We have stopped being afraid

To the ‘has-beens’ of the BN coalition, never underestimate the power of a common man. You kept the rakyat hungry and wanting for far too long. Satiating the bottomless pits of your greed finally broke the camel’s back.

We the rakyat were hoodwinked by superficial speeches made by seasoned politicians, brazen and smug only by virtue of their high positions. Some overwhelmed by feelings of patriotism, others out of fear, we as a nation were loyal and supported you for six decades in the hope that life for our children would get better sooner than later.

But, ‘A better Malaysia’ was never to be seen under your regime. What have you done for our country that would make every Malaysian’s heart swell with pride? On the last night of campaigning, when you had to make the pitch of your life, there was a glaring contrast between you and your opponents.

Pakatan Harapan spoke about upholding the sovereignty of Malaysia, encouraging diversity of culture, the future of our children, equality in wages, job opportunities with mindfulness of the right man for the right job and women empowerment. Tun M made good his promise by endorsing Wan Azizah as deputy prime minister.

While Pakatan Harapan came across as sincere and truly committed to building our nation again, your pitch was almost comical bordering on insulting. As we waited with bated breath for ‘good news for the people’ we believed you would act for the betterment of your people.

But instead you dangled an unappetising and shrivelled up carrot in the form of two special holidays after the elections, a toll-free Hari Raya Aidilfitri, full tax exemptions and refunds for the year 2017 for youths aged 26 and below, a 100% BR1M increase, increments for civil servants, and cash benefits for religious teachers, farmers and fishermen.

You chose nepotism over meritocracy, cementing your positions valued only by money, not yours but ours. Promises of large cash handouts, offering a bag of rice here and a packet of sugar there along with hollow declarations of creating new jobs, improving public services and cost of living benefits among other tall claims had become stale.

In spite of your enormous resources and the clout of your positions, a skewed media, gerrymandering of boundaries, absurd laws, an ill-timed polling date, the inconsideration for overseas postal voters, the top brass rooting for you, open threats, mind-boggling gifts, ridiculing your opponents, you managed to cover all but one base, the ‘one’ whom you have taken for granted all along - the Malaysians.

Watching Pakatan Harapan brimming with hope, spreading sentiments of brotherhood, equality, unity and compassion gave us the courage and nudge we needed in the right direction. Dr Mahathir Mohammad, 92 years young, touted as the ‘Developer’ of this great nation was unceremoniously shunned by your party that he helmed once.

He went on to join hands with his once arch-enemies. This coalition of four parties, who otherwise may have very little in common have come together for a common interest, their unconditional love for this country and rebuilding what you systematically destroyed.

We may have been afraid, but we are not weak. Undaunted by threats or hoaxes of a better tomorrow, we expressed our disdain for wrongful acts against us as a nation by coming out and voting in droves and achieved an 82.32% voting turnout, positively assisted by the weather gods giving us the perfect climate.

We were not complacent and indifferent because our homes had not been affected yet. We have stopped being afraid and let our voices be heard loud and clear, ‘We made you and you work for us’.

We have made a difference. A lesson to be learnt here is that no matter how rich you are or what car you drive, you have to wait in traffic. You can’t win a race against the public bus. Cash is not always king. -Mkini