Fight against racism gains ground
A new non-governmental organisation is being formed to fight racism and religious extremism.
Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah of Umno and Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa of PAS are collaborating on the formation of the NGO.
Both men have shown by their words and actions that they are moderates. Mujahid, who is the Member of Parliament for Parit Buntar and Pas deputy commissioner for Penang, will be chairman, with Saifuddin as his deputy.
Saifuddin, of course, is the chief executive officer of the Global Movement of Moderates set up by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Mujahid and Saifuddin also sit on the National Unity Consultative Council established by the government last year.
Initially I asked myself if the formation of yet another NGO was a good move, coming so close on the heels of the establishment of Negara-Ku, a coalition of about 70 NGOs, which also aims to bring about unity.
Negara-Ku is headed by lawyer Zaid Kamaruddin with popular personalities Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and national laureate A.Samad Said as patrons. This group wants to empower and mobilise people to return to the basics of the Constitution and work towards uniting the people of various races.
I felt it would probably be better to have one body to work on bringing people together; that it would be more effective.
But then I thought: why not? Negara-Ku may attract a different set of people and the yet-to-be-named NGO being formed by Mujahid and Saifuddin may attract another set of people. The broader the base, the better it would be for unity.
Of course there are pros and cons to having several bodies and one single body.
The significant thing about the new NGO is that it is being formed by two politicians who represent different sides of the divide: one is from Pas and the other from Umno.
I may be wrong, but I don’t believe anything of this sort has happened before. It is something to be lauded and appreciated.
Pas and Umno are political rivals but here we have two youthful men crossing their party boundaries to come together for the betterment of the country. Bravo, I say. These are courageous men.
Unfortunately, we do not have too many of them.
The problem, however, is whether Umno and Pas will frown on these two men. Or worse, take disciplinary action against them. I am sure that if any party takes disciplinary action against either of, or both, these men, members of the public will roar their disapproval.
There are certain to be some people both within and outside their parties who will brand them as “liberals” and dismiss their efforts. Unfortunately, the word “liberal” has become a dirty word among some sections of the populace, particularly among Malay political parties and their NGO supporters.
If Saifuddin and Mujahid can attract members of their respective parties to work together with other Malaysians and fight racism and religious extremism, it would be a tremendous achievement.
The truth of the matter is that for any such major initiative to succeed in Malaysia, it needs the active push of the Malay community; it needs to be led by Malays or have their active participation. The main reason is that the Malays form the majority in the nation.
Another reason is that if Malays head or initiate such a move, it is unlikely to be given a twist and decried by any bigoted group or politically motivated individual.
Importantly, it will be taken seriously by those in power.
If such a body were to be formed by a politician from only one party, others in the opposing side would brush it off. Here, however, we have politicians from two opposing parties coming together to form such a body.
That is why I am optimistic that the new NGO being formed by these two men – who, my Malay friends and I are agreed, represent the true spirit of Islam – can succeed if given enough support, especially from those in government.
They and other groups, such as Negara-Ku, and individuals who are working for unity should be given all the support possible.
For our part, we must each try to see a human being in front of us rather than a Malay or a Chinese or an Indian or a Dayak or a Kadasandusun. Difficult, no doubt, but it must be done.
When that happens, we all become victors.
When that happens, we can be proud that we have truly found our humanity.
