A time for joy, peace and unity

After a bloody two-year carnage, there is hope for peace in Gaza. Peace and hope are also the messages that come with Deepavali, and United Nations Day.

FINALLY, the war has ended. Or we hope it has.

I must apologise. Calling it a war is a misnomer for it has been less of a war than a one-sided carnage.

In just two years, Gaza has been flattened, more than 70,000 have been killed and hundreds of thousands are homeless. But at least the bombs are no longer falling. Aid is pouring in, and with so many countries chipping in, rebuilding is possible. Donald Trump, in his usual flamboyance, says he is very adept at rebuilding.

Malaysia will build a school, a hospital and a mosque in Gaza. Others will build even more infrastructure. The United Nations (UN) says a whopping US$70bil (RM295.718bil) will be needed for the reconstruction.

Even football has got a fresh kick with world governing FIFA promising to build new stadiums and fields so the young can forget about stones and guns, and concentrate instead on boots and goals.

Busloads of Palestinian prisoners have been returned to their people, and the living Israeli hostages are home too. Hopefully, the dead will get closure soon.

Peace is at hand. There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.

It’s almost a Deepavali story.

Deepavali, which will be celebrated on Monday, is all about the victory of good over evil, light over darkness and the birth of renewed hope for prosperity.

There are several such stories behind the festival.

In parts of India, it is celebrated as the day when King Rama, an avatar of Lord Vishnu, and his brothers made a glorious return to their kingdom after a 14-year exile. It brought new hope to Ayodhya.

For others, it is the day when Lord Krishna killed the evil Narakasura. The demon’s death paved the way for the release of 16,000 women who had been held captive.

Narakasura also represents our pride, anger, ignorance and ego, all of which need to be burnt away. After destroying him, Krishna and his consort Satyabama – who struck the fatal blow – cleansed themselves with an oil bath, something Hindus do on the morning of Deepavali to this day.

There are other stories too. On this day, the dwarfish Vamana, yet another avatar of Lord Vishnu – one of Hinduism’s trinity – is said to have sent the egoistic King Bali into the netherworld.

Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and Vishnu’s better half, is also said to have emerged from an ocean of milk on this day.

Even the Sikhs have a story. It’s the day the sixth Guru, Hargobind, was released from prison by the Mughals, along with 52 other kings of princely states.

All stories deliver a similar message. Evil has to end, pride and ego have to go, hostages and prisoners must be freed and hope must spring forth.

Although the stories are many, the message remains the same. It’s about peace and prosperity on Earth.

But peace is a very elusive thing. Even in Palestine, there are gunmen going around executing others. And there are still skirmishes going on. The peace deal is tenuous, at best.

Meanwhile, the Russians are still bombing Ukraine, and more than 100,000 Ukrainians and 250,000 Russians are dead. Including injuries, the number of casualties is said to have breached a million people.

With the United States threatening to send in its Tomahawk missiles, more could die in that conflict. Peace does not seem to be on the cards anytime soon.

There is civil war in Sudan and in Myanmar. More than 150,000 people have been killed and more than 14 million displaced in Sudan.

In Myanmar, there are more than 6,000 civilian casualties, and the country is threatened by famine as more than 2,600 rebel groups fight each other.

And a new war is brewing between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Death has become common while common sense has become rare. There is so much that needs to be done – and there’s no Rama, Krishna or Vamana around.

Instead, it is up to us, the ordinary people, to do our best to end the never-ending cycle of violence in the world. If we can at least be at peace with those nearest to us, it will be a step forward.

Promoting peace, unity and global partnerships, after all, is also the theme of this year’s UN Day, which falls this Friday.

As the international body celebrates its 80th year – it was formed in 1945 – Oct 24 has become an important day to reaffirm its core values of peace and security, human rights and sustainable development.

Those are all values we could use in Malaysia, where we have hotheads using every opportunity to hurl abuses, deny minority rights and pit one against another.

In a diverse country like ours, we probably can only find peace and unity if we can stop these abusive practices, start understanding each other’s cultures and practices, and tolerating each other’s perceived weaknesses.

Deepavali means a path of light. This festival could be a spark to flame that dream of peace and unity, at least in Malaysia.

Let us hope for a bright path to a better future where there will be an end to all the bloodshed, ill-will and one-upmanship.

Happy Deepavali, everyone.