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I want to believe ...

I'm so glad an apology has been tendered ... even if it is a few years after the incident. For one last 'bite' before we put this issue to rest, I cannot resist sharing this little tidbit :-)

“... the true lover of the keris will always keep his keris in the sheath. He never leaves it unsheathed, or displays the blade in public”. Why, I asked the Obi-Wan of kerisdom. “Because only an uncultured brute (orang yang kasar) would do that. Would you ask your daughter to walk around naked in public, for all to see? If you love your keris, you would dress it up, keep it covered. That is why the sheath is called the sarong keris. Like a sarong, it has to be worn, to keep the keris decent, to respect its dignity. Itu baru yang sopan Mas Farish, hanya goblok kasar yang telanjangkan kerisnya...”

Let us use a comparison. Say, I have a bad temper. I am used to raising my voice to my wife, threatening her that if she did not like it, she could always get out of the house. Sometimes I also raised my hand, but I never struck, nor had I any intention to strike.

People come to know about it. I am heavily criticised by many of my friends, and by society at large. But some of my friends tell me that there is nothing much wrong about it, because I never struck her, and I was just asserting Men's dominance in the house.

One day, my wife decides that enough is enough, and publicly tells me in no uncertain terms that I must not repeat my act, and that I must treat her as equal.

I decide to apologise. This is what I say:

"I apologise if this has affected anybody. I apologise to my wife if she felt afraid of my raising of voice and hand."

"To those Men who feel that we are rightly the boss in the house, I also apologise because I cannot defend the dominance of Men, a symbol of our heritage."

Now, if the above were to have happenned, you be the judge of the value of such an apology.

Yeo Yang Poh

I am very glad that the UMNO youth took this step to apologize over the keris-wielding episode. This serves as a lesson to those who were overly confident about their position and power. A position and power which they possess through the social contract. The social contract whereby we agree to live together in harmony for our mutual benefit.

Locke emphasized those violations of the social contract that are so serious that the social contract is entirely broken and the parties enter a state of war in which anything is permitted, including killing the violator. However, that extreme view is both unacceptable to most normal persons. Further, it is also subversive of the social contract itself, which ultimately depends not on mutual understanding and good will, but on a balanced distribution of physical power and the willingness to use it. Sustaining the social contract therefore depends in large part on regulating the constitution and laws to avoid unbalanced or excessive concentrations of power.

The last political earthquake has changed the political landscape. The power in one political party has been diluted. The people wanted the change and we got it. This is only the beginning of better days ahead, fingers crossed.

Nicole Tan Lee Koon

I find it strange and unacceptable that the Minister, within the same breath, apologised to the Malay for not being able to defend the symbol of the heritage.

To begin with, there is no issue of him defending the keris as a symbol of heritage since the keris was misused in his attempt to garner support in the UMNO youth wing. He has to apologise to Malaysians, both the Malays and the non-Malays for abusing the symbols of the Malay heritage.

I fear that by apologising in the manner he did, it may give my Malay brethren the false impression that the symbol of the Malay heritage has been threaten and violated, thereby giving rise to unnecessary racial tension, yet again??

Kelvin Ng Sin Huat

Correct me if I am wrong... but I do believe that the Keris is to represent UMNO itself....He said himself, the keris is on the UMNO flag.

The kris or keris is a distinctive, asymmetrical dagger indigenous to Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Southern Thailand and the southern Philippines.

The kris spread from the island of Java to many parts of the archipelago of Indonesia, such as Sumatra, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, South Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and to the Southeast Asian areas now known as Malaysia, Brunei, southern Philippines, southern Thailand, and Singapore.

Frey (2003) concludes from Raffles’ (1817) study of the Candi Sukuh that the kris recognized today came into existence around AD 1361. Scholars, collectors and others have formed myriad theories about the origins of the kris. Some believe the form that is credited with being the earliest form of the kris, the keris majapahit, was inspired by the daggers of the Dong-Son in Vietnam (circa 300 BC). Frey (2003) dismisses the Dong-Son origin of the Majapahit. Unverifiable claims of another form predating the Majapahit exist. Kris history is traced through study of carvings and bas relief panels found in Southeast Asia. One of the more famous renderings of a kris appears on the Borobudur temple and Prambanan temple.

In my humble opinion, the Keris has never been exclusively a Malay symbol. Just look at our National Flag. The Coat of Arms of Malaysia shows a 14-pointed star which represents the equal status of the 13 states and their unity with the federal government. The Star and the Crescent from the traditional symbols of Islam, the official religion of Malaysia.

The FIVE KERIS represent the former Unfederated Malay States of Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu. (Hence, from this, my interpretation would be the five Keris represents all of the people that live in that 5 states no matter what race you are.....) The four former Federated Malay States of Negeri Sembilan,Pahang,Perak and Selangor are represented by the four centre panels, the permutations of whose colours represent the colours of these (red, black and yellow for Negeri Sembilan; black and white for Pahang; black, white and yellow for Perak and red and yellow for Selangor).

The left-hand division of the shield represents the state of Penang (Pulau Pinang) and the right-hand division, with the Melaka tree, the state of Melaka.The states of Sabah and Sarawak are represented by the left and right sections below respectively while the centre contains the national flower, the bunga raya (hibiscus). The tigers, rampant on either side of the shield are retained from the earlier armorial ensign of the Federation of Malaya (and before that of the Federated Malay States). The yellow colour of the scroll containing the Motto in Roman and Jawi script is the royal colour of the Rulers.

AS A MALAY (that's what they classified me in my IC, although I completely disagree with it), I DO NOT NEED EN HISHAMMUDDIN TO PROTECT OR UPHOLD MY "SYMBOL OF HERITAGE". MY HERITAGE IS SO MIX AND BEAUTIFUL IE IT COMPRISES OF MALAY, CHINESE AND INDIAN...

I suggest, mind your own heritage dear sir....(or do you really know what heritage exactly are you??)

Love always.... Siti Zabedah Kasim

Mr Yeo Yang Poh has got it absolutely right, on the assumption NST has quoted correctly.

Can we have one of those Polls on the "Apology".

Qn 1. "Do you think the 'apology' is sincere?"
Qn 2. "Are you insulted by the 'apology'?"
Qn 3. "Would you rather have an ex-gratia payment ?"
Qn 4. "If the answer to 3 is 'yes', should you take the cash if you were'nt actually 'afraid' in the first place?

Lim Kian Leong

I have never heard a more sham of an apology than this! Oh, come on Minister, who are you kidding? Your present machinations are as laughable as the previous lot. Go on, put your two statements side by side and see how they cancel each other. Try it. Did you really think that you were/are going to get away so lightly with what was in the first instance an act of arrogance of such magnitude that it boggles the mind that you, a Minister of State, could not see and understand how the rest of us minnions percieved that grand mal pr-gone-wrong gesture of yours? You were then making grand gestures knowing fully well what you were doing. And you were motivated then by a misplaced believe that no act of those in power, like you, could be questioned.

I question the sincerity of this apology coming so soon after a kick in the b***s. So who are you kidding? Isn't all this too little too late? Is yours the flailing act of a drowning albeit ambitious aspiring wanna-be political leader completely failing to comprehend and grasp the needs, nuances and feelings of a multi-racial society he purports to lead.

And I am equally amused by the various political leaders falling over themselves to welcome this apology. Why can't they see what is being said and how it is being said. Why can't they say it the way it needs to be said. Is it so difficult? I wonder where they were when that kris was first brandished? But then those were different days, weren't they?

Manjeet Singh Dhillon