Wake up, Malaysians

Malaysians must treat the MH17 tragedy as their final wake-up call. No more snoozing. We have to unite as a nation.

We have been complacent for too long.

We have yet to resolve the MH370 crisis. We have yet to see justice served for the inhuman blasting of the late Altantuya. We have yet to atone for the misdeed of granting citizenship to illegal migrants.

We have not learned anything from the pirate attacks on fuel-laden ships off our coastlines. We do not seem to be gaining any relief from Mat Rempits or snatch thieves on motorbikes.

Our highways and urban roads are overrun with inconsiderate and dangerously temperamental road users.

Acts of terrorism by the Abu Sayyaf and the long drawn out unrest in southern Thailand have all failed to be a wake-up call for Malaysians.

Life here in Malaysia is still all about “my job, my salary, my profits, my cuts, my palatial dwelling, my cars, my lifestyle”.

Soon we will mark 57 years of independence.

But our political landscape is characterised by divisiveness and racial and religious animosity.

Amidst this chaos, the totally unwarranted tragedy of MH17 sends a spine-chilling message that Malaysians must wake up.

We don’t need nice-sounding slogans and we don’t need politicians to talk down to us. We need to feel as one nation. We need to function as one nation in thought, word and deed.

We are failing in so many ways.

The fact that the ordinary wage earner is struggling to make ends meet is a clear sign that all the development programmes for economic progress are not working in the face of unpredictable global scenarios.

If a world war breaks out, how will Malaysians brace themselves against it? Do we have contingency plans for food and medical supplies? Do we have escape shelters and underground anti-air raid bunkers to protect our little ones and the elderly? Do we have plots of land in our backyards that we can use to grow our daily supply of vegetables in times of war?

How will we even deal with the more than four million immigrant workers, who probably have zero allegiance to this country?

Our main setback is our national mindset. We think nothing can go wrong for us Malaysians. We think things cannot get any worse than they already are.

However, we are bleeding silently. And we lack the ability to come to terms with our shortcomings. All we are interested in is waging racial and religious wars in our own backyard.

All the trappings of life that we comfort ourselves with will not help.

Where is our sense of national pride?

We need a citizenry that is united in genuine acceptance of our diversities. We need to think as a democratic nation, not as a country divided by opposing political interests.

This should be our Prime Minister’s top priority. We have lost too much time. The season for preaching is fast ending. It is time to act.

Malaysians must wake up. We need to decide what we want and how we want to be. The ball now rests in our court. Malaysians need to re-discover their soul. Malaysians needs leadership.