Letters from the Equator

BN in the drain, originally uploaded by jaremfan.

I stayed up till 2am until I exhausted all my anticipation of finding out the juiciest details regarding the Malaysian 2008 Election, in which I voted for the very first time as a born-and-bred citizen.

A close Malaysian friend of mine who works for Google in the UK was back a week ago and asked me, “so how’s the situation in Malaysia?”

I answered, “it’s exciting”.

This was a week ago, when I was still doubtful that the present government would be moved, doubtful that we as citizens could make a difference, doubtful that we would be divided yet again along racial or economic or political lines.

And today, I’m happy to stand on my answer. Not because we have won it all, and not because my vote made an extremely big difference, but it did make A difference rather than NO difference.

To quote a stranger, “I would rather vote the monkey in the opposition than a good guy in BN”. People are rallying for one cause - make change happen, for better or for worse. And this could only take place at this point in time, for all the things are in the right place, and with the right people, and the right reasons.

It’s hard to change when there are too many sides. This time, there are less sides to choose, and that makes it so obvious. So people choose change. Hopefully, the next round, we’ll arrive more mature where we can actually vote for the right “monkey”.

What happened this week is historic not because it appeared in the papers, and it’s not historic because someone else told you so. It’s historic because every Malaysian had a part in it, and will continue to have a part of it from now on.

I believe that more young people will now have the mind to speak up for their communities, for their businesses, for their schools, for their state. They know better now who the representatives are, who is in charge, because they made the choice to put them in that place - with all conviction.

We’re all in this ship together, for better or for worse. Cliche, yes, but united we stand, divided we fall.

I’m glad the things took place the way it did. I’m looking forward to the next few years to see how a real democracy works, in such a diverse nation such as this. And I want to be a part of it.

Now, THAT’s exciting.

Categorized as life, thoughts/malaysia