Sivin Kit's Garden

I received the following plea in my email inbox today. .. I thought it was worth sharing. This silent caring Malaysian speaks loudly!

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AN INNOCENT PLEA TO ALL MALAYSIANS

In the light of our 12th general election coming up real soon, this is my ‘5-minutes-of-fame’ and I hope I can reach out to as many Malaysians as possible with my simple plea! Let’s face it. The opposition is not going to win the elections and form the next government. Let’s be real. The current government is still going to be in control and we’ll be left contemplating what could have been for the next 4-5 years (again!). It seems like a lost cause, and when I think of it, I can’t help but be cynical about the whole state of affairs and our fate as genuine Malaysian citizens. BN’s going to win, so why bother?

But election after election, promises after promises and year after year, we hear of countless complains of injustices, unfair system, corrupt practices and incapable leaders who seem to speak and behave indecently without thinking (Malay, Chinese or Indians alike!), and we wonder “How the hell do these people become MPs and worse still, Ministers!!!”

I used to believe in the system. As an idealistic student and undergraduate in the late 80s and early 90s, I was told that in order to exact change, it’s better that we do it from within the system. No point barking up the wrong tree. “What can the opposition do from the outside?” That’s what I was told and that’s exactly what I used to tell my fellow student leaders. I believed in the system then. Work our way from within the system. Join BN. That’s the way it goes. Or so it seems.

The problems that are currently plaguing our country seem so outrageous, absurd and preposterous that it doesn’t seem possible at all. “Conspiracies like these only happen in Hollywood movies”, I remember one very famous politician saying. Stories that we hear all the time before an election are all part and parcel of politics. Rumours, backstabbing, slander, character assassination. All politics. And anyone thinking of a career in politics must know this, otherwise don’t bother. So that’s why, we have been so immune to these stories that we shrug off and say, it just can’t be true. How absurd it is to think that a Chief Justice, a title used to be called Lord President, a position that is akin to the Prime Minister in the true separation of power branch, be linked to corruption? How absurd it is to think that our Ministers are involved in scandalous acts and get away with it? How absurd it is to think that the powers that be can conspire against the entire country with lies and deceit? It just can’t be true… it cannot be true. Or so it seems.

Many of us have lived overseas. We got our degrees, Masters, PhD from foreign universities. Though we know that there’s no country like Malaysia, with our ‘the tariks’, all night mamak stalls, nasi lemak, roti canai, Penang char koey teow, Ipoh chicken rice, and many more…we had a secret aspiration that Malaysia ought to be like them. The public transport system, the social welfare system, the education system, the democratic system, the political system, and many more. You know what I am talking about.

We are so proud of our ‘unity’. We tell the world we are ‘truly Asia’. We proudly confess that all 3 major races can live in ‘harmony’. But are we truly ‘united’? You answer me, honestly. A Gambian friend doing his MBA back in the 90s at UM told me, after being in the country for 2 years, realized that our ‘peace’ and ‘unity’ was like a giant spring compressed. It’s contained for the time being, but if released may unleash something even more disastrous than what we saw on May 13th. I was intrigued by that statement, though at that time I fervently opposed it and defended our ‘unity’. Years have passed since then, and I myself have seen my fair share of ‘unity’ moments. After 51 years of independence, we still have dominant political parties along racial lines, we still have ‘bangsa’ in our passports, we lost contracts because of our skin colour, we have Ministers telling us to ‘balik’!

What can we do? What can anyone do? Someone did. He got punched in the eye and sent to prison. We need reform but can we ever attain it? The government that we have has become so powerful that one wonders if there is hope. Any government for that matter, will do anything within its power to stay in power. That is fine. But when civil liberties are gambled, when justice is sacrificed and raped, when power is corrupted, then it is time that WE, the silent majority stand up and be counted.

IT IS TIME THAT WE STAND UP AND BE COUNTED! Every vote counts! Even if it’s for a losing opposition candidate. It’s time we make a stand that we are not happy with what’s going on and that we have a voice! To those who feels that this is a lonely fight, let me tell you that all of you, all of us, we are the hope. If we fail to see how each of us can do something, then I say we have lost. I am only one, but still I am one. I can’t do everything, but I can do something. And because I can’t do everything, I will not refuse to do the something I can do.

SO PEOPLE! LET’S VOTE FOR OUR FUTURE.

I VOTE FOR A FUTURE THAT WILL SEE A NEW MALAYSIA EMERGE.

I VOTE FOR A FUTURE THAT WILL SEE MALAYSIA UNITED.

I VOTE FOR A FUTURE THAT WILL SEE MALAYSIA TRULY MALAYSIA!

That FUTURE starts now. So, vote wisely!

IT’S TIME TO MAKE A STAND TO OUR GOVERNMENT!

Sincerely yours,
A silent caring Malaysian who has stayed silent too long!