Happy Woman’s Day & March 8th, + thanks for support last weekend!

Plenty of comments for recent events, but for now, just happy Woman’s Day, and happy March 8th (as I recall, also: happy b’day samy vellu :P )

Also: thank you to each and every one of you who purchased a copy of Where is Justice this last weekend – truly appreciate the support!

Reproduced is my piece today from TMI:

A renaissance of hope

MARCH 8 —When Zhou Enlai was asked in the mid-20th century what he felt about the French Revolution of 1789, he replied: “It is too early to tell.”

I do not propose to wait until the mid-23rd century to offer meaningful comment on March 8th, but I think it’s safe to say it will take at least until the 13th General Election to truly know how much of an impact was made.

In the meantime, I think there are still clear signs of change in Malaysian society that stem directly from this historic event.

I like to consider the first and foremost a renaissance of hope.

After a long two weeks manning the office while my colleagues were running for office, I remember well how I spent that fateful Saturday.

I woke up to vote (for the first time, admittedly) with my family, got a badly needed haircut, shower and nap, and spent the rest of the day playing computer games (Call of Duty 4, if memory serves).

I expected we would win some seats here and there without seeing any major change, and in all likelihood return to business as usual on Sunday.

By evening I was getting calls requiring me to report back to work — we were apparently taking over Selangor.

Clearly, much of Malaysia was similarly surprised. The first test we faced in our minds was whether Malaysia would now be faced with instability and violence on the streets. After all, May 13th happened directly after a similar election victory.

It still makes me proud to say that we passed that first test with flying colours. No one took to the streets in anger, and we saw as clear as day that Malaysians have not the appetite for political violence.

Not only did we see then that change need not bring danger and unstable upheaval, but that change was even possible.

Barack Obama’s election may have suffered from overwhelming hype, but the truth remains: when he took that oath of office, Americans of all backgrounds saw for the first time in history a theoretical possibility made real.

The effect of such phenomena cannot be understated. Knowing something is conceptually possible has nowhere the same effect as actually seeing it happen for the first time.

Breaking BN’s two thirds majority was exactly the same — not many thought it was possible, and even those that did may not have believed it until they saw it.

For decades, Malaysians were made to believe that BN’s grip on absolute power was unshakeable — that theirs was the only possible model for Malaysia.

By March 9th, the eyes of millions of Malaysians had been opened to new possibilities and horizons. The hearts of those same millions which had been conditioned into apathy and despair moved from a winter of discontent into a springtime of new hope.

All of a sudden, a new direction was possible for what many believed was a sinking ship. Malaysians started to believe that their vote could make a difference — that perhaps our nation could be pulled from the brink after all.

In the two years since March 8, that is perhaps the most tangible difference in Malaysia’s politics I have observed — an empowerment of the rakyat.

The discourse was no longer about whether Malaysia was worth trying to save, but rather how to save it. We moved away from debates about whether it was worth getting our hands dirty in the lost cause of politics, and into debates on how to shape Malaysia’s new political paradigm.

In two years, we have yet to lose the vibrancy of political discourse that gripped the nation in 2008. Malaysians do not by any means agree on all (or any) things political, but with the advent of a two-party system, there were now actually two clearer sides to the debate — and it was no longer just whether we should migrate or not.

Malaysians became excited that perhaps we could now try KFC after a lifetime of McDonalds.

Few serious analysts are likely to be sure which of two will eventually prevail in the long run, but it’s good to know we now have the choice — a choice it is our duty to continue defending.

At the core, March 8 was about hope and having meaningful political choices. Some may feel that a few Malaysians might be placing too much hope even, in the new entity that is Pakatan Rakyat.

What is clear to my mind, however, is that hegemony and monopoly has never ultimately served the interests of a nation (addition: even Singapore!). Equally, I believe that an attempt for Malaysia to buck the global trend in a feeble attempt to remain wed to race-based politics will only plunge us even further back in time.

So for now, let us ride this new wave of hope and take a step in the right direction — towards meaningful political competition, greater social maturity, and a new dawn for Malaysia.