AUG 14 — Apathy is a major problem in Malaysia. I don’t mean this just in a political sense, but in the sense of caring for our community, and in the sense of caring enough to take independent action. People just don’t care, and it’s time we changed that.
Some people complain that Malaysians are a politically apathetic lot. This may be true, but I have been working with several other American university students and alumni to hold information sessions and workshops for students eager to apply to American universities, and in the course of our work, we keep running up against a major problem: Malaysian kids simply do not care. It’s not just that they don’t care about politics; they don’t care about anything except getting good grades, and getting into a good university!
Now, the American university admissions process emphasises service to the community, and participation in a variety of extracurricular pursuits. The idea is that they want you to be more than a student in the classroom; they want you to be a young adult, who acts for himself or herself, both as an individual and as a part of the community. And so we urge young Malaysians to look for ways in which they too can serve their communities, and to look for things which they want to do and care intensely for — not just inside the classroom, but outside it.
The tepid response we often get is quite disheartening. You get people who ask “So how many hours of community service is enough to get me into an Ivy League university?” You get people who want to copy your CV just so they can look like a fantastic candidate. And you even have people who ask for a list of all the extracurricular activities you did in school so they can copy those and do the same. Rather than asking how they can best serve their own communities and pursue their own interests, these kids would prefer to just copy our identities and our lives.
Now, it’s not because they’re dumb, or because they’re malicious. No, I think Malaysian kids are apathetic for one simple reason. Malaysian kids do not realise how many opportunities there are out there to serve, and how many opportunities there are to do something which excites you for the sake of it.
Last weekend, I was invited to speak on the subject of civil society at the Malaysian Student Leaders Summit. My message was simple: Malaysians have the power to do so much resting in our hands, if only we bother to exercise it. A lot of students raised the valid issue of laws like the ISA and the UUCA — but these are only obstacles to some forms of involvement and activism; the most and the biggest obstacles to getting involved lie in our heads.
If you don’t know what to do, ask around. Think about what catches your interest. If you like cats or dogs, volunteer with the SPCA. If you like nature, join a hiking club. If you like to dance, start taking classes. These are simple things you can do which make you a well-rounded human being, and plug you into your local community — and they have nothing to do with politics.
Of course, I think there are lots of political things which civil society ultimately needs to do. If the SPCA wants to reduce the number of stray pets around, it’s going to need to pressure the authorities to pass the necessary legislation for catching these animals and neutering/spaying them. If a hiking club wants to preserve a favourite haunt that’s threatened by development, it will need to pressure politicians to stop said development. Politics is about power, and so ultimately, civil society will need to be political.
And yet, even if you want to be involved politically, there are so many things you can do which won’t get you in trouble with the law. Write to your MPs and state representatives, and tell them exactly how you feel about an issue that’s close to your heart. Threaten not to vote for them if they do not listen to you, and act accordingly. Organise a letter-writing campaign if need be; organise meetings with politicians and encourage them to turun padang, and see what things are like on the ground. Donate money to politicians who actively fight for the things you care about. All these things are perfectly legal and morally upright ways to engage with our democracy and our politics.
It is every Malaysian’s right and responsibility to get involved in their community. Whether you serve the country by writing about issues which need attention, as I try to do, or whether you serve your community by helping old ladies cross the street, it is incumbent upon you to do something for the people you live and work with. And it is so easy; sometimes you do not even need to do more than lift a finger, as I did when I donated to politicians online during the 2008 election campaign. The true obstacles to getting involved in our communities lie not in the law, but in our hearts; let’s do something about that.
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