Apparently, it’s the examination season. So announced by the dj’s, so declared by relatives of the candidates, so noted by me. Really now, there isn’t anything wrong in being gleeful once in a while, is there? How many opportunities does one get to kick-back relax while others work themselves up into a frenzy? Usually, we’re right there next to them, doing a good run of hyperventilating ourselves.
That said, I do hope my cousins, a Rojaker and my own dear brother do not read this, though I wish them the best of luck in their SPM exams, sem finals, STPM exams and AUSMAT finals respectively.
I was intending on leaving America’s map of the world a little longer before my next post because it looks good there, sitting laughingly at the top of my page, but some things just cannot wait.
And so Malaysia woke up today to the news that Jordan had been hit by a terrorist attack, and that the man shot dead by police in a raid in Batu, near Malang in East Java, Indonesia was confirmed as Asia’s Most Wanted Man, Dr. Azahari Husin.
I”l put this bluntly: the Jordan blasts left no impact on me. No, I have not lost my senses…I’m sure somewhere within, a form of emotion, a twitch, something at least must have stirred. Somewhere.
But I can’t kid myself. What I see on TV, what I read in the newspapers, it’s basically the same thing every day, albeit different places, different death tolls, and different nationalities. The method however, remains the same. These acts are fast achieving normalcy…the status of a day-to-day event…I can already imagine dinner conversations in the future:
A: Hey, (insert country name here) got bombed by terrorists today.
B: Oh? Anything else? And pass the potatoes, while you’re at it.
There is nothing funny about this.
What the hell are these bombers thinking?
True, they may have been oppressed, suffered injustice, lost families and properties, but this is not the way to seek retribution. These are innocent lives, some of which may have been one of the many thousands who marched down the streets of their countries to protest the very crime committed against you. And to use Islam as an excuse? A cause? How dare you? This holy faith has received enough bad ‘publicity’ and an already tarnished image from the media, and all you’re doing is substantiating the false accusations of Islam being a violent path to lead. So now there’s more basis, more grounds made more fertile enough to plant the seeds of hatred, distrust and intolerance, which I think by now has already been sowed, weeded, tended to and is making its way to becoming a full-grown tree. The roots are growing stronger each day.
On second thoughts…I really do wonder whether these acts are for the oppressed Muslims in the first place. It looks like they’re having a kick out of mass-massacring random people at will, with no reason at all. It’s like one whole big party where everyone goes wild and starts having a ball blowing themselves up. Well sure yeah, go ahead. Just go do it somewhere private, the rest of us don’t want to be invited. We already have enough catastrophes slamming Earth and its occupants around, thankyou very much. I don’t think we need you to shake things up even more; we’re doing very well suffering without you having to cause even more damage. Deadly viruses, natural disasters…add terrorism to the list and it sounds like we have enough ingredients for Judgement Day.
And yet…
(Pauses)
I will be honest.
I do not feel the loathe and sarcasm that drip from my above sentences towards them, at least not so much as I do sadness and sympathy. To have our fellow man turn against mankind itself…that is heartbreaking.
Which brings me to the subject of Dr. Azahari Husin.
The first I heard of him was some time after the Bali bombings back in 2002, and looking at his picture, I felt the same mixure of anger and disappointment.
He looked like he could have been anyone. He was a father, a son, a husband, a brother, a relative, a friend and a lecturer to many people out there. The fact that he was a fellow Malaysian made things more tangible, more concrete; not some surreal character far away from our own peaceful country. He could have been that man walking down the street, the neighbour next door waving a hello. This made the concept of terrorism feel closer to home. Too close for comfort.
He could have been my father, my brother, my friend.
For him, I felt sorrow. Yes, that was my first emotion when I saw the headlines yesterday. To be honest…I was hoping against hope the suspected body did not belong to him. True, he was a terrorist who heartlessly took away the lives of innocent people who had done no wrong other than being citizens of a country where a twit of a government ruled. True, he had no regard for the sacredness of the human life (if I’m not mistaken, the sanctity of human life was stressed in Surah Al-Furqan…I’ll check later, but if there’s one thing I can recall vaguely from the scraps of BTQ lectures back in matrics, this would be it.) True, he had committed a wrong against an essential for humanity’s continuous existence, a fundamental right of every human, which is security.
But he was a human too, just like you and me. A man who had been led far astray from the Truth, led to believe a sham, influenced by what was artificial in substance. A man who chose a path away from his family, from those who loved him, from those who needed his presence, a path which eventually led him to his bloody end.
If I had to feel anger, it would be mostly for abandoning a life where he had enjoyed love and respect. A life that he took for granted by not truly weighing the outcome of his choice. This was his choice. His alone.
One wrong move.
One bad turn.
What was his biggest mistake?
Not turning back till it was too late.
And ultimately, losing that second chance.
Enough said here.
