Remembering Pete

 (Photo from Haris Ibrahim’s blog)

…is also to remind ourselves of the injustice of the ISA.

A Ramadan to remember

It is rather sad that the holy month of Ramadan this time around approaches its end with events, it seems to me, that in effect downplay, if not marginalise, the spiritual significance of compassion, the spirit of love and forgiveness, and the sense of justice, peace and harmony that are associated with the Islam that I embrace.

 

In particular, I am saddened by the recent detention without trial (under the unjust ISA) of Raja Petra Kamarudin. I pray for his early release and pray that patience and fortitude accompany his wife and children.

 

Of course, this is not to imply that detention without trial, i.e. ISA, is okay or kosher in other months of the year. It’s just that it is particularly painful and sad for me that this has happened in the month of Ramadan. It is also sad that there are still other people being detained under this Act, detainees who all along have been denied the right to defend themselves in an open court of law.

 

Incidents such as the above remind me of the famous poem ‘First they came…’ written by Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984). It tells about the apathy of German intellectuals after the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their preferred targets, one group after another.

 

To be sure, the posting of this poem is not to suggest a political parallel between Nazi Germany and contemporary Malaysia, but only to serve as a reminder to us all that events and issues of political significance should be our collective concern.

 

Although this poem may not be something new to many Malaysians as it has been published or posted in the Internet from time to time, I thought that it’s still worth posting it here as it is noteworthy and especially when its political significance has become enhanced by recent events.

  

‘First they came…’  

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.