cover from the souvenir program bookI attended the MCCBCHST's 25th Anniversary Dinner in KL this evening. (Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Sikhism and Taoism). The theme was "Many Faiths, One Nation - Our Vision for Malaysia". Its President, Datuk Vaitilingam, articulated the need for the different races to bridge the gaps by appreciating similarities and strive to build our nation together. He also expressed clearly the issues of "body snatching", of conversions, of minor rights and all the religious issues troubling us as a nation. Datuk Vaitilingam was proactive in suggesting approaches and ares of improvements. I felt he was clearly reaching out and truthfully trying to find solutions to achieve the goal of "many faiths, one nation - one vision for Malaysia". His speech was precise and well articulated and received a good round of applause.
Among the audience, taking notes and nodding his head in acknowledgment every now and then, was our Guest of Honour, Prime Minister, Pak Lah. When Pak Lah's turn to speak came we were all geared up and eager to hear the response from our PM. We were looking forward to some commitment moving forward.
Alas, this was not the case. the PM did not even have a prepared speech. It seems that he was not briefed of the issues or he was not aware, hence not prepared for them of he just did not seem to care enough. Also, it could be that he has too much on his mind and inter-faith matters were not high on his priority. Although these issues were not new and even international media has highlighted them, he did not seem to have any clear and definite responses. He did speak for about half-an-hour (pretty long, in my opinion) on the things like what the government did, the vegetarian food he was eating and how he was interrupted to have to make his speech. He went on and on about the need to work together but did not articulate how to do that or what his government was willing to do. He did mention the word tolerance and stressed the need for it. It was interesting as Datuk Vaitilingam (as I recalled) did not mention that T word. It is really sad that after 50 years of nationhood, we still need to tolerate one another while we should be understanding each other more! Overall there were no clear strategies, no commitment.
After about 20 minutes I had to leave the hall. On my way to the gentlemen's room I met another religious leader and he asked, "What's Pak Lah saying?". My answer was a simple, "I don't know". This was the general sentiment of our table.
I recalled Ronan Keating's last line of one of his songs which goes, "Now You say it best when you say nothing at all". Only problem is our PM is not Keating, PM did not "speak right to my heart". Pak Lah should have just sat an enjoyed his vegetarian dinner, cut the cake, beat the gong and enjoy the photo opportunity.
For me, the rest of the dinner was quite ruined. I did not finish and left promptly after that. It was about 10.40pm (4 more dished the go, that's how long the speeches took), our son was already asleep and our daughters were at home alone.
On the way back home, I thought about the theme, "Many faiths, One nation - One vision for Malaysia", and one of the sad thing about the dinner was that the presence of our Muslim bothers and sister were not there, they were not felt. It would have been great if ALL faith congregate for an evening to celebrate our diversity on this occasion. I guess the MCCBCHST and all of us have much work to do.
When will the Malaysia's vision of "many faiths, one nation" happen? I certainly hope it will be soon and not after the next 50 years.
Among the audience, taking notes and nodding his head in acknowledgment every now and then, was our Guest of Honour, Prime Minister, Pak Lah. When Pak Lah's turn to speak came we were all geared up and eager to hear the response from our PM. We were looking forward to some commitment moving forward.
Alas, this was not the case. the PM did not even have a prepared speech. It seems that he was not briefed of the issues or he was not aware, hence not prepared for them of he just did not seem to care enough. Also, it could be that he has too much on his mind and inter-faith matters were not high on his priority. Although these issues were not new and even international media has highlighted them, he did not seem to have any clear and definite responses. He did speak for about half-an-hour (pretty long, in my opinion) on the things like what the government did, the vegetarian food he was eating and how he was interrupted to have to make his speech. He went on and on about the need to work together but did not articulate how to do that or what his government was willing to do. He did mention the word tolerance and stressed the need for it. It was interesting as Datuk Vaitilingam (as I recalled) did not mention that T word. It is really sad that after 50 years of nationhood, we still need to tolerate one another while we should be understanding each other more! Overall there were no clear strategies, no commitment.
After about 20 minutes I had to leave the hall. On my way to the gentlemen's room I met another religious leader and he asked, "What's Pak Lah saying?". My answer was a simple, "I don't know". This was the general sentiment of our table.
I recalled Ronan Keating's last line of one of his songs which goes, "Now You say it best when you say nothing at all". Only problem is our PM is not Keating, PM did not "speak right to my heart". Pak Lah should have just sat an enjoyed his vegetarian dinner, cut the cake, beat the gong and enjoy the photo opportunity.
For me, the rest of the dinner was quite ruined. I did not finish and left promptly after that. It was about 10.40pm (4 more dished the go, that's how long the speeches took), our son was already asleep and our daughters were at home alone.
On the way back home, I thought about the theme, "Many faiths, One nation - One vision for Malaysia", and one of the sad thing about the dinner was that the presence of our Muslim bothers and sister were not there, they were not felt. It would have been great if ALL faith congregate for an evening to celebrate our diversity on this occasion. I guess the MCCBCHST and all of us have much work to do.
When will the Malaysia's vision of "many faiths, one nation" happen? I certainly hope it will be soon and not after the next 50 years.
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