Merdeka 2009 Series: 52 years of Tension

Bovine 1 Malaysia

By Neville Spykerman

Truth, Sir, is a cow, that will yield such people no more milk, and so they are gone to milk the bull. — Samuel Johnson.

AUG 31 — Really, what's there to celebrate? Fifty-two years of simmering tensions?

The ugly episode by the bull-headed protesters who showed no cow sense last Friday illustrates that 1 Malaysia is really just a load of bull.

The organisers, who must have been infected with some strain of mad cow disease, should give themselves a pat on the back for literally taking the bull by the horns to illustrate their intolerance.

Neville feels there is nothing much to celebrate. — Picture by Choo Choy May

Knowing full well that the cow is sacred to Hindus, they carried a severed bull's head by the horns from the state mosque in Shah Alam to the state secretariat to voice their beef against the relocation of a Hindu temple to their pastures.

The bovine adventure by the herd numbering 50, some with children in tow, captured headlines around the world and successfully put Malaysia in the world's spotlight again.

"Protesters in Malaysia march with severed cow head to protest building of new Hindu temple", headlined the Associated Press story in the StarTribune.com.

"Muslims protest with butchered cow head against Hindu temple", headlined the story in Fox40.com.

The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Jakarta Post; you name it, all carried the story of the cow-head demo in Shah Alam.

If that's not enough, the senseless acts of desecrating the sacred cow is also now on YouTube for the world to see.

Here at home, people must ponder, was this protest about cowing the state into backing down from relocating the temple or was it about regaining the cash cow Selangor?

In the meantime, the government will continue to promote 1 Malaysia till the cows come home.

Happy Merdeka?

Article source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/36436-bovine-1-malaysia