Resolving differences in disaster's wake<\/p>\n
Ooi Kee Beng
\nThe Straits Times
\nAsia News Network
\nSingapore<\/p>\n
The best memorial to the thousands of victims of the Indian
\nOcean tsunami disaster will be for the politics of the region to
\nchange for the better because of the widespread suffering and
\nthrough the international relief work that is now needed.<\/p>\n
The longer political considerations are kept out of the
\npicture, the easier it will be for the flow of aid to reach the
\nsurvivors. Governments have now to act more as administrators
\nthan as guardians of narrow interests and ethnic prejudices.<\/p>\n
The mass media of all nations now have an important role to
\nplay in discouraging politicians from reaping personal and
\nstrategic gains from this huge catastrophe.<\/p>\n
The United Nations, governments over the world, and all sorts
\nof international organizations are now raising and allocating
\nfunds and sending people and supplies into the region to rescue
\nsurvivors, limit starvation and stop the spread of tropical
\ndiseases. In light of this, travel restrictions should be eased
\ndramatically, and local expertise should cooperate fully with the
\ngenerous armies of international aid workers that are now on the
\nway. Much needs to be done, and even if we manage to fend off the
\nvery real threat of starvation and disease, the process of
\nmourning and rebuilding will take months.<\/p>\n
Closeness between the different nations can grow out of this,
\nsince no human agency or enemy was involved in the disaster.<\/p>\n
This is a time of opportunity. Things have changed. This will
\nbe hard to recognize because it all happened so suddenly, and
\nbecause we tend to think that politics is about principles and
\neconomics. But politics is just as much about emotions and how we
\ndeal with them. Right now, we are all mourning and, Insya Allah
\n(God willing), we can make use of that to tear down walls and
\nwash away barriers between us. For example, would any terrorist
\nnow dare to set off a bomb in the region; are not international
\ntensions between Australia and South-east Asian nations now
\nrelaxed? If politicians can behave as statesmen would, then we
\ncan make the most out of this global disaster.<\/p>\n
We may say that this is a temporary state of affairs, and
\nthings will return to how they were before Boxing Day, 2004. But
\nthat is how things always are. They return to their old state
\nbecause we allow them to return to being the same. If we choose
\nto recognize that things have changed, then we can change things.
\nIt is exactly this kind of horrendous event that can help us
\nbreak karmic circles of hate.<\/p>\n
The growing tension between Thailand and Malaysia over
\nsouthern Thailand is now swept away by the destructive power of
\nthe tsunamis. Given the new scenario, Prime Minister Thaksin
\nShinawatra of Thailand can now rely for a while on goodwill from
\nThai citizens of all religions and even from the Malaysian
\ngovernment. With vision and statesmanship, it is not impossible
\nfor him to create an atmosphere for balanced negotiations with
\nthe Muslim separatists in the country's south.<\/p>\n
Without doubt, the civil war between Buddhist Singalese and
\nHindu Tamils in Sri Lanka has a history that stretches back over
\ncenturies, as does Acehnese irredentism. To a large extent, old
\nscores matter because we want them to matter. This merely leads
\nto new scores that in turn also need to be remembered, ad
\ninfinitum. To paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi, an eye for an eye will
\nindeed leave us all blind.<\/p>\n
We must remain unwilling victims of nature, but surely we do
\nnot need to continue remaining victims of history.<\/p>\n
The writer is a visiting research fellow at the Institute of
\nSoutheast Asian Studies.<\/p>",
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