When fear rules

Fear!
That can help us avoid doing the things which can hurt us.
However, it can also sometimes prevents us from doing what is right.
And that is not the only consequence of experiencing fear. Remember that most of us are parents and as parents we are the examples which our children will follow. Our children will inherit the very same thoughts and attitudes towards things they face in life.

Now, where do the above thoughts emerge from? Well, in Malaysia today, the citizens have to be careful with what they utter in public, write on paper or on face-book. If the authorities were to deem what has been said or written as insulting to the government, the Islamic religion or one of our many rulers, the author of such material can be facing the sedition act.

So, it is not uncommon these days to not say what they see,  hear or know or believe in, for a statement of fact can be construed as seditious as long as certain people's feelings have been claimed to be hurt. So what kind of situation has arisen as a result of this? Perhaps, it is best illustrated by a comment from one of the readers from Malaysiakini, a news portal. Below is the copied comment with my comment given within brackets:
    
The comment: Remember the story of a young boy who shouted, "The emperor is not wearing any clothes"?

All the members of the court said the emperor’s clothes were the finest they had seen. The public agreed with the courtesans. (Why? Because all of them were afraid of disagreeing with the emperor. They fear the consequences of telling the truth!)

The emperor was fooled into believing the flattery of his inner circle. (And so, the emperor thought he was majestically right in his lovely invisible clothes when in actual fact he was totally naked.) Only the innocent boy really saw what everybody said they did not see. Sometimes real life is like that. (How true it is!)

It was only yesterday that someone told me her female neighbour was so stupidly courageous as to throw an old worn-out Malaysian flag into a dustbin. In a most horrified expression, she asked me to imagined what could possibly happened if somebody were to see it and report to the authorities. Oh, my God, imagine the trouble she could have got herself into, the lady cried.

Upon hearing this, I asked her what could be wrong with throwing away what is no longer useable. It obviously is the right thing for her neighbour to do. So, I asked her if she were the one with such a flag, how would she dispose of it.

"Oh, no!" she replied. If I were her, I would stealthily burn it when I am absolutely sure no one is around. I wouldn't want to get myself into trouble even though the flag ought to be replaced with a new one." she exclaimed. That is the kind of fear that may have got a good grip on Malaysians. 

"Not only that! Soon after that, another person came; wanted the stick holding the flag and so, ripped off the flag to be able to take only the stick home," she continued.

So, I asked her what was wrong with that. The guy wanted the stick but not the worn out flag. Certainly, he had to remove the flag from the stick.

"Ripping the Malaysian flag?" She put on a horrified face and stood rooted to the spot with some kind of fear in her expression.

Imagine such unwarranted fear even when there is no disrespect shown or felt for an object; even when it is doing the necessary.

Is such fear healthy? Maybe good for members of the Malaysian society to avoid being charged with sedition, but when society becomes so easily fearful over such small matters, there is certainly something wrong somewhere.