WITH question marks still dangling over what actually happened to Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370, Malaysians are hit by yet another disaster that robbed 298 families off their loved ones.
Flight MH17 flying out of Amsterdam enroute to Kuala Lumpur was said to have been gunned down over Ukrainian airspace before crashing in the vicinity of troubled Donetsk.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in a press conference, with various nationalities involved in this tragic incident, the one thing we all shared in common was that we were united in grief.
What does that mean to the average Malaysian who makes up the majority online population of the country with regards to social networks? Create
hashtags of course.
We pray on Twitter.
We criticise on Facebook. We find idiots who make insensitive comments. We take a screen grab. We share. We criticise them. Others join in. More idiots surface. We criticise those, too.
In between, we pray. Still on Twitter and Facebook.
When news broke that the plane was believed to have been shot down, I was at home.
After a few minutes of scrolling through the news and chat conversation with colleagues, I was out of the door and pushing my car to its limits on the highway heading to the office.
After that, things went from zero to frantic in a matter of minutes. I was angry, upset and confused. As is usually the case for an avid social network user, I turned to Twitter and Facebook, but I could not vent the way I normally would.
I saw insensitive comments, I saw prayers, I saw support tweets, I saw critical ones. I wanted to say something, but the only thing that came to mind was, “Shut up, shut up all of you. Just shut up.”
MH17 made me realise one thing. That as an average person on social networks, I make no difference whatsoever with my Twitter, Facebook, Instagram accounts in the face of unspeakable tragedies.
I ask myself what is the point of praying on social networks. When God requires no medium.
Being a Muslim, I believe in Allah and that He hears me even when I don’t speak. Which means He hears me even when I don’t tweet.
I realise that the best thing Malaysians can do for Malaysia right now is to lay off social networks and pray in silence.
It sickens me to see insensitive people getting the limelight when people share their status updates, even if it is in the name of criticising or showing disapproval.
In light of this tragedy, what does it matter that we take insensitive pricks and drag them through the proverbial mud? Isn’t that what they crave for, attention? So why give them attention when the best remedy to these idiots is to ignore them altogether?
What happened to those on board MH17 is devastating. It is a tragedy which will haunt us for the rest of our lives.
Ask those who were around when tragedy struck MAS Flight 653 which was on its way to Kuala Lumpur from Penang but was diverted towards Singapore and crashed over Tanjung Kupang in Johor.
Have they forgotten the tragic day in 1977 where all 100 people on board perished, and the mystery of what happened remains unsolved to this day?
This, too, will continue to haunt us. So what will hashtags and criticism on social networks achieve?
The nation is grieving. It needs to heal. Nothing we can say on social networks will make the pain go away. Not for the family members of those on board, not even for us.
What is even more meaningful and powerful than status updates and meaningless hashtags is the prayer within our heart. God does not need hashtags.
Go silent for a week. Look around you and reconnect with reality. Leave the news reporting to the media and let politicians bicker all they want. We can be the bigger person in the face of unspeakable sorrow.
The wound on our beloved country cannot be healed if we continue to criticise it or criticize those who criticise it. Either way, we are only adding to the problem. Just like how sometimes we take time off from work and head for a holiday to clear our minds, do this for Malaysia.
Log off for a week, because
we don’t need hashtags to pray.
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