The 14th General Election (GE14) will be held in fewer than 100 days. As we look back, it seems that we have come a long way since the 13th General Election (GE13).
Since the introduction of goods and services tax (GST) on 1 April 2015, the cost of living has risen tremendously for the people on the street. Salaries on the other hand, have not improved much. The education system is deteriorating and the government even tried to cheat in Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) to paint a rosier picture[1]. Many young people are unemployed with youth unemployment rates as high as 10% and even when they are employed, many of them are not earning enough to afford a decent living.
We are also facing the biggest corruption scandal in our country’s history – 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which has grabbed not only local but also international headlines. However, our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, whose personal account allegedly contained funds syphoned from 1MDB amounting to RM2.6 billion, remains strong in the highest position in the land.
Against this backdrop are not much of discussions on how to mend the broken institutions, systems and economy, but increased disunity and intolerance among the different communities in Malaysia. Identity politics of race, religion and region have been used irresponsibly for political convenience and gain.
To add salt into the wound, the opposition bloc Pakatan Rakyat, which once represented hope in GE13, faced with internal bickering since the prolong Selangor Menteri Besar crisis in 2014, and finally broke apart with PAS severed ties first with the DAP then PKR.
I was elected into the State Assembly of Selangor in GE13 and is the youngest member of the assembly. I witnessed in the thick of things how Menteri Besar crisis unfold and how the opposition bloc eventually broke apart. Frankly, as a young person who entered into politics wanting to see our ideals come true in the country, I struggled for a period of time with disappointment and disillusionment. Then I realised that we cannot give up on our country just because it appears to be hopeless. We need to continue to take active part in the real battle to bring change that we want to see.
In the midst of all the struggles and imperfections, we saw a group of progressive PAS leaders left the party they have spent many decades serving to form Parti Amanah Negara (PAN). We also saw another group of leaders, including the former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohd and former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, left UMNO to form Parti Pribumi Bersatu (PPBM). Not to forget Anwar Ibrahim, who could actually leave Malaysia as political exile, chose instead to stay on and faced jail term so that he could be physically with Malaysians in the struggle. Most importantly, all of them put aside their past and personal feelings and decided to work together under the banner of Pakatan Harapan. If you think those were easy decisions, please think again.
It was exactly because those leaders made the inconvinient choices that now all change-seeking Malaysians see hope that it is still possible to stop Malaysia’s downward trajectory and restore our country to be a country we will be proud to call home again.
Are Pakatan Harapan leaders perfect? No, absolutely not. No one is perfect and no one will be. Throughout the years, I have come to the realisation that even the most convicted and passionate of politicians are sinners that are trying to do the right things for the country.
Indeed, things are far from perfect now, but so were the situations for all the great achievements in the history of mankind. Did Abraham Lincoln wait for the perfect situation to end slavery? Did Nelson Mandela wait for the perfect situation to end Apartheid? Did Martin Luther King wait for the perfect situation to fight against racial segreation? No, because perfect situations would never come.
Six years ago, random episodes of life brought me into politics. After six years of seeing and experiencing real politics, I want to tell the Malaysian public, especially the young, that I still believe that politics is about pursuing dreams, ideals and the belief that our country can and will be better in the future. However, the ideals we have for our country should not bring us into passivity just because we cannot “get there” now, but launch us into actions through active political participation so that we can make progress to “get there”.
These Theodore Roosevelt’s words constantly remind me to always choose to stay in the arena,
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
This generation of Malaysians must choose to be in the arena no matter how imperfect the situations are; we must get our hands dirty, and keep on doing so until we succeed in rebuilding Malaysia. God willing, we’ll be able to change the fate of the country within this generation. Even if in the end we fail, let us at least fail while daring greatly. Inaction will never make the country better, only daring imaginations as well as incessant real, pragmatic and sometimes slow and painful actions will.
We are 100 days from GE14, my prayer for all Malaysians especially the young ones, is that we will realize how our country’s destiny depends on the choice we make today. Everyone of us plays a part in this. I have chosen to hope for change, to stay in the arena, and to do the best I can in the next 100 days, so my country has a fighting chance to embark on the road of recovery after GE14.
Friends, I would like to encourage you to plan what you want to do in the next 100 days –volunteer as Polling Agent and Counting Agent (PACA) or if you want to do more, donate and contribute your talents to the political party you support or election related NGOs like Bersih. Even if you can’t do any of those, at least make sure you get out to vote on the polling day.
Remember, inaction and passitivity will never make the country better, only real actions will.
[1] Ong Kian Ming. Did the education ministry artificially boost Malaysia’s school scores? Malaysiakini. 8 Dec 2016 [cited 31 Aug 2017]. Available from https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/365550