LETTER | The people of Cambodia and Thailand must have heaved a sigh of relief that peace talks in Malaysia ended quickly with both sides agreeing to an immediate ceasefire.

The cessation of hostilities is welcomed by Asean nations and peace-loving people throughout the world.

However, when a country is enjoying peace, there will be selfish leaders out to exploit race, religion, language, nationalism and all forms of identity politics to condemn others just to gain popularity.

Unfortunately, most of them succeed because people are usually more emotional than rational - including those deemed to be highly educated, intelligent, religious, or ought to know better.

Religions do not discriminate against people by race or language. Yet throughout history, devout followers have often victimised their fellow human beings. For example, slavery was practised for over 200 years in the US by white Christians who read the Bible daily.

Today, we have a political party in Malaysia using the name of Islam, playing the race card to win support from the majority of the voters, ignoring the fact that Islam spread overland to China soon after it was founded in the 7th century via the ancient Silk Road.

Much later, Islam was brought to Malacca in the 15th century by Muslim traders via sea routes and also by Muslim missionaries from China, including those that came after the seven expeditions between 1405 and 1433 led by Admiral Zheng He, who was himself a Muslim.

Understanding Trump

Back to Southeast Asia, mercifully, the powers that be in Cambodia and Thailand did not wish to play the nationalist card, unlike US President Donald Trump. Sadly, most people could not differentiate between being ultra-nationalistic and genuinely patriotic.

Trump may be a nationalist but he is not a patriot. Being nationalistic means to do everything for one's country, disregarding other nations and also the harm it may bring to its own citizens.

His "Make America Great Again" (Maga) slogan and tariff wars are hurting not only countries trading with the US, but are also harming the American people and its economy.

Patriots contribute positively to the nation and are admired universally. Nationalists may raise national flags, sing national anthems and engage in rhetoric, but these are just for show,

On the other hand, patriots silently study or work hard, are productive, pay taxes, do voluntary work, contribute to society and charity, and live in harmony with others.

Hypocrites

Those who claim to fight for our country but look down on fellow citizens are actually hypocrites. Many choose the easy path by sowing hatred, instead of working hard to lift their community.

Those living near country borders may have different nationalities, but they are largely the same people and lifestyles. Many have family members and relatives living on both sides, not just at the Cambodia-Thai border, but also the Malaysian-Thai and Malaysian-Singapore borders.

It is unlikely that the local people on both sides of a border would want to cause harm to one another. However, it is a different story when leaders of a central government or military are on shaky ground and use offence as the best defence in justifying an invasion or bombing raid to muster support.

As for the US, all countries it has ever bombed, invaded and occupied after World War II are growing. The best example is Vietnam. Today, visitors to Vietnam would be wondering how the unnecessary Vietnam War served the US.

In 1960, there were only 900 American troops in South Vietnam, which grew to 23,300 in 1964 and peaked at 543,400 in 1969, before withdrawing totally in 1973, with 58,220 already dead.

In 1995, the US and Vietnam established diplomatic relations, which allowed for the resumption of travel and trade.

Although a few million Vietnamese were killed in the war along with several hundred thousand Cambodians and tens of thousands of Laotians, past hostilities were quickly forgotten.

This is because people desire peace much more than nationalism and other forms of identity politics.

On our part, we must always have the wisdom to know what is good for our country and not let raw emotions consume us and do foolish things.

YS Chan is a master trainer for Mesra Malaysia and Travel and Tours Enhancement Course and an Asean Tourism Master Trainer. He is also a tourism and transport business consultant.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.