Year 2014 has finally come to an end. The year has ended with a stream of bad and negative events. As some Chinese may have believed that people, organizations or even countries that have to do with the word horse will face bad luck in the year of the horse. Unfortunately, maybe those who have believed in that are indeed accurate with that forecast.
Our country experienced a number of bad happenings in the year of the horse.
Two major aircraft mishaps, the flight MH370 that has never been found since March and the flight MH17 that has been shot down in July due to the Ukraine-Russia dispute. Both flights totaled up a number of about 500 lives.
Several terrorism kidnapping cases were in the news and some Malaysians were recruited to extremists organizations in the Middle East. A Chinese tourist and a resort worker were kidnapped by the terrorists linked to Abu-Sayyaf in early April. A few weeks later, a Chinese fish farm manager was kidnapped by the militants. While in the Middle East, we have seen reports of a number of Malaysians joining in terrorist and jihadist activities with Islamist militant group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).
Then we have seen some religious issues being politicized and risking religious tensions. The word ‘Allah’ was banned in the Herald, a Malaysian Catholic Weekly. We have also heard the call by Ibrahim Ali, with his extremist remarks, to burn the bibles.
And we also witness some serious social issues. The infamous Siti Fairrah Ashykin Kamaruddin or maybe we will know her better as Kiki, who was filmed abusing an elderly man by hammering his vehicle with a steering lock. Malaysians also have our own infamous couple, Alvin and Vivian filming themselves having sex which sparked a huge controversy throughout the nation.
At the end of the year, the nation faces one of the worst disasters in history. After the mud flood in Bertam Valley and Ringlet at Cameron Highlands and followed by floods in several states in Malaysia which caused more than 100,000 people being evacuated to flood relief centres.
Throughout all these events, many Malaysians have shared news, views and information regardless of whether it is accurate or not. These are some of the main news that will be remembered by Malaysians, maybe particularly during the election campaign period when it will be politicized. Unfortunately, but true, we Malaysians tend to keep on sharing such negative news. Worst is, some not only share negative news, they share inaccurate news that causes misunderstandings and confusions.
How many of us remember the positive things that have happened to the country? Or how many have actually shared such news often? Not much.
News such as Mohd Nasrudin Mohd Yusof being the first Malaysian to win the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize last August will most likely be forgotten.
How many of the Malaysians actually feel proud of Malaysians winning the UN Security Council seat? Or when the US President visited Malaysia for the last time in 1966?
How many have shared and promoted the moderation campaign that has been initiated by several groups and organizations? That is what Malaysians should have been encouraging their peers to talk about rather than keep on spreading negative information. But we have been spreading more negative energy rather than the positive ones.
But coming to my main point of this article is more about setting resolutions. Every beginning of the year, we hear a lot of personal resolutions being set; be it getting fit, building families or climbing up the career ladder.
As many resolutions that we could have set, I would suggest to my fellow countrymen that we add another resolution to our list, a “civic resolution” or maybe “unity resolution”. A Malaysian myself, I would love to see real unity, moderation and harmony enlivens rather than all just in talks and discussions.
We need to keep a resolution for ourselves that we can share to be part of the group that promotes civic responsibility towards unity, moderation and harmony.
Some of the resolutions may be:
– We share only information that has been verified officially.
– We listen to both sides of the story before making any judgment.
– We reduce criticism, we find solutions.
– We will make time to join friends of another ethnic during their celebrations.
There are many ideas of resolutions that can be thought of, but the most important thing is that we must move mountains and hills to make the real unity, harmony and moderate community to happen!
Let us not wait for others or any so-called leaders to organize any campaign. We take the responsibility and be the leader to create a better society. We Move!
Finally, I would like to wish all a Happy New Year and may we achieve our Unity Resolution in the years ahead!