So disgusted and yet so proud

I hate reading news reports like this. As usual, it involves Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin who seems less interested in disseminating information than in suppressing it. This time, he has attacked The Sun newspaper of “promoting the concept of Malaysian Malaysia, of being anti-Malay and sympathetic to the Democratic Action Party (DAP)” and Keadilan (he cannot make up his mind as usual).

Is anything wrong with a Malaysian Malaysia I ask? If not a Malaysian Malaysia, then what? Can we be Malaysia Malaysians? Whatever happened to cultural diversity? Are we promoting ethnic cleansing? God forbid the insanity.

I don’t suppose he had a hand in nor even knew about the Rasa Sayang campaign organized by the Tourism Ministry? It looks like the Information Minister subscribes to the “Divide and Conquer” rule instead of “Strength in Unity”.

He is also extremely obsessed with bloggers and with discrediting them. For that, he has unwittingly given bloggers the exposure they need and fodder for posts at an otherwise dry time.

I’m disgusted with this person who purports to be a leader.

Disgusted.

If only I could say “Zam zam alakazam” and make him stop making fools of us.

By contrast, this is the sign of a true leader - speech by Raja Nazrin Shah, Raja Muda of Perak on the first page of the newspaper.

Excerpt of news report

He pointed out that the measure of development was not merely in monetary wealth and physical structures.

He said the greatest enemy of development was apathy and indifference. “For the past 50 years, this has colloquially been known as the ‘tidak apa’ attitude. Every level of leadership in government, every educator, captain of industry, parent or private citizen who does not care about high standards being set and maintained is infected with this deadly virus.

“And they condemn this country to a state of mediocrity. Indifference and apathy cause us to seek to achieve only the bare minimum.”

He also noted that there were those who were hostile to change because their livelihood or interests were threatened. While it would be easy to dismiss their concerns as illegitimate, he said this would not be the mark of a developed country.

“It would violate the spirit of inclusiveness. We must treat each other with civility. We must seek to understand and give due respect to each other’s interests and, as far as possible, attempt to negotiate mutually agreeable outcomes,” he said.

I wore yellow on August 31 and I am glad I did. For once, I’m happy to be loyal to King and Country which is one of the 5 precepts of the Rukunegara.

Kesetiaan kepada Raja dan Negara

Indeed. We might have some saving grace after all.

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