Gov’t the one who should apologise ?

Wee Meng Chee, 24, came under fire for mocking the national anthem, Negaraku, as well as inciting religious intolerance through the lyrics of his six-minute video posted on the internet last month.

The controversial rap sees Wee poking fun at sluggish Malaysian civil servants and corrupt police officers, the majority of whom are ethnic Malays.

His video also mentioned the special privileges given to the Malays over Chinese and other ethnic races under an affirmative action programme in place for some 30 decades.

Following the posting of the controversial footage, government officials have threatened to take action against Wee, saying that he could possibly face a jail sentence for insulting the country and the king in the video.

However, Health Minister Chua Soi Lek, a leader of the country's largest Chinese party, urged members of the public to forgive the student following his apology.

'He is a creative and naive young man who has not even finished his tertiary education; we cannot pass harsh judgements; he asked for forgiveness and we should be open-hearted,'

'If we come down hard on every young man, there is no room for any creativity and innovativeness in this country,' he said.

Meanwhile, Uncle Kit asks :"Wee Meng Chee - will Umno Ministers/leaders now apologise to Malaysians offended by their extremist reactions?"

Excerpt from his blog :

• Will UMNO Ministers and leaders who have persecuted and demonized Meng Chee by making irresponsible, extremist and seditious statements, and even demanding the stripping of Meng Chee’s citizenship, now publicly apologise to all Malaysians offended by them;

• Will Umno Ministers who had been guilty of keris-waving in circumstances and context contemptuous of the legitimate sensitivities and rights of all Malaysians publicly apologise to all Malysians offended by them?

• Will MCA Ministers and leaders publicly apologise for failing to draw attention of the Umno leaders to the expression of patriotism by Meng Chee in articulating the frustrations of the ordinary rakyat at police corruption, civil service bureaucracy, discrimination against Chinese education and the insensitivity of the authorities – which is the reason why his rap video had struck such a deep chord among Malaysians particularly among the young generation?

A letter published in Malaysiakini written by VS said :

Why should the rapper Wee Meng Chee apologise? In fact, the government of the day should be doing the apology for governing the country in such a sad state so much so that our youth need to resort to using such methods to voice out their perception on how this ‘Boleh’ country is being run.

Does anyone of us get an apology from the government on all the wrong and stupid things they have done or said? And I’m sorry to say that many will agree with me that they are, in fact, governing this country without any due regard to the laws or the constitution set by our forefathers. I am ashamed to say more. It is a total disgrace.

The rapper's action denotes that of a baby crying for attention. And when the attention of the baby is not met, the baby will cry until he turns blue. So what is there to apologise?

If you take a closer look at the existing government, things are rather obvious that they are at all not fit to govern. All are opportunists. Their foresight only lasted to the banks. In fact, they are not actually elected by us but selected by the respective parties to represent the ‘rakyat’.

This country has a lousy election system. Well, it works for them to make suckers out of us and worse, we continues to allow it.

Anyway, here goes another statistic for the brain drain. I bet Wee will not return to serve this country should he becomes one of the ‘brains’ and this incident will reflect well on the other brains the government hopes to tap.

Read also, this article published in Bernama :" Malaysia's Ethnic Relations In 50 Years To Come " written by Nurul Halawati Azhari

Excerpt :

Toh Puan Uma Sambanthan has this to say: "I appreciate of being here every moment of my life. Ethnic unity is very much our culture. I always believe in solidarity and call upon all Malaysians to have faith in unity. Believe me, that the current Malaysian generation is fortunate to be born in an harmonious nation."

STUDENT'S RESPONSIBILITY

The ethnic factor is hardly discussed openly as it is considered a sensitive subject and often triggers off unnecessary emotional outburst. Yet at the dawn of Merdeka golden jubilee, the younger generation must learn how to appreciate history and ethnic relations to safeguard the harmonious co-existence now and in future.

Getting the younger generation involved is pertinent in this matter. Establishing unity takes time and it can't be forced down the throat. Yet, it can all go to waste in a blink of an eye.

"Now it's not the time to debate on whether our unity is strong or not. Rather it's time for us to strengthen solidarity that is the backbone in attaining glory for the nation in all spheres.

"What's important is that we have to understand the values of others by learning and understanding their culture and beliefs. And education serves as an important conduit to learn the values of others,"

LESSONS TO BE LEARNT FROM THE PAST

"We also have to learn from those who struggled for Merdeka and the early leaders who had worked earnestly to establish what Malaysia is today, a peaceful, developing and harmonious nation.

"We share a common past and a common future. We must work hand in hand to face the challenges ahead using our ingenuity, patience and tolerance.

"We must have the confidence that all the communities can share the goals and visions to build a nation that is occupied by a multicultural society,"

THE MALAYSIAN ETHNICITY IN 50 YEARS TO COME

"We have to see the future of ethnic relations in Malaysia. We have to see what are the challenges in ethnic relations by 2057?

"In time to come, Malaysia's ethnic composition won't be the same anymore with 20 percent of the population represented by the ethnic groups from Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Bangladesh. These are the ones who have migrated here and have become permanent residents of Malaysia," said Dr Chiam.

"The younger generation of today must be thought to think and see the different ethnic groups with respect and must be willing to accept the changes in the ethnicity composition with the presence of new ethnic groups among us,"

THREE MAIN FACTORS

Apart from this, the three factors that should be seen as the core in deciding the future direction of the nation is inter-faith relations, inter-ethnic relations and inter-regional relations.

"Don't take for granted what you see today. We don't want to end up like Bosnia, North Ireland and others that suffered from ethnic clashes," according to a member of the national unity advisory panel Hajah Ilani Datuk Haji Isahak.

"We must also excel in social development by emphasising on unity aspects involving all parties, including parents, teachers, leaders, politicians, legal fraternity and also NGOs. Schools and higher education institutions now can play a role to strengthen ethnic relations," she said.