“One day, they could come for you.”

How I got into the story started from last year while I was in the NST. This is the article.
  

The news reporters from paper’s Selangor bureau had covered much ground when it came to the cow’s head protest. They had spoken to people in Taman Ixora, Section 23, Shah Alam and gotten responses to the protest.

There was also a lot of feedback about how residents felt about the relocation of a historic temple to their neighbourhood. Since it was the relocation of the temple that supposedly sparked the protest. 

But my article was not specifically on the cow’s head protest and chaotic MBSA dialogue that followed. It was how that incident tied into the rise of Malay supremacist groups. The article also looked at whether such a gruesome display of civic rights meant that the average Malay was getting more intolerant and that they were prepared to resort to more vicious means to get their feelings across.

Somehow that incident never left my mind. That the cow’s head protestors were a vocal, militant minority had been established. But what I wanted to know was what the “silent majority” of Taman Ixora felt towards them.

More importantly, why did this silent majority sit back and allow the militant minority to act and speak in their name? Were they scared of them? Did they not care that a group of 10 or so men had hijacked their community and gone on to do things on their behalf?

If they could allow this group to lord over them, what happens when they do something more drastic the next time some communal issue crops up? For instance, if non-Muslims want to have special gatherings or kenduri at their houses and the noise and guests spill out into the streets? Would the community sit by while this group goes up and threatens the non-Muslim residents?

It sounds paranoid but think about it. If you sat by and allowed a group of people to carry the head of a dead cow through the streets in your name, then you’re telegraphing to them that you agree with them.

Emboldened by your permission, they’ll feel that they can do anything. The next time they won't be reluctant to start intimidating your neighbours. If you sit by, then you’re sending a message to those bullies that you’re not going to get involved. That this kind of behaviour is ok. Even worse, that you agree with them.

It’s like that saying when the Nazis started rounding up people for death camps in 1940s Germany:
“When they came for the communists, I did nothing. When they came for the Jews, I did nothing. And then one day, they came for me.”

This is what the film was going to be about. Whether the people of Taman Ixora, Section 23 will allow history to repeat itself.

ends