“‘And how do you conjure it?’
‘With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory.’”
- "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", JK Rowling
Memories are generally prone to distortion over time and mankind remembers positive events less vividly than negative ones, the latter being a good survival strategy.
With the fading of the black stain on my finger, I felt a lump in my throat – I want to remember May 9, 2018 for as long as I live.
It was a day young Malaysians told their elders that Malaysians are capable of accepting democratic change, that darurat (a state of emergency) would not happen and prove themselves right.
It was a day Malaysians persuaded their peers to go out and vote, because every vote counts and we can all make a difference.
It was a day Malaysians tried to win over people in the #UndiRosak camp – that voting can sometimes be a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils, and that to vote with conscience is a civic responsibility.
It was a day Malaysians reminded the politicians that we are not to be taken for granted, that there are more important things that matter to us than money, that when they go low (redelineation, passing of repressive legislation, mid-week polling day), we go high.
It was a day Malaysians showed their fellow Malaysians that help will always be given to those who ask for it - from employers to airlines to people who don’t know one another; from #UndiRabu to #PulangMengundi to #CarpoolGE14.
It was also a day Malaysians demonstrated dedication to their respective causes, whether it was as polling agents, counting agents, media presenters, news reporters, pilots, bus drivers and police officers.
It was, more importantly, a day Malaysians celebrated unity, democracy, peace and hope.
In the "Harry Potter" series, Dementors are “among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope and happiness out of the air around them”.
In contrast, a Patronus is “a kind of anti-Dementor – a guardian which acts as a shield between you and the Dementor”. It is “a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor feeds upon – hope, happiness, the desire to survive”.
Tonight, Malaysians go to bed knowing that whatever national Dementors we face in future, May 9, 2018 will be our collective single talisman memory in casting a Patronus. The Patronus shall, of course, take the form of a Harimau Malaya (Malayan Tiger).
KHOO SUK CHYI is a practising lawyer and a member of the Bar Council Task Force on the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) and Police Accountability. - Mkini
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