... a memoir of a bumper sticker ...

Have you seen the bumper stickers which say, "America - Love It Or Leave It." I had seen it once when i was abroad and this keep haunting me and the idea brought forth by the sticker. Let's take Malaysians, for instance, having these stickers on  at our car bumpers etc???

Well, polite people won't express it that bluntly, but many of them share the belief or feeling. People think that if a person doesn't like the Malaysian system, they have no right to be in the country. I had this thought too. This is an ignorant and hateful thought! Consider for a moment a man who doesn't like the system in any country on Earth. Perhaps if it were up to him, he would like to see a purer socialism, or a country based on his wacky religion, or perhaps a country that truly respects freedom (there's an idea). Now, does this mean he has no right to live in any country (and what other choice does he have)?

When a person says "love it or leave it," it is like saying "if you don't agree with the our system, we want to punish you and take away your liberty." Such feelings often stem from the belief that rights come with citizenship, and in this case only with "good" citizenship as defined by the owner of the bumper sticker. Now, where did they get that idea of rights? Not in the constitution or writing of that time. The founders of Malaysia didn't for one second think that a person had to "buy" rights by agreeing with government or society. Clearly and repeatedly they said that we are "created equal," with certain "unalienable rights," and that "among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." They also never suggested that such rights were limited to citizens only. Rights, as they defined them, were inherent in the nature of all humans (although it is true that they applied this idea inconsistently). The idea of individual rights upon which the country was founded was certainly not that rights are "gifts" from government or society.

It is pure ignorance of that leads people to think that "bad" citizens in Malaysia have no right to life. And by the way, the bumper sticker is really saying just this, that the non-lover of Malaysia has no right to be alive and free. Consider again the man who disagrees with all political systems on Earth, and loves no country. If such a man has no right to be here because of his sentiment, he has no right to be in any country, and what else can this mean except that he has no right to life or liberty period?  Love it or not, it's no crime to point out the flaws in a country. It's also no crime to protest or to believe in things that others do not agree with. 

p/s   As for me, instead of "Malaysia - love it or leave it," how about, "Malaysia - where you can feel how you want about it and say what you like, and have your right to do so protected by law."  This may not make a great bumper sticker, but it is a better idea, isn't it?   ;-D

Anyway, i am proud to be a Malaysian with dignity.