Just left a few minutes before my first class ends, my phone vibrates while I'm watching a Youtube video in Globalisation class. While my lecturer is not looking, I take a peak at the SBS Member Group chat through WhatsApp. Our president, Hon Pong sends a picture of the scene of the talk at JC 3 hall. The talk ends at 10.30am so that hits me want to go as well. At 9.42am, Ju Lynn and use the short cut which is the bridge that leads to the New University Building (NUB). Luckily, we didn't use the lift at the university building of the campus. The dialogue is organized by Sunway Student Council.
It's an awkward moment when I enter the hall but nonetheless the students are kind enough to offer me a front seat of the hall. I got a great view of the stage although my neck hurts when look up at the screen. Anyway, I settle myself down before turning my full attention to the speakers.
On the big screen, there are four speakers who represents each religion. Mr. Wong Chong Tat is the consultant of Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia (YBAM), Mr. Jason Leong is under the Christians for Peace and Harmony, Master Dr. A.S. Varadrajan is under the Malaysia Hindu Hendu and Dr. Wan Adli Wan Ramli from University Malaya. Not forgetting the moderator of the dialogue is Mr. Terrance Lim.
Each of the speaker takes turn to talk about their respective religion. This is very interesting! I thought. Mr. Wong speaks about greed and hatred, how should we avoid them. For example, someone takes up the parking lot when you are about to park the car in that very spot, just because of that you get down from the car and start a massive argument with the person who takes up the parking lot. It's because of the words "You" and "I" in that argument which divide us apart and we don't want that to happen. Another example is the experience of Mr. Wong going back to his hometown.
Mr. Wong took a midnight coach back to his hometown. Suddenly, the bus met an accident with a car. He said "I was also one of the kei po ci (busy bodies) to have a look. I saw a Malay man who was seriously injured so I asked the two Malay men beside me to say some grace to the victim to not think about the pain," That was very touching move made by Mr. Wong. Besides that, Dr. Varadrajan speaks about his family history. He mentions about cancer patients have a vegetarian diet. "If we eat roti canai but inside of the flour there is no nutrient at all! Same goes to us, please take care of your health," He also adds "When you step out of the hall later on, I bet some of you will forget immediately," The hall fills with laughter.
Mr. Jason Leong mentions about is better than justice. Through his experience as a lawyer, he says that in a court there will be a winner and a loser. If a sensitive issue has brought up in the court, it would be a big case to handle and there's no win-win situation. Mr. Jason also mentions about the false news that see on the Internet. Now, the Internet is so widespread there are a lot of false news every now and then. Finally, the floor is handed Dr. Wan Adli. In Islamic teaching, he mentions that we have to accept each other for who we are.
Token of appreciation are presented to speakers when the dialogue comes to a close. Lucky for me, I got to stay back for awhile to ask Mr. Wong a few of my personal experiences in college. Like the "friendship breakup" back in April. "Some of the students don't accept us for who we are. Like you for example, you have physical disabilities. Some of them think you are a burden to them so they said a mouth of hurtful words to you," He also adds "What you can do is just walk away with pride and find the friends who accept you just the way you are because in Buddhism, we always give them words of blessings," My question is finally answered!
Four religions during the dialogue but makes up one huge success! It doesn't matter which belief we are in, as long as we live together in harmony and unite together as one!
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