I’ve never felt more hopeful for Malaysia than today. Now. At this very moment.
It helps that I live in Penang, the state that is a little bit of rebellious rock ‘n roll.
It helps that we have a Chief Minister who doesn’t mince his words nor goes around frying up char kueh teow to please the crowd.
He may make mistakes here and there, but you know what, he is also undoing the mistakes of the past 30 or so years.
Cleaning up takes time. Dirt has inertia.
At least he’s got balls. Can’t stand a man who has no guts.
You know, the courage to stand up for what’s worth standing up for. Remember this man was jailed for his beliefs and fighting the truth.
Yes, since 2008, I’ve felt even more hopeful. The coalition may be a bit unsteady on its feet at some point but the thing I see is, it has managed to transcend the boundaries of race and religion.
Before, you voted for your race representative.
Now, people will vote for a solid belief, hope for the future. I’ve heard friends saying, “I don’t care if he’s Indian, Malay or Chinese. I am voting for change.”
It’s not a fad, nor a radical new thing which will fade with time. It seems to me that Gen X and Gen Y are happier unshackled by the ghosts of 1969. We are a lot more fearless because we don’t know that bogeyman. It’s not real to us and it doesn’t mean a thing.
It doesn’t take us away from our hopes.
This brings me to my vision of what one day we will be.
We will be true Malaysians.
Call me an idealist but I’d rather be a warrior idealist any day and fight a good fight than be a chicken and pretend things are all going well when they aren’t. I’ve written about friends who emigrate and I wonder if they’ve lost all hope and prefer going away.
Whatever it is, I am eternally optimistic that things will be better once we are all Malaysians – not just Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Kadazan etc.
Yes, dirt has inertia but there are ways to make things clean again.