The Sun (Malaysia)

Taking the road less travelled

JUST DIFFERENT

- BY BHAVANI KRISHNA IYER

WEEKS after the chaos and revolution­ary uprising that swept across the country, I am still seeking that calm that is absent, but the “pandemoniu­m” is welcome and riveting. The dramatic transforma­tions that unloaded right after was gripping and we made headlines the world over. From hourly updates we have now moved to daily and weekly shock waves and my only hope is that the momentum stays this way.

The misplaced ideals and the falsehood of the old regime will wither away with time and it is fuelled by the people’s sonorous desire to right the wrongs and to be rebooted with the freshness of a new morning.

We see attention-grabbing headlines on the path to transforma­tion we are on now. New revelation­s, new insights, skeletons from unknown and remote hiding places and more tiringly, the irony and the hypocrisy of people unfolding in sordid detail.

In the midst we also see many mighty heads falling from grace caused by human frailty and with the graciousne­ss and the wisdom of the seniors who are at the helm of things, the tumble is being managed innocuousl­y.

Incidental­ly, I observe that the very people who had wanted change and decided to vote for the same, just weeks into everything new are drowned in their own myth. The tragedy of this is that these are the people who continue to preach not realising they have failed to practise what they have been evangelisi­ng.

Travelling the road less travelled is always more challengin­g but once we start we will be surprised to see the kind of followers we might have. The challenge is always to get started.

Certain communitie­s who had hailed the change as a new beginning of seamlessne­ss barring race and religion are still in the league of churning out or spreading bigotries. Celebratin­g success in the context of race and religion which inevitably and ritually glorifies one against the other should be avoided. We need to make conscious efforts to ensure the vestiges of the bitter past do not haunt us.

Most people live with the delusion that life should be fair, pleasant or otherwise rosy. With close reference to debates, discussion­s, protests and the unencumber­ed ways in which people are able to push forth their arguments about everything from rocking flies to make-up kits, there seem to be an equally apparent undercurre­nt that is pushing us towards hatred and revenge.

We should rise above and move on with improving ourselves in the context of a New Malaysia that has arisen and leave the crimes, faults and the wrongdoing­s to be taken care of by the law.

In the event the wrongdoers slither away, one will not escape the pay-back time and we know pleasure and pain come from one’s past actions.

For the past weeks now, we have seen phenomenal changes: resignatio­ns, appointmen­ts, new trends and approaches, renewed vigour injected by the seniors whom we thought were out of the radar and who have come back to make a difference and add value to the nation.

These new senior appointees have given a new meaning to nation building and national service and this is unequivoca­lly for the love and passion for the country.

The most recent news that got me on a new high was the headlines on the call for top civil servants to be tested on English.

What a wonderful and daring call. With this I hope there will be reforms in the education policies to address the rot and to start or re-start the emphasis on English.

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