PM Anwar might have had the right motive when he launched the “Palestinian Solidarity Week” recently involving schools and education institutions around the country.
Indeed, it seemed like that was the least we could do for the thousands of traumatized Palestinians - especially the helpless women and children in Gaza - caught in the deadly crossfire between the warring Hamas armed fighters and Israeli Defense Forces.
But as it turned out, several over-zealous school authorities here went overboard with the idea, transforming innocent, ignorant children into gun-toting "terrorist" lookalikes; this prompted a caption in a local news website to literally scream out: Has the Palestinian Solidarity Week spun out of control?!
Then, more recently on Oct 29, another viral video emerged of a school in Kedah showing a teacher setting the Israeli flag on fire by shooting an arrow at it - watched by hordes of school children! (NST)
Not surprisingly, one of the first to voice out his deep misgivings about the possible negative implications of these disconcerting episodes was from East Malaysia, Datuk Willie Mongin from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
As was reported by The Star according to the Puncak Borneo MP, while he believed that there is no problem in showing solidarity against atrocities and war crimes, he questioned the need for school students to be involved; there is no need to involve students in the Palestine Solidarity Week in schools as they should be focusing on their education!
Mongin had made the remarks in Parliament last Thursday during a debate of the Supply Bill 2024; he added that he upholds universal peace and the move by the Education Ministry did not show good governance, as it should be focusing on building unity and national development.
Meanwhile, during the same debate, Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham, the Pakatan Harapan MP for Beruas seemed to agree with the Sarawakian MP and explained that the Palestinian issue was complex, which even adults found it hard to understand fully; thus he expressed his concern if there were parties trying to instil hatred among our youth when they should be teaching them to inculcate love for one another.
Ironically, while there was relative silence from most of the opposition leaders on the “chilling” gun-brandishing incidents, it took another unity government leader, the DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, to speak up.
In fact, he had called for the Education Ministry to rethink the "Palestinian Solidarity Week" after images of the "armed" events in several schools went viral; he added that the Education Ministry should use a more appropriate approach so that it doesn't send the wrong message to students.
Furthermore, according to him, in line with the spirit of Madani, school programmes should actually encourage a spirit of peace and inculcate values of humanity.
Loke also urged the Education Ministry to take strict disciplinary action against its staff and other organisers involved in those activities in order to prevent such events from ever happening again in our schools!
Meanwhile, somewhat surprised by the alarming images of students and teachers brandishing toy guns in viral videos coupled with the unexpected backlash from the public, PM Anwar Ibrahim was reported to have said that Putrajaya will now monitor closely all activities during the "Solidarity With Palestine'' week in schools.
Apparently, the PM also tried to calm things down by saying that the idea was discussed in the Cabinet; he also agreed that it must be controlled so that it doesn't get out of control.
However, what many people, especially parents, might be asking now is: what is there to control when it has already spun out of control? And isn't it too late now to dislodge the seeds of “hatred” and ”violence" already firmly planted in the psyches of the little ones?
Moreover, since it's something really serious involving indiscipline, abuse of power and misleading impressionable children (minors), will the perpetrators actually face the full force of the law? Or will they get off with a mere slap on the wrist?
It looks like PM Anwar has a big decision to make, because not only the people here, but the world out there is watching us as the unsettling images have put our country back under the “microscope” for all the wrong reasons; it could even hurt us on the economic front (especially our already battered ringgit) as potential investors might decide to hold on… or even quietly pull out!
JK Joseph is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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