THE past few weeks have seen an issue prolonged and stoked by a youth wing of a coalition partner. Umno Youth led by its chief, Dr Akmal Salleh, has seen fit to continue his rally against KK Mart despite calls to end the matter by his predecessor, the police, and even our king.

Despite claims to the contrary, this move is highly political – as most of the noise is coming from politicians. 

Religious leaders, at least the mainstream ones, have either elected to keep their peace on the issue or joined the chorus of voices warning of the dangers of escalation, so has leaders of NGOs who usually are at the forefront of these things.

Even the opposition is keeping an elegant silence, to their credit, in an act of absolute statesmanship.

With three attacks on KK Mart stores so far, the situation hangs in the balance, and the threat to escalate is there, which hopefully will subside soon.

The entire situation is ludicrous. At a time where the world is in heightened crisis, and we see humanitarian crises in the Middle East and Africa, with Iran teetering on the brink of war, Yemen and Syria still experiencing daily skirmishes, why are we focused, as if on purpose, on things that divide.

It is a little embarrassing to see the citizens, in countries like the United States and England, and throughout Western Europe, long considered sympathisers to the Zionist cause, have slowly but surely shifted their sympathetic gaze upon Gaza and the atrocities there, unifying their voice in daily protests against businesses and political organisations that they perceive as enablers to the problem, while we, who have carried the torch on these issues since the time of Yasser Arafat and the PLO, have gone little beyond a government grant or flying a flag or wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh.

It is time we spoke as one country. We should have had enough of the bickering and perception creation that divide us.

As a united country, we can do much more – apart from wallowing in communal issues and drowning in negativity.

Our country is improving, if not by strides, then at least by small steps – our politics has somewhat stabilised, our government linked-companies are performing better, for example, MAG, the parent company of MAS, reported a record profit after many years in the red.

Our companies are making strides abroad – joining the successes of YTL and Kuok Group in Singapore, UEM has won nearly a billion-ringgit worth of contracts from hospitals there, as we continue to make strides in Turkey, India, China and even parts of Africa.

This should fit into the national dialogue – instead of spurts of announcements with the buzzwords of the day.

People need to be fed with positive, realistic, achievable goals we can and should have as a nation, providing us with direction and hope, and with it, hopefully, economic optimism and development.

To dwell in polemics will only scare people interested to invest in Malaysia – be it their money, talents or time, and worse, drive our talents and money out of our own country.

Politicians, above all, know these. Instead of cannibalising Malaysian sentiment to divide and rule, they should unite and inspire, and draw political strength from there – strategies that worked well for Dr Mahathir, Najib and even Ismail Sabri.

Even Pakatan Harapan’s short-lived pact was most successful when they got the rakyat to focus on the possible, inspiring many to come back to a “New Malaysia”.

Politics should work to forge hope and unity, not dismantle trust and spread doubt.

Wishing all readers Selamat Hari Raya and Salam Aidilfitri. – April 10, 2024.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.