Our deepest condolences and sympathy to his family. He will always be remembered as a hero of the nation and the people.
Adib made the noble choice to serve his country by joining the Fire and Rescue Department with the aim of doing good in helping and saving the lives of people.
Sadly, he has become a victim of the culture of violence in our society.
We have seen an alarming rise in violent crimes, from sexual crimes, domestic aggression, road rage, hate crimes, child rape and abuse, gang fights, bar fights, bullying and gangsterism, to even animal cruelty and others.
Worst of all is the incredible threat of racial riots and people running amok in violence propagated by politicians and political parties, who seemingly get away scot-free without much repercussion from the authorities or people in power. Meanwhile other political parties are soft and inaudible in voicing out against these preposterous threats.
We blame it on the years of Umno/BN governance where such bullying and harassment of the dissenting rakyat was promoted, but they are not totally to blame as we look at recent events under the new Pakatan Harapan government by their own members.
Political parties are setting a bad example with the recent PKR party elections as an example. Their squabbles were made public and carried to extreme levels, promoting anger and hate and resulting in violent fights breaking out in their party elections all throughout the country.
And again, their leaders with their whispering low-key approach to reprimanding their members are appalling. An unconscious support of this violence is being promoted through their inaction or inadequate action.
Is this our culture? Is this what we are? Is this the culture we want for ourselves and the next generation?
Even up to now, they, the politicians, have shown it to be all about themselves, their unending fight for power breaking out from rank and file, expressing irreconcilable anger and hate against their fellow party members and colleagues.
Leaders set an example to the populace but sadly, ours do not seem to comprehend this thinking. This state of mind of anger, hatred and rage that is being publicly shown as an example to their followers and people does not help.
Leaders have followers and supporters, and any outburst or action causes an emotional experience of failure and humiliation and a psychological injury resulting in a badly bruised or damaged ego which could be translated to a desire for revenge and counter attack from their supporters and followers.
As a leader, you must learn to understand that it is no longer about you alone. Your action can cause a ripple effect or a chain reaction that could develop into a catastrophe which you might no longer be able to control.
At this stage, it seems pointless to depend on our political parties to even be able to see this culture of violence that is developing in our society as they seem too embroiled in their own troubles and challenges.
We call on the authorities as our hope and protector, and the police, to exercise greater power to prevent the spread of this culture of violence, and to put an eventual stop to this degradation of social order that we are now witnessing. The police must come down hard on all acts of violence and the book must be thrown at the culprits as a lesson that violence will not be tolerated.
We, the people, can and must play our part by being alert and contribute by reporting and recording any such event when possible, to be passed on to the police and to cooperate as witnesses of such events to assist the police in their investigation.
Let us all together put a stop to this culture of violence.
Written by Arthur Toh, an FMT reader