Natalie Shobana Ambrose (18 September, 2008 - theSun)
EACH day I get bullied. Recently, on my way to work, a lorry honked only to overtake from the left. The vehicle sped past me on the emergency lane and then cut in front of me!
I calmed myself with the phrase “Might is right”.
I calmed myself with the phrase “Might is right”.
Almost in a flash, I remembered the exact moment I first learnt that phrase. It was when a bus squeezed its way ahead of us. I was a young child then. Angered, I asked my mum why she let the bus cut in, she said “Might is right” and explained that more people were on the bus, shrugging off my cries of protest that “it still doesn’t make it right!”
So began my indoctrination into believing that might must be right.
You see, I don’t just get bullied on the road by fast fancy cars flashing their lights, telling me to get off their road, I get bullied by durian sellers who raise their prices, by store owners who know I will pay that extra 20 sen for yogurt because it’s too small an amount to argue about.
I get bullied by mobile service providers who make millions by charging an arm and a foot for shoddy service, by cops that pull over drivers because they have somehow failed to adhere to an imaginary or unwritten traffic regulation.
I get bullied by newspapers that are skewed in their reporting, by restaurants that charge for drinking water which should be free, by our unique version of landed gentry, Lords and Sirs who believe they reign over the little people.
Unfortunately, we become immune to bullying. Like the frog in the kettle – we just “take it”!
It has become part of our culture, so why fight it? We’d rather be polite then kick up a fuss. After all, if we do, we might be put away never to be seen or heard from as our actions might be interpreted as disrupting the peaceful state we are told we live in.
Bullying masks itself in many forms. Through policies, laws, harassment, character assassination, lies, framing, influence, money, politics, corruption and – the list is endless.
So how do we respond?
Personally, I know it is much harder to speak up against bullying because it is difficult to prove. What laws or covenants were broken … Especially when no rules were written in the first place?
Standing up though always comes with a price – a price not for the bully but the bullied. The cost is often prohibitive! For that reason, it sometimes takes a third party to determine that there was indeed an act of bullying, because it’s so subjective in nature.
I feel like I’m the third party in Malaysian politics. With the ruling group on one side and the so-called opposition on the other, then there is me – a member of the third party. Every day the first two parties hurl insults at each other, when they gnaw at the other’s policies, character and past. As a third party – an observer and certainly not a participant, I feel bullied.
Bullied because at the end of the day, I don’t like my options of which party is going to stand up for my rights, my wellbeing and look after my country if all they are interested in doing is bullying each other through sly remarks and schoolchildren tactics of strong arming and bulldozing everything in sight even the good just because it’s not packaged the way they would like.
There is a powerful phrase that would be good to remember, “Any action committed in anger is an action doomed to failure.” If only we could move beyond our human nature to bully, and remember these wise words, we might move forward instead of remaining static as a country, as a people. But more so we might avoid an embarrassing, irreversible regrettable situation.
There comes a time when the third party gets fed up and wants change. Speaks up for change and forces change. I believe the third party is united. As the silent majority fighting for a better Malaysia, I hope we will always stand up to what is right. Not might!
Natalie hopes that bullying like poverty will soon see an end, be reduced and one day even eradicated.
Comment: letters@thesundaily.com.
