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My 3 Deepavali wishes

It is Deepavali and I have three wishes.

My first wish is for Malaysians, and people everywhere, to grow closer, to become friendlier with each other, and to become more accepting of each other’s ways.

I am not saying Malaysians are not tolerant. By and large most Malaysians are very tolerant. By and large most Malaysians make an attempt to understand each other. By and large most Malaysians hold the live-and-let-live policy.

However, in recent years, particularly after the 13th general election, there seem to be more incidences of public quarrelling between individuals or groups regarding religion, mostly, and sometimes race.

Although it is easy to spot the trouble makers, the danger lies in the fact that if they continue at it they may gradually influence more and more people.

Ordinary Malaysians, as I have always said, are peace-loving people. They just want to get on with their lives and have no interest in looking for a fight with others.

Ordinary Malaysians have, by and large, accepted each other as fellow citizens. The problem is with some individuals or small groups, which appear to be politically motivated, that are aggravating the differences.

So, my first wish is for Malaysians to be not influenced by those who want to cause rifts among us in the name of religion or race. My first wish is for Malaysians to seek the common things that bind us, to see the human behind the Muslim or Christian or Hindu or Buddhist or Sikh or Taoist.

My first wish is for people all over the world to see each other as human beings first and foremost: to learn to accept differences in cultures and religions and skin colour and live in amity and co-operation. After all, we are one big human family.

Let’s light the lamp of friendship wherever we are.

My second wish is for Malaysians to have more discipline, especially when on the roads.

We lack road courtesy, or most of us do. We need to learn from some other societies, especially those in Europe, who observe the greatest patience and courtesy on the road.

Motorists need to learn to stop for pedestrians who want to cross the road and not shout at them or accelerate upon seeing them. Motorcyclists need to be more considerate of other road users and not weave in and out of traffic or beat red traffic lights as it could cause accidents.

Motorists need to be more patient and if there are cars in front, they should fall in line and not overtake on the left, especially not on the emergency lanes.

I also wish that motorists would not park their vehicles haphazardly, especially not near road junctions.

Let’s light the lamp of courtesy wherever we go.

My third wish is for more democratic space in Malaysia. As far as democratic space is concerned, we are in relative darkness. We need to see the light, especially since this is Deepavali, the Festival of Lights.

The government needs to listen to the people who elected it and not think that it knows best.

The people want more freedom and they should get this freedom. Just because some individuals abuse the freedom, say by posting some nasty things on the social media, the government should not limit the freedom of everyone or put fear into their hearts.

There will always be exceptions. For instance, there are many good policemen but there are also some very bad ones, just as among the many good teachers there are some ineffective and bigoted ones.

Similarly, there will be people who will abuse the freedom given to them. It is the duty of those in the relevant government departments to handle such people.

So, my third wish is for the Sedition Act 1948 to be repealed and for the government to be more understanding and accepting of criticisms against it. Criticisms can help the government perform better and the government should be open to criticism.

At the same time, the people should co-operate with the government and its agencies, such as the police, to keep the peace and not create issues that could result in unwanted tragedies. Criticisms of the government should be done in a decent manner. Freedom comes with responsibility.

Let’s light the lamp of freedom wherever we can.

So, those are my three wishes for this Deepavali. I don’t know if they will come true but I am an optimist. Happy Deepavali everyone.