BACK in September 2006, in my column in the New Straits Times, I wrote on the book Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen.
It was a disturbing read. His contention was that those responsible for the extermination of Jews were not just Nazi party members or SS men but “ordinary Germans of all walks of life, men (and women) who brutalised and murdered Jews both willingly and zealously”.
Blaming the entire German populace as complicit to one of the worst atrocities ever inflicted upon any particular race is, to say the least, shocking.
Goldhagen’s book fuelled a massive debate both in Germany and the United States. Historians were divided. Some hailed it as a monumental work, others lambasted it as nothing more than an attention grabber. One prominent Holocaust scholar found the contention “totally wrong”.
PETALING JAYA: A group of veteran Malaysian journalists has condemned the Israeli military’s bombardment on homes, offices and other infrastructure, including one that housed the offices of foreign media such as the Associated Press and Al-Jazeera.
The Group of Eminent Journalists said it was unthinkable that an army could target the offices of media practitioners.
“The Israeli airstrikes destroyed the Al-Jalaa Tower that housed the offices of several media organisations.
“All these actions are planned, which started with the eviction of a number of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarra neighbourhood, the right-wing mob attacks against Palestinians, the attacks against worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the strikes against targets in Palestine, ” the group said in a statement yesterday.
Israel amassing army for Gaza incursion, say senior journalists 16 May 2021 / 12:01 H. Fire erupts from the Andalus Tower as it is destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, early on May 16, 2021. AFP
PETALING JAYA: Israel may be amassing its army for an incursion into Gaza, a group of senior journalists in Malaysia said today.
Saying that the move would further inflame the situation, the group called for the atrocities perpetrated by the Israeli military to stop immediately.
“The rising tension amidst the current Covid-19 pandemic is totally unnecessary,” it said in a statement today.
As Malaysians celebrate Hari Raya this week, the balik kampung tradition will have to be given a miss again. However, our thoughts can still carry us home.
FOR the second year running, Sungai Balang Besar village in Muar district will be quiet this Hari Raya.
A former village head used to joke that on normal days there are probably about 30 cars in the village. During the festive occasion the number swells to 400.
There would be traffic jams in many places as the small road in the village could only accommodate one car passing through at a time.
Like most villages during the celebration, anak-anak perantau (literally wanderers) will come back braving the traffic on the highways just to be with their loved ones. The balik kampung exodus is a very Malaysian thing.