Saturday, May 5, 2012

the good, the bad and the ugly of bersih 3.0

The recently concluded BERSIH demonstration on 28 April 2012 has been an eye opener to us Malaysians that consider ourselves as fence sitters.

Malaysia’s multiracial society has not been fully represented until now whereby different races got together for one single aim; clean and fair elections. Whether the aim is valid or not is irrelevant. The most important factor here is racial unity. There will never be a prouder moment such as this to call ourselves Malaysians. This has certainly brought the good side of Malaysians to the fore. It is a reminiscence of a time when I was a young kid and being color blind, metaphorically speaking. At that time I was never aware of my friend’s race rather the mutual interests that bond us together. We are segregated in groups but the segregation is based on nerds, cool ones and some crazy ones that just can’t fit in. Yet we still had a great time mingling and teasing one another in a friendly setting.

BERSIH also shows the bad side of Malaysians as well. Malaysians attacking Malaysians in the name of law and ideology? There are multiple conspiracy theories emerging from both side of the camps but at the end of the day, none of them can deny and in true fact, Malaysians did attack their fellow countrymen no matter if they are in uniform or yellow shirts. This brought forward the times when I was much older and the segregation is getting more racial-oriented and political-divide. The seriousness of this is more intense to the point of involving verbal and physical assaults. How can a country progress if its citizens are suspicious of one another to the point of able to harm as well? 

This is truly a mix of gladness and sadness for our loving country Malaysia. The ugly truth is Malaysia is on the brink of uncertainty and we can only hope the next generation of leaders can finally be capable to lead the country out of this abyss and also to gain respect by using their wits rather than their fists. Leaders that can bind us together rather than divide us. God bless Malaysia.

No comments: