Divided We Fall, and Divided We Are

Since 2008, the Nation has been in constant political campaign mode. The government, currently led by Barisan Nasional coalition, is getting busy after losing many of their seats and constituency that 5 states, including Selangor, one of it’s most profitable, is now in the hands of the opposition, led by Pakatan Rakyat coalition. The opposition, on the other hand, uses this to its advantage with to gain support from the people.

With that it’s a non-stop show by both parties to grab attention and both are going by “all if fair in love and war” by using all the tricks in the book. The numerous by-elections in the first 3 years alone does nothing but add fuel to this ‘war’. to gain support, both parties have been going to various sources, both local and foreign to back them up. Many reasons as to Why and how these sources are supporting either party. Be it the similar mindset, future opportunities, pure political mileage or else, which I could only guess.

Then Malaysia is literally being attacked by a foreign force. I thought this is going to make Malaysians stand together and support our troops, but instead the conditioning that we had for 5 years have made many Malaysians skeptical of the situation, and blames each other.

To make matters worst, the opposition’s clashes with the police and the claims that the police, with orders from the government, was behind some of the aggression in those clashes made some think that this is a fake attack. There a lot of scenarios that spawned from this line of thought. thoughts that are insulting to the wounded, or those who has fallen, or both.

Regardless who ‘invited’ these insurgents, or if they ‘invited’ themselves to our country, that shouldn’t be the focus at the moment. Malaysians should band together against these forces, and ONLY THEN should we bicker on the cause.

People are dying out there. OUR people. MALAYSIANS. These brave Malaysians, while attached to the very force that some of us despise and hate, but all of us really depends on,  are literally dying to defend our land. We shouldn’t diss the very people who stand in the front line, literally in the line of fire, to protect us, regardless of what we think of them. They died to defend us. They died because of defending us. They died so we could live a little longer.

These insurgents are not Sabahans who are wanting to take Sabah out of Malaysia, they are a foreign force whose land was sold of hundreds of years ago to another force, before joining the Federation of malaysia. They want back what was sold by their ancestors to another country, who in time granted them independence. It’s not that we don’t deal with their country who do want Sabah back to join them. We do, diplomatically. It’s not some small island with no other importance other than to expand the border. It’s the lands, and culture, and people who have seen the rise of Malaysia, and are now Malaysians.

Sabah is part of Malaysia, part of the 13 states and Federal Territories that banded together as Malaysia. We are not Barisan Nasional. We are not Pakatan Rakyat. those are just political parties vying to win a place to control the lands of Malaysia. We, regardless of our state of origin, race, and political ideologies, are but a subset of the whole Malaysian. We, in times like these, should stop being anything, but a Malaysian. One, and united.

Al Fatihah to those who had fallen, and condolences to their family.