the morning after

Malaysians have spoken: Cry freedom

Keith Leong

My heart is full, my friends. I cannot sleep and my heart is pounding. My mind is racing off in a thousand directions. No, I am not having a health incident caused by my age-old obesity. Any Malaysian who is aware of what has been going on in the past 24 hours will probably feel the same.

Even the early morning hours were exciting enough. I did what I had been waiting to do for almost 20 years: with my family, I went back to my old school and voted for the first time in my life. Like a free man. Like a citizen. Along with millions of my other fellow Malaysians. All free men and women. All citizens.

To all those who doubted whether or not voting would make a difference – look at the record turnout, at the large number of new voters – the bulk of which I dare say were youths like us.

To all those who were angst-filled over what democracy constituted – look at the Malaysians, from the youths who barely finished celebrating their 21st year to grizzled centenarians who came out to exercise their rights and responsibilities.

To all those who said that Malaysia is not ready for change, that it will always be a sectarian morass and never achieve politically maturity – look at the results tonight.

To those of you who say politics is a dirty, unviable game – look at the number of idealists who were voted in tonight.

To those of you who doubt Malaysia was, is and can be a democracy – look at the country tonight.

I would like to think that my fellow writers of theCICAK and myself had a role, however small and insignificant in bringing this small, but giant step forward for the nation about. But the fact is that there is still a lot of work to be done in order to bring about positive social, economic and political change to Malaysia.

There were the many millions who have not registered to vote, or who are unable to do so because they lack the means or knowledge to do so – we have to fight for them.

There were the many millions who were registered but could not or would not vote, some because of selfish employers who would not give them time off, or those who stayed at home out of pure apathy – we have to fight for them.

There are those who still wallow in sectarian ignorance or hostility – we have to fight for them so that they will change their minds.

And there are also those who will believe, or who will desire, that tonight is just a blip on the radar, a minor anomaly and that things will go back to “normal” – we have to fight for them so that they will change their minds most of all.

But more importantly, those who have been rocketed to power and those who have been kept in power, need to be reminded that Malaysia is a multi-racial, multi-religious nation – we have to fight for them that they shall never forget this, and to their utmost to make sure this land becomes, if I might steal from the sublime oratory of Nehru, a noble household where all Malaysians may reside.

Tomorrow is only the beginning. Tomorrow is ours. Young people of Malaysia: continue to think, write and speak. Look beyond the race or the class of the person beside you and see the similarities that you share.

We have begun our leg of our people’s journey towards nationhood. We must not fail. We cannot fail.

The future is ours for the taking.