan fikiran kita dalam bahasa kita sendiri, selain faktor kebergunaannya.

terima kasih.

syed putra ahmad said...

the thief of baghdad

without wanting to get into your 'dark agendas' claims etc etc, let me ask you just one question, "at this juncture whom do you think the nation can afford to at least lead to kick start our real move from our own self-destructing racial and communalistic politics and tendencies and at the same time lay down the moral dan spriritual foundations of that effort and also being acceptable to most?"

Anonymous said...

The Thief of Baghdad
@ Si Pencuri Dari Kota Baghdad

Agaknya jika sdr SPA kita ini menang apa-apa anugerah yg perlu dia berucap - barang tentu dia akan merasa apa yang dirasa oleh si genit lagi cun Sharifah Amani iaitu, ..."i feel silly if i speak in Malay .."

Eh, eh, ke bende-bende ni hanya terpalit pada set-set Syed dan Sharifah sahaja ..? Maklumler, depa ni dikata berasal jauh dari Hadramaut.

Namun sebenarnya sdr SPA kita ini amat hebat penguasaan bahasa ibundanya cuma dek kerana jarang menggunakannya, pencak itu agak ketat dan berkarat.

Back to your question of WHO ..??

Well, someone with your vision, sensitivity and idealism. Someone who embodied the true spirit of equality and justice in nation building. Someone who's willing to worked hard enough in a fair and sensible manner, etc, etc.

If you had asked for a name ..,

... the name would be the wisdom of Mahathir, the willingness of Mat Sabu, the tenacity of Haji Hadi, the sophistication of Ku Li, the language of Sidek Fadhil, etc, etc.

If you had asked me for only one name .., then it would be difficult.

Yet it cannot be TGNN.

His time and place is post-present. We need a present-future.

syed putra ahmad said...

thief of baghdad

sekali lagi sdr bermain kata-kata dan mimpi-mimpi. bagi saya, 'present' dalam diri tgna sudah cukup baik untuk memulakan, kerana memang kita bercakap tentang 'present'.

bukankah kita hanya membina esok, di atas hari ini, atau 'present' seperti kata sdr. jadi jelas sekali pilihannya tgna.

kerana sdr tidak dapat mengemukakan pilihan yang sedia ada. pilihan yang sdr kemukakan adalah frankestein sifatnya. adakah orang begitu?

jika tidak ada gading bertuah, tandukpun berguna juga. bukan begitu?