By Pushparani
Thilaganathan
It's Merdeka month and in a series of articles until
Sept 16, FMT will walk along and talk to ordinary Malaysians about what
'liberty' means to them.
KUALA LUMPUR: Liberty is the
cornerstone of democracy, at least that’s the feeling that’s permeating the
grassroots Malaysians these days.
Much has
changed in this country even as we, Malaysians, journeyed through cornerstones
in 1957, 1969, 1999 and 2008.
Each of
these milestones – 1957′s Merdeka, 1969′s May 13, 1999′s Reformasi and 2008′s
political tsunami – has left us with new knowledge, realisation and wants.
Each of
these milestones has spawned new thinking which invariably has both inspired
leaders and stirred insecurities within the political fraternity.
The offside
of the journey to political maturity has been the manipulation of minds and
believes which in the process has stained our social fabric and crippled our
once unconditional acceptance and appreciation of each other.
Liberty, as
one 79-year retired civil servant who’s ‘seen it all’ – from the Japanese
occupation to the swanky iphone 4 -, said: “has nothing to do with
politics”.
“Liberty is
about us..who we are. It is a right, our inherent right to be…
“We’ve
allowed politics to manipulate our thought, poison our soul…we’ve allowed
politics to impair our thoughts and question our believes.
“Our
politics today has taken away liberty.”
Unalienable right
Never before has the phrase ‘”Life, Liberty and the Pursuit
of Happiness” been more real to Malaysians than post 2008.
We are a
nation standing on a threshold of awareness of self and purpose.
We have
seen, heard and read the raging debates about religion, politics, civil and
socio-economic rights.
These are
fascinating times as we all collectively journey to re-discover “Liberty” and
what it means to us.
The
American constitution describes ‘Liberty’ as among the ‘unalienable rights’ of
a person.
‘Liberty’,
as spoken of by Malaysians goes beyond political governance, social dictums,
religious sanctions and material pursuits.
Liberty we discovered over the past months is simply freedom
and “the right to…”
‘Right’ to choice
‘Right’ to choice
And in many
instances this ‘right’ involved the most fundamental of needs – the right to
pray without being hassled, the right to eat without worrying if the restaurant
is Halal or not, the right to love without having to content with prescribed
social, cultural and religious dictums and perhaps most significant is the
right to ‘choice’.
Whilst the
more savvy Malaysians are demanding their constitutional rights as enshrined in
the Federal Constitution and the right to good governance, across the South
China Sea in Sabah and Sarawak, ‘liberty’ is simply about the right to basic
human needs.
In majority
of oil rich Sabah and Sarawak, it is the right to savour clean drinking water
and electricity, the right to roads and to ancestral lands.
Here they
seek the inherent right to be treated with dignity and respect.
Whilst in
Sabah and Sarawak, there is the additional call for the right to autonomy,
bigger oil royalties and the terms enshrined in the 18 and 20 point Agreements
which was agreed in 1963 when both states joined the Federation of Malaya, the
federal capital has seen passionate calls for judicial freedom and electoral
reforms.
Over the
next few weeks FMT will bring to readers, a variety of views about ‘liberty’
and what it means to Malaysians.
FMT also invites
readers to send in their thoughts on liberty as Malaysians celebrate 54 years
of independence.
Source : FMT
EmpireMoney.com
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