Since Merdeka is just around the corner, I am reminded of Nelson Mandela's autobiography. When he wrote this, South Africa had just become "merdeka" from the clutches of apartheid. While Malaysia was never subjected to the cruelties of apartheid, I can't help but realise that the following excerpt from his book seems to tell the story of what we went through, and what we are going through now.
I hope this excerpt will give us some food for thought this Merdeka. Emphasis in the text is all mine.
Thoughts from "Long Walk To Freedom"
"My country is rich in the minerals and gems that lie beneath its soil, but I have always known that its greatest wealth is its people, finer and truer than the purest diamonds.
It is from these comrades in struggle that I learned the meaning of courage. Time and time again, I have seen men and women risk and give their lives for an idea. I have seen men stand up to attacks and torture without breaking, showing a courage and resilience that defies the imagination. I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. I can remember, but I hid it behind a mask of boldness. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
I never lost hope that this great transformation would occur. Not only because of the great heroes I have already cited, but because of the courage of the ordinary men and women of my country. I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there was mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than the opposite. Even in the grimmest time in prison, when my comrades and I were pushed to our limits, I would see a glimmer of humanity in one of the guards, perhaps for just a second, but it was enough to reassure me and keep me going. Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.
…Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.
It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.
When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both. Some say that has now been achieved. But I know that this is not the case. The truth is we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free. We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning."
Selamat Merdeka.
If you read this in Facebook, the original formatting might have been lost. See the original posting at http://cosmicdinesh.blogspot.com/
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