There must be HOPE

Just checked my twitter, an MP is following me, one whom I don’t think I care for. I wonder if I scare easily? Hmmm…

I would like to think I’m non-partisan. I’ll just call a spade a spade, like what my father-in-law told someone ages ago. God knows, truth needs to prevail during such trying times when there’s much more out there than meets the eye.

I’m going to be 52 by the end of this year. It’s about time to age gracefully. I hope to age somewhat like Md Kian Sit Har, the septuagenarian Malacca MCA Wanita Chief. She insists that the party must stand up against any BN wrongdoing. By bravely taking part in Bersih 3.0 in Malacca, she saw how many were united in wanting fair and free elections. She was also taken aback by the youthful participation. She gave a very honest, candid and realistic take on what Bersih was all about.

One foot already in the grave

Why is it that there are others out there, with one foot already in the grave, still hope to divide and rule with their malicious and evil suggestions? One even broke the nation’s heart. After all this while when you think there’s that someone out there who could help make things better, he turns around and does otherwise.

It reminds me of someone who shocked me to death one day with his outburst. All this while, I thought that this someone was above pettiness. After I heard all that he had to say that fateful day, I realized why some people around him treated us the way they did. They fed on his resentment of us, something we didn’t know. Though he himself didn’t exhibit any bitterness initially, we were treated oddly now and then by those around him. After the outburst, we realized to our disbelief, that they resented us all this while. It wasn’t help that we rendered each other all this while, out of love. Apparently, we “owed” it to them and we still “owe” them an eternal debt.

Some people deem it fit that others be given a rod, instead of the two fishes, yet they themselves think they should have an unceasing supply of fishes. How people can spin to suit their own interests is indeed shocking. Every which way but wrong, so time to hold our peace. Let’s just pray for our detractors and wish them well.

How to trust someone who will cheat us blind at GE-13

How can we give a mandate to someone who’s bent on dividing the rakyat? How can we give a mandate to someone who’s bleeding the nation dry, him and his cronies? How can we give a mandate to someone who’s going to cheat us blind at the elections?

All his feather-brain schemes, 1this, 1that, to feed his and his cronies’ appetite for more and more, are just plain criminal! He shouts reform, he shouts 1Malaysia but apparently some of us here are not even considered an equal after years of blood, sweat and tears toiling our motherland.

Some of us even have to hide in closets when all they want is just the same rights accorded to the next Malaysian. What is 1Malaysia when not all can taste that 1Malaysian dream? Can we have any more hope in such a person and his stooges? If we can’t, then let’s just ditch them and support those whom we can.

Between faith and love

Hope goes unnoticed between faith and love. Hope is not an easy optimism; it is the capacity to endure when faced with trials. Those who hope bear trials and persecutions with patience and perseverance. If hope is no longer alive, faith and love remain powerless.

Look at what the powers-that-be are doing, lately. Do their actions give us hope? Look at what Bersih does for us. We can, numbering to the tune of hundreds of thousand Malaysians here and abroad, take to the streets to live a dream - a demand for fair and free elections. At Bersih, we, Malaysians of all ages, irrespective of who and how we call our God, walk hand-in-hand together, more united and determined than ever, fight for what is good for our beloved motherland.

For that we must thank those who helm the Bersih Steering Committee, namely Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan, Datuk A. Samad Said, Ahmad Shukri Abdul Razab, Andrew Ambrose, Andrew Khoo, Anne Lasimbang, Arul Prakkash, Arumugam K., Awang Abdillah, Dr Farouk Musa, Hishamuddin Rais, Liau Kok Fah, Maria Chin Abdullah, Matthew Vincent, Niloh Ason, Richard Y. W. Yeoh, Dr Subramaniam Pillay, Dato’ Toh Kin Woon, Dr Wong Chin Huat, Dato’ Yeo Yang Poh and Zaid Kamaruddin. (If I inadvertently left out anyone, please forgive my transgression.)

Those are the brave-hearts who give us hope. A hope that we can put in people who can represent us fairly and truly at the government. They could just easily sit back and rear ornamental fishes but they stick their necks out for the love of their children, friends and neighbours. For our beloved motherland to be true to herself and her rakyat, for the generations to come to have a future before it’s all gone. We must take the cue from them for I fear if we don’t, our very own will be counted among the marginalized and lost.

Stand with Bersih, don't falter now

We must stand with Bersih. We cannot allow those who helm Bersih to go it alone. Look at our pathetic powers-that-be. Each and everyone fighting to get a piece of the pie before it’s all gone. Scratching each other’s back to protect their self-interests when it’s convenient to do so, when in actual fact, they are rather isolated in their personal quest and are doubtful about each other.

We must throw in our support behind Bersih and have faith in them. They have proven, time and again, that our faith is not misplaced. How can anything that translates to love for our fellow Malaysians ever be misplaced? We must have hope and this cannot remain within us as just another personal conviction. We have to work with one another; we are in this together. We, like the Bersih Steering Committee, have to risk it all. We have to make decisions inspired by faith, in those who give us hope.

It’s heartening like Md Kian said to see the young so concerned for their future. Rightfully, so. What about those of us, already taking count of the number of nails being driven into our coffins? Are we still making personal plans – to earn more, to buy more, to have a jolly good time whenever we can? Have we forgotten, meanwhile, to do what’s right?

We know it has to be done and we know how to do it. But what we do not know is whether we still have the time to do it, before it’s all too late. Ambiga was right to say we have failed our children for far too long. So, please stop the rot, now.  We may die without having done what mattered most.

Do we love or do we not?

We have to be brave, just like those who helm Bersih. We have to have faith in ourselves and others. We can do this together. We cannot allow ourselves to be intimidated by the unimaginative and crude obstacles thrown our way for in doing so, we will lose everything.

There are only 2 classes of people – those who love and those who do not love.

Those who love give others hope.Those who love don’t make the presumption that they know all the answers like the old lion. More than that, they don’t make the mistake of presuming that they are alone in their quest for justice and equality.

Bersih has shown we are not alone. Bersih is the transformation we need so badly to put us on the right track. It is that grace that will bind our hearts and mind. Bersih is us - Malaysians who truly care for one another. That hope for our beloved motherland. God bless.

Malaysia Chronicle