KUALA LUMPUR : Reports on the violence in Syria, with the name of president Bashar al-Assad and his regime being linked to the deaths of thousands of Syrians have hogged medias all over the world.
Many highlight the massacres and excessive force while forgetting that the violence has continued for more than a year and it needs to stop.
In an exclusive interview with The Mole last night, Mother Superior Agnes Mariam of St. James the Mutilated Monastery in Syria’s Qara, said it is time to put this violence to a stop.
"It is enough, this violence is not resolving anything, it is a part of the problem. It is not a solution," Mother Agnes who has been a huge proponent of peace against the violence in Syria said last night.
She is in Kuala Lumpur to attend a talk on the Syria uprising organised by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation this morning.
"Syrians are very diversed, a very old civilisation...noble, it is important to make bridges and amend the situation," she said.
Using Kuala Lumpur as an example of peace and an excellent practice of the democratic system, Mother Agnes said in Kuala Lumpur a whole civilisation has been built through dialogues of harmony and prosperity.
"Prosperity comes from justice and peace. In Syria, we have to learn to change the war into peace," she said.
An excerpt of the interview with Mother Agnes on the Syrian issue:
Q: What is the current state in Syria and how will Syrians, and everyone else who want to end the violence work together towards achieving a more peaceful Syria after all that happened?
A: Well, we should go back to our original inspiration. We must remember that God is higher than us, He has commanded that we live as brothers and we cannot oblige the other to become like us. Each one of us is responsible, so if we acknowledge the other in this diversity and we have to believe that all religions, if they are well understood, lead to peace and lead to love..
So we have to strive not to manipulate the concept of religion, we must put human lives above all, above economic or geopolitical interest, saving lives should be our priority above all else.
Both sides (President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the Free Syrian Army rebels) in Syria have their own goals. If we look back at how the uprising begun more than a year ago and had it remained in peace, we would already have a new Syria today.
However..the temptation to answer violence with violence and now it has become a hellish cycle. It is time to stop.
Violence should not be justified, nobody should justify the violence. It is enough.
Syrians are great people, in all its diversity and the majority of Syrians want the values for which the uprising begun. We want the values of democracy and equality but we don’t want to pay with chaos, divisiveness, hatred and partition, because if men/human being is not there to witness the achieved democracy what good will you get?
The European Union have declared that the solution in Syria cannot be nothing but peaceful.
The military means is a big demonish temptation. That’s why the 'mussalaha' initiative which is the reconciliation initiative is getting more and more support with many people wanting to hear about it and assist in achieving it.
'Mussalaha' is not among political parties, its not a political or a military stand. It is a stand made by the civilians. We have the real Syrian population who says.."No..not like this, violence is not the way.",
We must discipline the uprising to achieve what it aimed but not through anymore violence and we are getting that support.
We think in the beginning, it is something very similar, in its purity, in its cause, like in Tunisia and Egypt. The people, who are the citizens of the nation saying the same word, wanting to achieve the same thing.
But unfortunately this was only in the beginning but afterwards something happened. Something happened and it became too complicated and something needs to be done to change that.
Q: There have been reports saying that there have been quite a number of articles and news reports which were biased and unfair can you comment on that?
A: You know the means used by some friends of Syrians with intention of helping the uprising were not suitable. They were not based on values. They wanted to achieve something virtually and it is an error. We have witnessed a lot of forged reports, it is a mass media forgery giving a wrong perception of what is really happening in Syria. Now, this may last for a while, but slowly I can see more reporters coming to Syria or contacting us to listen and report about the truth and not fabrication.
Some of those reports which were supposed to help the uprising were made in such a way that it becomes counter-productive.
Some reporters who come to Syria try to paint the fighters as very noble (of course we respect every person)...a violent person from whichever side, cannot be idolised, it is like justifying the violence and we cannot allow violence to be justified.
Those people who are fighting and dying, from both sides are also human beings, they have families and friends and we just don't want people dying anymore.
Q : There is this strong force that’s pushing everyone together towards peace and harmony, but with this kind of attitude or approach of fabricated and unfair reports, how will a successful 'mussalaha' materialise?
A : Well it is happening, slowly but it is being done. It is implemented locally, in a way it is forming a kind of network. From town to town even from street to street the locals, the chiefs of families and tribal chiefs are working on it, promoting peace.
You would be surprised but there are some people in Syria who are still loyal to the regime. This is a reality,it’s a freedom of thinking. Some still want to continue how it was before. We also have people who want to change, they want change so badly. We also still have communists in Syria, parties from communist radicals, like seculars and religious parties in Wahhabis or Sallafis way.
But the pertinent question would be, would they be able to live together and respect each other?
The ones who are able to respect one another despite its differences will fit into the new Syria. But if you don’t have respect and you want to implement another totalitarian system even if it is done with good intention it will not work.
You cannot oblige someone to believe what you believe, God respects your freedom, it’s a choice and there should be no force.
If we can arrive at an arrangement in a democratic way, why not?
Q: You said that peace and reconciliation is wanted by everyone, what is the role of the West, the Americans on this?
A: I haven’t spoken to the Americans, but we are looking for that opportunity.
Now they are busy with their election, they may not have time to listen or to consider anything outside their country at the moment.
But we know that Europe is considering, and I can tell you that very high authorities in Europe are interested in the Mussalaha initiative.
Pope Benedict XVI said in his visit to Lebanon, that the solution in Syria is through dialogue and reconciliation, and he asked every Christian to be a servant of reconciliation in its society with their own resources.
We won’t accept violence. These words were uttered before “If you don’t want to do what I want you to do, we will eliminate you (Al-Assad),” but now most Syrians are saying “We don’t want anyone eliminating anyone, although we did have demonstration, in the upraised cities, which are completely independent of the regime.
But because of the exaggeration from both sides of the divide, people are now saying, drop your arms, we want to reach what we aim for peacefully because armaments have created chaos everywhere.
Mother Agnes stressed that in a country as diversified and multi-ethnic as Syria, achieving democracy must be done slowly and carefully. Syrians have been living under a totalitarian rule for a very long time, where everything is regimented and controlled.
"Wanting to implement democracy in just one year is not possible, people in Europe for instance and even here in Malaysia, have been living in a democratic rule and is used to it."
"Syria is not the same like the European countries or Malaysia, it is a different nation, so implementing democratic rule will need time, it will take place but it will need patience and a lot of respect and understanding, we have to give time to try," said Mother Agnes.
She said, it is not fair sometimes to hear Syrians who are abroad shouting and demanding for a revolution. When they are asked when was the last time they have been back to Syria, their answer would sometimes be "30 years" sometimes more.
"This is a bit unfair, because they don't really know what's happening in their own country, for being away too long," said Mother Agnes concluding that everything is not lost in Syria and there is hope.