[Letter to the Editor] Why the Palestinian struggle deserves our attention beyond religious lines

Letter to the editor. —DayakDaily.com file pic. // Photo by Free-Photos from Pixabay

By KK Tan

I refer to Francis Paul Siah’s article titled ‘Charity begins at home, prioritise own people first’ in your portal dated Aug 20.

I respect and even share some of Siah’s sentiments in his article, especially on the need for greater autonomy of Sarawak to decide on matters directly affecting it. But I find his analysis of the Palestinian issue quite misplaced, even though he may have good intentions.

As a non Muslim Chinese Malaysian, columnist and press writer and independent think tank analyst for decades, I know for a fact that this is not only the views of a good journalist like Siah, but also of most other non Muslims (including most non Muslim journalists & editors, who should know better or be better informed), they tend to hold prejudiced views against the Palestinian’s just struggle for their homeland and against oppression and cruel occupation, due to the fact that most of them happen to be Muslims (more than 10 percent are Christians).

This is the problem about perception, which our moderate Muslim and non Muslim political, religious and community leaders have not been able to address properly. The problem is just swept under the carpet due to certain sensitivities and it would get worse.

Let me state from the onset that I am not neutral (there can be no neutrality in the fight between good and evil) on this Palestinian issue.

I have been a supporter of the Palestinian cause for decades since my student leader’s days in the UK and I know this issue like the back of my hand and more than most analysts on the Middle East out there.

I am probably the only person in Malaysia proudly wearing a Palestinian scarf (a colourful & very visible item) every time I go to public places like a shopping mall or supermarket, to remind people of the suffering and hell that the Palestinian people are going through now in Gaza and the West Bank and I stand with the oppressed Palestinians.

The response that I get from most Malay Muslims is that they tend to give me a very pleasant but surprised look, one Malay cashier at a fruits outlet even quietly slipped extra packets of fruits for me to show her appreciation for my support of the Palestinian cause.

The non Muslims would be quite indifferent but those who bothered to look at me wearing the Palestinian scarf would give me a weird kind of look as though I am betraying my kind.

This case alone suggests that there is a very serious racial or religious disconnect in the society in Peninsular Malaya between the Muslims and not Muslims. Both sides tend to look at each other with more suspicion and mistrust rather than as fellow compatriots of the same country.

The Palestinian cause is not just about freedom from oppression and for their homeland. It is also about defending the rights of Palestinian Muslims to practise their own religion and the rights of Palestinian Christians to practise their own religion and it is not about fighting for a religious theocratic state, which Zionist Israel and its allies would like us to believe and they try to promote or imply in their sleek but dishonest and slanderous propaganda videos and articles.

Going back to Siah’s article, he opined that our country should not meddle in the affairs of a place 8,000km away as this conflict has nothing to do with us.

Ukraine is about 8,000km away from Malaysia but our own airline Flight MH17 was shot down in 2014 due to a war taking place over there.

I agree with Siah that we should not meddle or interfere in the internal affairs of other countries but we must make a stand and do what we can, within our ability and capacity and without sacrificing too much when genocide, gross violations of human rights are taking place.

As a responsible member of the UN and the human race, we cannot run away or remain neutral when gross violations of the above-mentioned important issues were to take place.

It is up to the government that we have elected to do what they can based on the above universal principles.

We live in a very interconnected and globalised world today. A regional war can escalate into a nuclear World War 3 and exterminate humanity as we know it.

We cannot take a ‘frog in the well’ and very selfish and irresponsible attitude in helping the most oppressed people in the world today who are facing such oppression.

Every human being, regardless of race, religion or gender, is equal before God and every life is precious.

We must do our best and according to our ability to help those who are mostly in need. I sympathise with the poor people in Sarawak or anywhere but no way can their suffering be close even to the hell that the Palestinian people are going through now.

My hero and probably mankind’s greatest genius to date, Albert Einstein (who is also a Jew but opposed to Zionism) once said that “the world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it”.

This statement is so true when we look around and see why there are so many problems in this world today.

KK Tan is an independent corporate, political and geopolitical analyst as well as the CEO if the Sustainable Peace Museum Project.

This is the personal opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of DayakDaily. Letters to the Editor may be lightly edited for clarity.