"MALAYSIANS really hate the Rohingyas. They would have no qualms shooting the Rohingyas if there were a non-animal shooting license."
According to Focus Malaysia, the above is a comment that was left at an Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) post that criticized the Malay Muslim community's urge to act aggressively against the Rohingyas as not only contrary to the principles of law and humanity but also contrary to Islamic teaching.
ABIM is not the only one highlighting the increase in abusive statements against the Rohingyas — last week, Suhakam condemned the growing circulation of abusive and discriminatory rhetoric directed at the Rohingya community here, particularly during the Hari Raya Aidiladha celebrations.
At this stage, I think we can, with a degree of certainty, confirm that the Rohingyas are seen to have outstayed their welcome in our country, especially in the eyes of the Malay Muslim community, who were the ones most eager to welcome the Rohingyas into our country before.
Why?
Well, the simple reason is because our home, by definition, is the place where we should be able to feel most comfortable being ourselves.
The Rohingyas are most likely gaining the resentment of the Malay Muslims because the Rohingyas trying to make themselves feel at home in our country, which in turn is increasingly making the Malays find it hard to feel at home in their own home.
In other words, the Rohingyas attempting to make themselves feel more at home in our schools, residential areas, mosques and market place is increasingly making the Malay Muslims especially, not feel at home in their own home, and the Malay Muslims are tired of it.
The Rohingyas probably feel that, being Muslims in a Muslim majority nation, they have a right to feel just as at home in Malaysia as the Malay Muslims do.
The problem, however, is that the Rohingyas are so significantly different from the Malays that even if they do share a common religion, the both of them can't feel at home when they are both together.
Thus, the Malays might require the Rohingyas to change and be more like them to feel more at home in Malaysia, but the Rohingyas are unlikely to desire being more like the Malays.
Why?
Because the Rohingyas did not come to Malaysia willingly. They are refugees. They came to Malaysia because they were forced to come here, not because they wanted to.
A people will only adapt to the norms of the country they go to if they went to the country willingly.
If they were forced to go to another country — because of war, famine, or economic distress — they would rather die than give up the last vestiges of their identity that they have left.
This is not only a phenomenon we see in Malaysia, but something we see all over the world for as long as history remembers.
The Jews, arguably history's oldest refugee group, refused to assimilate for thousands of years after they were forcibly removed or forced to leave their homeland.
When Europeans were forced to migrate to America and Australia, they did not adopt the way of life of Native Americans or the Australian Aborigines - instead, they transformed America and Australia in the image of Europe.
Even Europe today is facing issues of refugees from North Africa and the Middle East refusing to adopt the norms and way of life in Europe, but instead are changing Europe to accommodate their concept of self.
Malaysians, Malays or non-Malays alike, like to believe that we are a compassionate people, but this view that we are compassionate people might be more an outcome of wishful thinking than something that stands the test of reality.
The fact of the matter is that compassion is arguably the highest form of virtue, and thus it is actually something that is very hard to do.
A virtue, unlike what many Malaysians believe, is a product of practice, not identity.
To assume that you are compassionate just because you are Malaysian, or Malay or Non- Malay, is delusional. To be compassionate, you actually need to practise being compassionate, and to reach the level of compassion that will allow you to accept such a traumatised group of people like the Rohingyas en masse, will actually require a lifetime of practice and a high degree of mastery before we are able to pull it off.
Without any practice, expecting Malaysians to be compassionate to the Rohingyas is equal to making a person who has never seriously lifted weights bench press 100kg — not only are they not going to succeed, they are almost certainly going to be crushed by the exercise.
Being "crushed" by the weight of "compassion" that they are not ready to lift is exactly what the Malays are feeling now, and that is why they are reacting so aggressively against the Rohingyas.
Often, you have to accept the truth before you can successfully deal with reality.
The truth is that we don't just become compassionate because we are Malaysians or Malay or non-Malay or of this religion or that religion. We will only become compassionate because we believe in the benefits of being compassionate and practise it in line with our beliefs consistently over a long period of time.
The truth is that although both the Malays and Rohingyas are Muslims, being Muslim is just one facet of their identity. There are many other facets of their identity, and just having one common aspect in their identity, will not be enough for the Malays and the Rohingyas to be comfortable with each other in close proximity.
The truth is that people who are forced to leave their homeland will cling to the last vestiges of identity to their last breath.
If we do not accept these truths, and just expect the Rohingyas or the Malays to be able to be at ease with each other, just because they share the same religion or because we believe that compassion is a part of our identity as Malaysians , this is bound to cause either party to feel that their identity is threatened and generate a lot of hostility and aggression.
Until these uncomfortable truths are accepted and appreciated, it is only negative experiences like hostility and aggression that will rise.
To have more positive experiences like peace and ease come about, we have to be more open to the truth, even if the truth does not shine a favourable light upon us.
"Know the truth and the truth will set you free " - John 8: 32
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