The true spirit of friendship

Graduation news of Raja Sara, the daughter of Raja Petra Kamaruddin immediately drew congratulations from readers of Malaysia Today. I feel proud too for her achievement of finishing studies in university.

However news of her graduation immediately drew a personal attack from a fellow member of the ruling party, United Malays National Organisation. The hate letter, written in broken Malay, was posted prominently as an entry on the news site. For an attack, uncalled for to be featured prominently under the limelight, I am sure that Raja Petra has his purpose of doing so and he has indeed achieved it.

The purpose of showing us the hate mail was to show us how lowly people can be.

I was appalled by the fact - how can a person, well educated from a prominent institution mentioned in national history, the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, writes such a derogatory piece. The Malay College was a secondary school meant for the royalty and elites, but now admits commoners.

Personal attacks are unwelcomed in the first place; using blood relatives for the purpose of personal attack is worse & should be out of bound.

Raja Petra responded to this personal attack like a well-educated person would. He pointed out how another schoolmate, behaved in the true spirit of friendship, visited Raja Petra in Manchester, putting friendship first and difference of political affiliation second, or even last. He quoted graduate attributes of the school and concluded that "MCKK (Malay College Kuala Kangsar) has failed you terribly and what the founding fathers hoped MCKK would achieve has been lost on you. How MCKK failed you so miserably is beyond me and if this is what MCKK has produced, demonstrated by your comments (link). I can only conclude that an MCKK education has been wasted on you at a great loss to the taxpayers."

At this time, I have noticed my former schoolmates are starting to take their political stance, especially during this rough period of Malaysian politics. It's always tempting to react. When I read a status update from a fellow friend (a BERSIH supporter): "I saw you putting PATRIOT (the group affiliated with UMNO Youth) badge on your picture, I didn't unfriend you because you are still my friend."

That is the true spirit of friendship all of us should uphold to be the bigger person.