Of 2014, Allah-banning and Kangkung

2014, it may well be just another year. There's nothing particularly special about 2014 unlike 2013 with the election fever in Malaysia or 2012 with the end-of-the-world frenzies.

But 2014 proved to be a special year for Malaysians.

First, the political drama of Allah-banning is being expanded from a printed circular: the Herald, to the Christians Church services. Now Christians are told that they can no longer recite their Malay Bible in their Sunday services, if the recital contain the word:"Allah". The situation quickly got worse with the raiding of the Bible Society Malaysia and the subsequence seizing of over 300 Bibles and detaining of the president of the said society.

All in all, 2014 will be remembered and etched into Malaysia history as a year started with a brutal assault on the freedom of religion of Christians.

Then, we have our local vegetable, the Kangkung being made famous world wide, courtesy of our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. At this age of Internet Social Media, where a faux pas would earned a country leader instance infamy, it is unfortunate for Datuk Seri Najib to be caught on video while making the kangkung blunder. He had, in essence, repeated history: From the infamous "Let them eat cake" of French origin to the much more ancient "Why don't they eat meat?" uttered by the Emperor Hui of Jin.

From another perspective, it is a fortunate turn of event for Malaysians on the street because the Kangkung has saved the day. The public attention is now being brought back to what really matters, our stomach. While Allah was used as a weapon to divide, the humble kangkung unifies. It resonate so well with all strata of the Malaysian society that everyone responded in unison and in one voice: cynicism. And that is how kangkung was introduced to the world.

I would not fault religious Malaysians from reading more into this with claims that Kangkung was a divine intervention trying to stop Malaysia from sliding down into the abyss of hatreds and chaos. The particular choice of the unifying tool: the humble kangkung does seem like the perfect divine choice against the mighty political apparatus of the government religious enforcement unit. But alas, I'm ahead of myself.

But it is ironic seeing how things have turned. The ruling regime had in fact created a very successful red herring that diverted the public attention from governance failures... then the kangkung strikes and now it was their leader that is in the cross-hair, yet again. And on top of it all, it was due to his own doing! Poetic justice?

Now is only the start of 2014, half way through the first month of the year, it seems we will have another roller coaster ride in 2014. If there weren't any serious consequences for Malaysia, I would really love to just sit back and enjoy the show. So, hang on tight my fellow Malaysians, rough ride ahead!