Living and Leading By Example

I read with sadness that fellow Malaysians are being mass arrested today. They wanted to present roses to the PM in conjunction with the Valentine's Day. Yes, the roses carried a different message from that of love i.e. please heed the Hindaf 18-point demands but does this warrant mass arrests? It is not like they are armed with hidden daggers and guns attempting to assassinate the PM, setting the public properties and streets on fire. To top it off, it is not adults but 200 children who are presenting the PM with roses.

As if the police can't get their point out clearly, they decided to demonstrate their strong commitment of their tasks by:

i) firing several tear gas canisters despite outnumbering the demonstrators by 3 to 1,

ii) spraying water laced with chemicals to disperse the crowd,

iii) arresting about 200 of them (MSM reported 160+) out of an estimated 300 participants.

iv) They also blocked many roads and lo and behold, silly old me was caught in one of the artificially created traffic congestion.

Is this how a government show they care? By arresting peaceful people intend on giving the recognised leader of a nation roses? By showing them the rod and lambasting them each and every turn of the way, ignoring their plights and refusing to speak to their anointed representatives which in this case is Hindraf? If you must know, this is not the first time Hindraf attempted to see the PM and hand in the memorandum (They marched to Putrajaya on 12 August 2007 to submit their demands).

Dear readers, ask yourself, is this an exemplary way to treat desperate and despondent people? The same people who entrust this very government their fates, lives and future for 50 years in hope for a better future only to face a bleak and dark tunnel with no light at the end of the tunnel? I thought someone claimed he has big ears. Obviously it is either clogged or covered with pillows.

For this coming election, I will be using the People's Parliament People Declaration and the Christian Federation of Malaysia's brochure (see below) as my voting guides. I know I would want to tell my grandchildren someday that we should resist evil and injustice and cite my coming vote as one of the actions to do so. Afterall, we told to lead our lives by example right?