LETTER | Support political parties that embrace unitive consciousness

LETTER | The upcoming 15th general election will be an opportunity for Malaysians to reflect on one of the critical areas of nation building which is unitive consciousness.

Are Malaysians united in a real sense of word or are we separated by race and religion? Do see we see the good in others even thought we might have different political affiliation?

While having different ideas and approaches are unavoidable and part and parcel of human reality, do we have a consensus on the most basic aspects of humanity such the respect for human dignity and rights of all?

In order to have such an attitude, it is vital for all Malaysians to get the basics right by broadening one’s horizons and embracing plurality, diversity, and inclusivity. In other words, we need to embrace a unitive consciousness.

The nation’s meritocratic strength can only be built if it’s ingrained in unitive consciousness that embraces plurality, diversity, and inclusivity. This would ultimately lead to solidarity where we would be able to recognise our different social context and positions but still highlight the criticality of working together.

The prominent American Christian mystic Richard Rohr in his writing states that the ego is formed by contraction, while the soul is formed by expansion. The ego pulls into itself by comparing, competing, and separating itself from others: “I am not like that,” it says.

The soul, however, does exactly the opposite: “I am that.” It sees itself in God, the other, flowers, and trees, animals, and even the enemy: similarity instead of separateness. It participates in the human dilemma instead of placing itself above and beyond all tensions.

When one analyses the Malaysian political realm, we have major political parties that use the ego of race and religion as it basic foundation of survival, such as Umno, that leads in the name of race and religion together with ethnic parties like MCA and MIC.

PAS’ leaders tend to embrace an egoistic, religious, self-righteous image by accusing others of immorality while Bersatu’s core ideology is not much different from Umno. They stress separateness when challenged for accountability and stress unity when its suits their political context.

In Pakatan Harapan, we find Amanah as an ethnic-centric party, but yet it is united with bigger multi-ethnic parties such PKR and DAP that is distinct from an ego ethno-religious dominant coalition such as BN and Perikatan National.

This dominant ethno-religious BN and PN are no nation builders, because they believe in articulating the tribal parts rather than embracing unitive consciousness. It is through unitive consciousness that one is able to see the beauty and goodness in others in a sustained manner.

Therefore, the Association for Welfare Community and Dialogue (Acid) urges Malaysians to support political parties that are multi-ethnic and religious that embraces unitive consciousness in the upcoming general election. The future of the nation depends on such consciousness.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.